Voice of the Voiceless
When I walked into my highschool, I saw my ex-boyfriend, Ben, and his new girlfriend, Kat. I almost made it into my classroom but it was too late; he saw me. He looked at me but he kept on with his conversation.
Phew, I thought. I can’t face him right now.
I closed the door behind me and I leaned against it. I had to catch my breath because seeing him was like a punch to the gut. I couldn’t face him, not after everything that happened. I went to sit down in my usual seat: the chair with the broken desk. When I put my backpack on the desk, it fell apart.
Wow, I thought, this chair is so me.
I couldn’t sit near the front anymore because Ben and his minions kept throwing things into my hair. The last time, he threw gum and I had to cut a huge chunk off. Everyone laughed at me and started calling me names from that point forward. When class started, I looked out of the window, imagining I was anywhere else.
Then the bell rang, signifying the end of the first period. I walked to the front of the room when my face suddenly hit the floor. I looked down to see a pool of my own blood; my mouth was bleeding. As I got up, Kat just stared down at me.
“Aww poor little Mia fell and got a boo boo”, he said, the most evil smile on his face.
I ran out of there and rushed to the restroom, blood and tears pooling in my mouth as I tried to clean up the mess. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it and it certainly wasn’t the last time. After I cleaned up, I opened the door and rushed to the stairway, desperate to go outside to catch some air. In the hellhole I called school, I surprisingly found a safe spot: the roof. I could go and look at the buildings around us. I would just imagine what life would’ve been like if I was anywhere else. I can make it, I told myself as I walked to the stairway.
When I got there, I stopped in my tracks. Ben was perched at the top of the stairs, watching me. I stepped aside and kept my pace, hoping he wouldn’t say anything.
“What? Kat got your tongue?” Ben said as he laughed. “Not even a hi? Oh come on.”
As I turned around, my gut already knew what was going to happen next. Ben was staring straight at me with pure evil in his eyes.
“You know something? I wanted to be your boyfriend but you were the one who ruined everything! I was the best you ever had and ever will have. Do you really think you’ll find someone like me? You’re disgusting and I hope you die alone,” he spewed.
NO NO NO, I thought. Don’t let him see you cry again.
“Oh please you’re gonna cry? What a victim”, he said as he laughed.
Hearing those words, all I could feel was pure anger. I couldn’t believe that he was trying to get under my skin again. With him, I spent my time trying to please him and putting him first instead of myself. He was always trying to control everything, including me. He had to know where I was at all times or else he would go insane and think I was cheating on him. He made sure I could only go to him because it made him feel wanted. Once in awhile, I would catch a glimpse of the guy I once fell in love with and for some reason, I stuck with him in spite of everything.
I remembered one day when we went out to a picnic. It was the most beautiful day out; the birds were singing and the sun was out. We saw on the grass and talked about our future. We talked for so long that we didn’t notice 6 hours had passed by. When we got up, I spilled some juice on his blanket and he went crazy. He slapped me across the face, leaving his hand print on my warm cheek. To other people, it would’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back but I just kept sweeping it under the rug, pretending like it was all okay.
If he wanted to do something and I refused, it ended up with me having another bruise and us going wherever it was that he wanted to.
With time, I became scarily good at disguising any mark he left. He wasn’t scared about people seeing the marks on my body. He knew I would cover them up because I loved him.
He always wanted people to see us as an “ideal” couple because he felt like he had a reputation to uphold. Sometimes, all I wanted to do was yell for help but the words never seemed to leave my throat.
I knew that I needed to leave but like a naive girl, I still loved him. Until one day, when it all became too much to bear. I had to be brave back then and I knew I had to be brave now.
“Why are you still doing this? I’ve told you before and I’m telling you again: I’m done with you. In the future, you’ll never amount to much; all you’ll be is a low life with no job and nobody to love,” I told him as I looked him in the eye. “You absolutely repulse me. I have too much respect for myself now to ever let anyone treat me like how you did. It’s not fair for you to make others feel worthless just because you’re sad with your life. I wasted so much of my precious time on you and that makes me more sad than anything. If you ever try to lay a hand on anyone else, I will make sure you’ll regret it. One thing I hope you’re right about is about me never meeting someone like you.”
After that, I ran out of the stairway and knew I had to speak to someone: Kat. She needed to know the real Ben. He told her lies about me cheating so that she would hate me but I knew I had to be there for her even if she didn’t like me.
When I got to her locker, Kat closed her door with disgust.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she said as she rolled her eyes.
“Just listen to me. I need to tell you the truth about Ben. You can’t be with him. He’s not good enough for you. You’re in a dangerous situation. You have to leave him,” I said as I tried to reach for her hand.
“Ew don’t touch me you lunatic. What are you talking about? I love Ben. He would never hurt me,” she said, her voice laced with uncertainty.
“Please Kat. You’re in danger. He’s coming. Please don’t make the same mistakes I did,” I pleaded.
With hesitation, Kat grabbed my hand, her eyes started to water. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the police. I should’ve it sooner but I didn’t have the courage to do so. Now that I’m with you, I know we can do it. Without him, we’ll be safe. I promise,” I told Kat.
“I can’t. I don’t want to get him into trouble,” she cried.
“Kat, this isn’t just for us. There are so many people around the world who are going through this. We need to make change. If we don’t do it, who will?” I asked Kat. “We need to be the voice of the voiceless.”
With that, we ran out of the school and to the police station. It was over for him.
We ran to the entrance of the station. We looked at each other, panting, and nodded.
