Down by the Riverbank

Michelle looked at Sly and softly chuckled.  Sly would never make a good liar, she thought.  The only thing she had put on this morning was the medicated lotion that Liz had given her to apply over the bruises. 

            “That’s the medication you’re smelling.”  

            “On you, it smells like heaven.”

            “Man, you are such a flirt.  Does that actually work on girls?” Michelle couldn’t help but smile. 

            Sly grinned and walked with Michelle to her apartment.

            When they got there, Michelle knocked on the door to make sure no one was home.  When she didn’t get an answer, she opened the door with her keys and quickly led Sly into her bedroom.  Sly stopped cold in her tracks as she approached the front of Michelle’s bed.  Blood stains were splattered all over the bedroom sheets.  She spotted several other traces of blood on the floor near the bed.

Sly looked over at Michelle.  She realized something horrid and dreadful had happened in this bedroom and in that bed.  She sensed it had more to do than with the black and blue eye Michelle had suffered.  She could almost understand why Michelle didn’t want to discuss it with her.

“What the hell happened here?” Sly questioned Michelle in dismay.

            Michelle looked around the room.  It was exactly how she had left it.  The blood stains on the bed had dried.  There was dry blood on the windowsill and on the floor.  The underwear she had worn that night was torn and on the floor, next to the torn blue sweatpants. 

            Michelle grabbed a laundry bag from the closet and began dumping all of her clothes in it.  “Get everything that’s on the study desk and put it in that other laundry bag.”  

            Sly did as she was asked without a question.  There would be plenty of time to talk to her about Michelle’s issues once they were outside the apartment.  Michelle reached under the bed and grabbed the only pair of shoes she owned and put them in the bag.  Then she went to the bathroom and began gathering her toiletries when she heard the keys at the door.  Sly and Michelle looked at each other.  Michelle ran with the laundry bag to her room and closed the door.  She motioned Sly into her bedroom closet.  Sly quietly followed her in.

“Why can’t we leave through your window?” Sly whispered as she sat on the laundry bag she had been holding.

            Michelle put a finger over Sly’s lip to let her know she wanted her to stay quiet.  Fearing the worst, Michelle held on to Sly’s hands very tightly as she began to pray to God that her brother wouldn’t enter her bedroom. 

            A few minutes had gone by when they heard someone enter the room.  Both girls froze in place.  Michelle’s heart felt as if it were going to pop out of her chest.