I hurt Lara, I saw it, written there on her face in bold letters. Letters that stab me like a knife every time I think of them.

I didn’t mean to, I just can’t tell her, couldn’t take the pity that she would give.

Shane takes my hand “It’s alright Dana. Lara will be ok.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her….I just can’t”

“I know.” she gives me a brief smile “You should go get dressed, we have to go soon.”

Go I don’t want to go, Shane knows it but I have to do this. The police want to talk to me and I can’t put it off any longer.

“I don’t know if I can do this, I’m so scared.” they come out as a whisper, words that I didn’t want to say at all.

Tears start to form, I don’t want them to ask me about what he did to me. I can’t talk about it, because if I do then it will be real and I don’t want that to be true.

“Hey…” Strong arms wrap around me “You can do it Dana, I’ll be with you the whole time. Your stronger than you think.”

Strong, she’s crazy, I’m not strong. If I was then he wouldn’t have been able to..

No I can’t think about it, how am I going to tell them what he did?

“Dana just go get dressed, I’ll make sure no one hurts you.”

I lock eyes with her, Shane is the strong one. My arms pull her to me.

“I can’t do this without you.”

“You don’t have to worry, I’m not going anywhere. Now go get ready. I’ll be here waiting.”

I feel the safety that her arms give leave me as she pulls away. I hate it when she let’s me go, but I turn and walk upstairs.

Alone, standing in my bathroom, I look at the bruises he left on my body.

Their large and purple, covering my thighs, little reminders that he left his mark on me.

My fingertips brush them lightly, I cringe at my own touch.

Now the tears won’t be held back. They pour down my face.

Why? I want to scream it as loud as I can. Why did this happen to me?

What did I do? Why did he…think that it was ok to do that to me?

A hand on my shoulder makes me jump out of my skin.

“Dana I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. We need to go honey.”

Shane, she takes my hand and leads me to the bed room, she’s dressing me.

Her arms hold me for a moment before she takes my face in her hands.

“We can do this, are you ready?”

Ready am I ready? No I don’t think I ever will be but she’s looking at me with those eyes, eyes that tell me everything will be ok.

I shake my head and together we walk out to face something I just want to forget.