Scars

He was coming closer.

“No… no wait!” She pleaded.

He kept coming closer, despite her pleas.

“Please, don’t! No!”

Ava's eyes popped open. She had the dream again. She hadn’t been able to sleep really in days. Her dreams, or rather nightmarish memories, had been keeping her from fully falling asleep. She had tossed and turned for the better half of the night, before drifting off fitfully. She sat up in bed, and looked over at her phone to check the time. 2 am. She sighed, it was no good. Untangling and kicking off the covers, she got up and made her way into the kitchen.

Ava figured maybe a nice hot cup of tea would calm her nerves. She went to the kettle on the stove and filled it with water, then placed it back on the eye of the stove and turned it on. She wasn't aware that she was making much noise, but she was and it woke up the other members of her household.

While she was reaching in the cabinet for her mug, she heard the footsteps of her two roommates coming into the kitchen.

“Ava, what are you doing up this late?” Alexander asked her.

“Yeah, are you okay?” That was Lucas.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Ava told them without turning around, still trying to reach her favorite mug that had somehow gotten shoved to the back.

“Here,” Lucas said, moving her out of the way and grabbing her mug for her.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the mug in her hand and setting it down.

“Ava sure you’re okay, doll?” Alexander asked.

Ava just nodded and turned back to the counter, opening drawers looking for a spoon and searching for a tea bag.

“It’s just that we heard you talking in your sleep,” Alexander continued. “Then all the noise in here.”

“Sorry I woke you up,” she mumbled.

“Don’t even worry about it,” Lucas said quickly. “We’re just concerned, you sounded like you were having a bad dream.”

Just then the kettle whistled. Ava took it off the stove and she poured the hot water into her mug. She spooned in some sugar and added a bit of honey; busying herself with the motions, wanting to avoid answering them. When she realized they were still waiting, she finally answered them.

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” she said softly and took her mug and went to take a seat on one of the stools at the island.

Ava was aware that they were both staring at her with concern on their faces, but she ignored their questioning looks. They said nothing until she crossed her legs and they got a flash of her exposed skin. Ava was only wearing the big shirt she slept in, so when she crossed her legs, it rode up.

They stared at her legs for a minute before exchanging glances with each other. Ava had noticed what they were staring at and quickly pulled her shirt to cover her legs. But it was too late, they had seen.

“Ava, you wanna talk about that?”

“Bout what?” Ava feigned ignorance and stirred her tea some more.

“About the scars,” Lucas said, always blunt and to the point.

Alexander shot him a look, but didn’t say anything. He came and took a seat across from her.

“Ava, seriously, if there is something wrong, you can tell us.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, I mean, you’re our friend, family really.”

Ava looked from one concerned face to the other. Alexander, sitting in front of her and Lucas, leaning against the counter. She stirred her tea absentmindedly trying to decide if she should tell them. She did trust them, and in the few months that she had been living with them, they had shown that they did care about her. They treated her like their little sister and she felt safe with them. Safer than she had felt in a long time.

After the incident, she had gone to her friend Natalie, needing a place to stay. Unfortunately she didn’t have any room, but she had told her that Alexander and Lucas did. Ava had known them, but not that well, but she was desperate. Luckily for her, they were welcoming and they were great roommates, giving her the space she needed. They were clean and courteous. All in all, it was a gigantic step up from her previous situation.

Ava winced when she thought about it, and of course, ever observant, the two guys noticed.

“Okay,” Lucas said, coming over and taking the seat next to her. “Talk.”

“Luc, don’t push her,” Alexander chided.

“I’m not, it’s that I can tell something is wrong, I know that look,” he told Alexander, then looked back at her. “You’re not doing yourself any favors holding it in.”

“I know.” Ava looked at her tea and took a sip.

“So…” Lucas prompted.

“So,” she cleared her throat. “Umm, I don’t know where to begin.”

“Just at the beginning,” Alexander suggested.

“Right, the beginning…” Ava shifted in her seat and took a deep breath. “So you know how, Nat asked you guys if I could come stay with you?”

They nodded.

“Well, the reason was this…”

And she told them all of what happened, haltingly at first, but once she got her stride it all came tumbling out.

It was almost a year ago and Ava was in what she thought was a happy, fairytale-esque relationship. Tony, her ex, was great, there was no doubt about that. He treated her with the utmost respect. But that one night… it all changed.

They were walking down the street one night, hand in hand with him. Everything about that night she remembered in clear detail. The smell in the air, food from several restaurants they passed; the cool breeze on her skin and the feel of his hand in hers; the sound of his voice when he spoke to her, making a joke and the way her laughter mingled with the sounds of other conversations of the people around them; she even remembered the sound her footsteps made on the pavement.

Ava had been so happy.

The couple had walked past a group of four guys, her hand squeezed Tony’s and she ducked her head, not wanting to make eye contact. It was no good, however. The catcalling had started. The men were clearly drunk.

