10: Tyler (1/2)

10. Tyler

I wait until Franny goes to the other room to order pizza before I let the pain wash over me.

I breathe in and out slowly, but I can still feel the swelling around my eye push up my cheek. The bastard made the black eye worse when he dug his damn fingers into my face. I won't be surprised if I look in the mirror and see his fingerprints embedded in my skin.

I hear Franny's voice as she talks into the phone in the other room. She's weird, I decide. Most people would call an ambulance or tell me to get lost if I showed up on their doorstep. But she just stood there and did everything I asked.

Maybe she was too scared to realize that an ambulance is the usual route to go when someone's beaten up. I'm glad she didn't though. I would have had to come up with some kind of lie to avoid having to go to the hospital. Hospitals mean my parents would be called and then I'd have to explain everything to them.

I'm going to have to tell them anyway though.

How am I supposed to hide a huge cut along my side and a swollen face? It's not something a hood over the head can hide.

Franny comes back a few minutes later and places the phone back in the holder. She walks past me and swipes a hand down the wall, catching a light switch as she goes. I look at the sitting room where there's a television, a couch and an armchair. Franny walks over to the television and puts it on before arranging some pillows on the couch until they are plumped to one side.

”Do you want to lie down?” she asks. ”Or is sitting easier?”

”Lying down's good. Thanks,” I say and push off from the table, grabbing my bag and dropping it down with me.

My legs are shaky as I force them to walk over to the sitting room. The house is simple, not too much furniture and not too cluttered but it does feel like it's missing something. It's just a house. Nothing really seems personal.

”What happens when the food comes?” Franny asks. ”I don't really want to see you choke to death.”

I smile in amusement. ”I'll sit up.”

I drop my bag on the floor beside the couch and slowly lie down on the seat, my upper body elevated by the pillows. It isn't enough to bend my body and hurt the cut but it's enough so I can eat without worrying about choking it back up.

Franny curls up in the armchair, with her legs tucked under her. She has the remote in her hand.

”Do you want anything on?” she asks.

I shake my head and smile to myself.

She's a people-pleaser.

I close my eyes and lift my arm on the side that isn't hurt and rest it on my forehead gently. My eye throbs but the painkillers are slowly doing their job even though I didn't think ibuprofen would be strong enough for this excruciating pain. Just frowning makes the eye pain worse.

A penetrating pain enters through the side of my head and everything throbs and becomes a mass of distress and hurt. I close my eyes tighter, willing the pain to move out of the way, but it doesn't. It just grows and pulses through my head until I feel like it's going to explode. I let out a short breath, trying to release the pain.

But it stays and presses down on me until my eyes are completely closed and my mind slows down.

***