It was about a month ago; Tommy had been drinking at our friend Bill’s house. Every time he got this drunk I could tell because of his glossy ice green eyes, beat red face, and sweaty palms. Another key that he was getting on the drunken side was that he never wanted to be around me, he would always distance himself from me. Usually I would leave. I was never drinking, but not tonight. He made me promise earlier that I would make sure he was home before midnight. It was already eleven. It was time to go. “Tommy, we have to go.”

“It’s not time yet.” He looked at me, angry.

“Yes, it is… I’m getting the car.” After bringing my car up to the driveway, I went inside only to find he was doing another keg stand. “Tommy! We have to go.”

“Fine, J**** C*****.” I could tell he was getting angry. On the way home he didn’t talk to me at all, until I stopped in front of his house. “Can you come in? Please.”

“Uh, sure.” I turned my car off and followed him into his ranch style house, and downstairs into his bedroom. Tommy and I had never been too intimate with each other over the fifteen months that we had been dating. Nothing too serious. Once we got into his room, he turned around and stared at me. Not a friendly stare, he had angry eyes that could make a grown woman cry, his fists were clenched at his sides and his mouth was glued shut. “Tommy? What’s wrong…?”

“Why did you make me leave? I didn’t want to come home with you.”

“Then why did you make me come in? You asked me to bring you home early tonight; I was only doing what you asked.”

“I don’t want anything from you; I haven’t gotten anything from you in the past year.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sex, Tiff. You know all the guys make fun of me, they’ve been dating girls for three months and gotten it.”

“But we’re different; you know I’m not ready.”

“I am.” He looked so angry at this point, I was so confused and scared at the same time. He pushed me to the far wall, a picture of us falling to the ground with a loud crash and glass shards scattering everywhere. I was about to open my mouth when he slapped me across the face. What was happening?! This wasn’t real, he never did this before, we always talked our problems… and that’s when I felt the second strike against my face. All of the blood rushing to my right cheek where he had hit. The tears that started falling were burning that same place; I could taste the salt on my lips, that’s when he kissed me. What was going on? It was just an accident, it must have been, and I felt my body fall into the soft carpet of his floor. He walked over to his bed and collapsed on top of it with a big grunt. I got up, wiped my tears and walked out of his bedroom and out of his house straight into my little blue car. Tommy and I only lived about a mile away from each other, but tonight that drive seemed much longer. All of the stop and go lights seemed to turn red right before I reached them and all of the drivers in front of me seemed to be going at least five miles under the speed limit of twenty-five. I finally drove into the driveway and parked my car. Checked in the mirror to find a big red blotch on the side of my face. “S***.” I said out loud, worried what my mother would think. I grabbed my powder from my purse and applied a generous amount, almost fully covering the blemish that would hopefully be gone in the morning. After wiping my eyes one last time I stepped out of my car, and worked my way into the house. No one was home yet; my parents must have gone to a dinner party with their friends. It was a Saturday night after all. I guess I could just go to bed early.