“Hey, girl, c’mere!”

“You know she need a real man, lemme talk to you.”

“I know she hears us!”

Ava kept her head down and kept walking, ignoring them. Until one of them got bold and jumped in front of her, and tried to grab her arm.

“Baby, I know you heard me.”

Ava shook him off, but he reached for her again.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble guys,” her boyfriend had told them.

The guy had laughed. “Y’all hear this man?” He turned to his friends who laughed with him. “Sounding like a punk! ‘We don’t want any trouble.’” He mocked him.

Ava tried to grab Tony’s hand again, to pull him away, but the guy was too quick. He pushed her back into his three other friends. Ava felt two of them grab her. Ava looked around desperately for help, but there was no one around. She remembered thinking that it was so odd, she had just been surrounded by people ten minutes ago.

The guy who had pushed her into his friends was now in front of Tony.

“I tell you what, I’m feeling nice tonight, so I’m just gonna take your money and let you go.”

“Give him whatever he wants,” she told her boyfriend.

“Listen to her,” the guy told him. “Well let you go. Her on the other hand… we need to teach her not to ignore people, it’s rude.”

Ava felt their grips tighten on her arms. And she started to shake.

“No, please.”

Tony had decided that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, so he swung at the guy, landing a punch.

The next thing she knew, two of the guys let her go, and grabbed her boyfriend, hitting and punching him, then kicking him when he fell to the ground.The main guy had pulled out a knife and was headed towards Tony.

Ava cried out, and managed to free herself from the fourth. Ava tried to jump in between them, and she got a few kicks herself. She had fallen on the ground right when he had slashed at him. Ava threw her legs up to kick at him, and the knife had cut her in several places. Cutting through her tights into her skin.

One of his friends grabbed her arms and dragged her away. Tony had been knocked unconscious during the attack.

The one with the knife had turned to her. And all she could do was beg.

“No, please… don’t”

He kept coming closer.

Luckily for her, a group of partygoers was walking past and heard her cries. They ran up and the four attackers scattered. Ava ran over to her boyfriend trying to shake him awake while they called the police and paramedics….

“Tony was okay, sort of. A few fractured ribs and a broken nose. But his pride… that was the most damaged thing of all.”

Ava took a deep breath. Telling that story, reliving it, had taken a lot of her. Alexander reached across the table and put his hand over shers, Lucas had thrown his arm around her shoulders and given them a squeeze. Feeling comforted from their touches, she felt she could continue.

“They eventually caught the guys, but Tony… he was never the same. He started drinking... a lot, and we got into fights constantly,” Ava shook her head. “It escalated one day. We were screaming and yelling at each other, throwing stuff.” She took a deep breath. “I started to pack my bags but he wouldn’t let me leave. He had grabbed me, and I slapped him. He pushed me and I hit the wall.”

She let a sob escape then, and she felt Lucas’s arm squeeze her shoulders again.

“Our landlord heard and she managed to get him out by threatening to call the cops. I packed all my stuff and left. That’s when I contacted Nat.”

Ava looked from Alexander to Lucas, tears glistening on her cheeks.

“The dreams… nightmares… I have, they’re from that night. I can’t get them out of my head.”

Alexander and Lucas looked at each other.

“We know how that is, Ava, we both have memories that we can’t get out of our heads.” Lucas told her.

“Yeah,” Alexander added. “But you know what we do? We go to each other, we talk to each other, we help each other through it.”

“And you can do that, too, you know,” Lucas told her. “Me and Alexander, we’re here for you. What you just did, telling us that? It was such a big step.”

“Yeah, and when you have those nightmares, you can come to either of us, any time of the night, and we’re here.” Alexander said.

Lucas reached over and placed a hand under her chin. He lifted her face to his. “Promise, promise us you’ll come to us if you need us.”

Ava stared into his dark eyes for a minute, she obviously trusted them, she had just told them everything. She nodded slowly.

“Okay, I promise.”

“Good.” He smiled.

“Now, as for tonight,” Alexander said, getting up and going into the hall closet as Lucas steered her over to the couch. “We’re not leaving you alone.”

“What do you mean?”

Alexander came back with some blankets and pillows in his arms and spread them over her as she sat on the couch. Lucas settled on one side of her and Alexander the other.

“We’re gonna hang out here with you,” Alexander told her.

“Yep,” Lucas said fishing out the remote from between the cushions. “Watch a little TV and relax.”

Ava looked at them incredulously. “It’s almost 3:30 in the morning.”

They both just shrugged.

“Like Alexander said, we’re not leaving you alone.” Lucas told her.

Ava knew it was pointless to argue, so she settled back and watched the show Lucas had turned on. Soon she felt her eyelids getting heavy and she found herself leaning her head against Alexander, while he and Lucas talked in low tones. She soon drifted off into the first peaceful sleep she’d had in months, all of her burdens gone.