The next morning I woke up and after remembering what had happened I quick ran over to my mirror and saw with disappointment that there was a purple bruise, about the size of three quarters. What was I supposed to do now? I guess I should shower first then apply enough make-up to atleast try and cover it up before my parents noticed. After my shower I applied concealor and then lots and lots of powder. The finished product made me look like one of the incoming freshman, way too much makeup and not enough confidence. Hopefully they wouldn't notice or say anything about it, but overall I thought I did a good job covering the reminder of what happened lastnight. If my parents ever found out they would kill Tommy, they believe girls deserve the up most amount of respect possible, and I agree.. I mean it was just an accident... Right? That's right when I heard my cellphone ring 'our song is the slam of screen doors, sneaking out late...' "Hello?" I interrupted the ringtone.
"Hey hun, I just wanted to apologize for lastnight... I don't know what came over me, don't worry it will never happen again. Can you please forgive me?"
I knew that I really should say that we should take a break or something but I just couldn't, I love him so I guess if no one ever finds out about it and it really never happens again, everything will be fine. "Sure Tommy, just make sure that it never happens again, how am I going to hid this from my parents?"
"I'm so sorry Tiffany; can I come pick you up in about ten minutes?"
"Sure." Ending the phone call with the click of the end button.
"Ow Tommy, seriously stop!" I couldn't comprehend that this was happening again. This time was different though, no alcohol, it was our lunch hour and I asked him if we were going to homecoming... That's when he shoved me telling me no, the push was so hard that I fell to the ground almost on top of his dog. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes again, this time they weren't stopping and neither was the hitting. This time it was fists that were striking me, getting harder and harder as he kept going. At one point I looked up at Tommy, his face was red and I saw tears streaming from his eyes that were now bloodshot. I knew that if I said anything he would just get angrier. There was nothing I could do to make it stop anymore, what had I gotten myself into. Soon his fists had dropped, I looked up to see his shoulders were now slumped over, and he had large bags underneath his eyes that were now a dark green instead of the ice green that they usually shone. The tears that had just fallen from his eyes were now glued to his cheeks like icicles clinging to roofs in winter. I layed on the ground motionless and unsure of what I should do next. My sobbing continued until he finally spoke. "Are you ready to go back to school?" Seriously!? He had just beaten the s*** out of me and now expected me to be okay to go back to school? Not hardly.
"Well I can drop you back off at school; I'm not feeling so good... I think I'd rather just go home." I was afraid that this would spark another outrage but instead he helped me up and starting walking towards the front door. After dropping him off at school I called my mother on my way home asking if she would call me into class because I was having terrible 'cramps'. She said she would, and she would see me later at home for dinner. Once I got home I figured I should go to the bathroom and undress and actually assess the damage I would have to cover this time. After stripping down to nearly nothing I stared down at my once flawless skin that was now covered with bruises that could easily be covered by clothing suitable for winter, too bad it was now the beginning of September... If I wore long pants and a long shirt it would look a little suspicious. What else could I do? I couldn't really cover my arms and legs with makeup like I had previously done to my face. But more importantly what was I going to do about Tommy... I can't believe that it happened again, should I tell my parents or just pretend that everything is peachy keen like I had last time. It was all so foreign to me... I guess for now I would just do my best to cover it up. And now to top it all off I had the worst headache I've ever had. I figured a nap would heal all the aches I had, well atleast for the time being.
After waking up I checked my phone only to find it was already 3:30 and I had no messages or missed calls. I figured it was time to get more clothing on because my mom should be coming home soon. After putting some long pants and long sleeves on I went into the computer room to start my sociology homework. After finishing the online test that was homework I went into the living room to watch my favorite show, Jersey Shore. "Hello?" I heard my mom ask as she walked in the door leading into the foyer from the garage.
"Hi mom, how was work?"
"It was good, how are things going between you and Tommy? Your dad and I were talking about how we haven't seen him in atleast a few weeks."
"Things are fine mom."
After dinner I was still a little upset that Tommy hadn't tried to contact me at all. Maybe I really should just give up thinking this could work. My mom walked into my bedroom right as I laid my head on my pillow, informing me that we were going to Wisconsin Dells this weekend. This weekend was only two days away, how was I going to hid all of these black and blue marks all over my body while staying at a water park resort. I figured I would tell my parents that a few friends and I were just goofing around and I fell. I was pretty clumsy so hopefully it would work.
After the long four hour ride we finally arrived at The Wilderness, my personal favorite place to stay in the Dells. After my parents went into the lobby to check in, they came back out telling my brother and me that they had gotten us a room to share so we wouldn’t have to be spending the weekend all crammed into a tiny room. After unpacking Jeff left to go get some more ice for our cooler, I decided that now was a good time to change into my swimming suit. Right after finishing putting my suit on, my mom walked into my room coming from the double doors that divided our rooms. She stared at me with aw; she had the look of a concerned mother. You know the one I’m talking about, bags suddenly darkened her under eyes, when just seconds ago they were as bright as the sun, tears were starting to well up in the corners of her eyes and a frown was pasted on her face, almost as if it had been there forever. “What happened? She questioned me, while awkwardly looking around the room avoiding the eye contact that we both knew had to happen sooner or later.
“Nothing mom, it’s really no big deal, I just fell.” I knew she could smell the lie as it seeped from the corners of my mouth.
“It doesn’t look like nothing Tiffany. Does this have to do with how weird you’ve been acting lately? They’re all over; this is why you’ve been wearing long clothes.”
“I’m sorry mom. But I have to tell you something…” I was so afraid of what her reaction would be to what I was about to say. “But Tommy has been…” That’s as far as I got before she bursts into tears, followed by the biggest hug I’ve gotten since I told her I first got my period. She continued with telling me that everything was going to be okay and we would find a way so that I would never have to see him again, even if it meant me changing schools. I protested because I really didn’t want to change schools, I loved all of my friends, all of the people I’ve known since second grade that I really didn’t want to lose. That’s when it all turned around, my mom started getting angry. She was angry that this had ever happened to me, she was angry that she didn’t think anything weird of how I’d been acting lately. Then she left the room, I knew this was going to be bad. My father walked in my section of the room with a stern face, pursed lips, his hands straight down at his side, besides his left hand, the one holding my mothers. That’s when it all started making sense, Tommy didn’t love me, and he never did. If he had loved me it would have never happened, no matter what I said and no matter what I did. Seeing how my parents stuck so close to each other when something that could potential change everything, made everything change for me. I wanted to never talk to him again, I was suddenly so angry. My parents made the decision that we should stay here for the remainder of the weekend since it was already paid for and they figured it would be good for me to be away from home with everything that was going on.
After a long needed vacation from home it was unfortunately time to return. My mom had taken away my phone for the weekend so that I would be totally unconnected from Tommy and any other drama from Appleton, Wisconsin that we all dreaded. The four hour drive seemed to go by much faster compared to the ride here. I was hoping that we would never reach home, that I would never have to confront him on what he had done to me; I was scared about how my life would change. That was the last thought I had before dozing off.
After being awoken by my obnoxious brother, I realized that we had arrived home. Tears running down my cheeks because I had realized that it was time to face my fears, that my parents were going to hand me my cell phone and they were going to watch me make a call to my boyfriend and end it all. Over a year of my life would now be gone; hopefully the ending wouldn’t stay with me forever.