BEAUTY & THE DARK PRINCE

Episode 7

I'm glad that there is no one at home and I hide away in bed praying to heavens that Chad won't call or worse come over. I'm disgusted by him and I would hate to lay my eyes on him or to hear his voice. Right this moment I don't give a rat's ass if I never get to see him ever again. I wouldn't even mind to hear that he has been run over by a truck or turned to mince meat by a serial killer.

Maria gets home late evening and when she pulls open the warmer drawer and finds nothing there, she is baffled. I cook supper every night and leave her plate in the warmer since she gets home after dinner time. She wonders why I didn't cook today and abruptly paces to my room to get some answers.

She is angered when she pushes open my door and it doesn't budge because I locked myself in. She has come to learn that I only lock my door when there is something I don’t want her to see like bruises on my face.

“Tyra please open up.. what has that pig done to you now?” she bangs on the door with all her might. I keep silent and pretend I'm not there. “Tyra if you don’t open up then I’m calling the police,” she threatens.

That gets my immediate attention and I respond by darting out of bed to unlock and open the door. “Please Maria.. you can’t call the police,” I desperately beg.

“Oh my word Tyra! Look at your face.. how the hell are you able to tolerate that son of a b***h? You need to get him arrested before he ends up killing you,” she screams. “Stop being dramatic! Chad didn’t do this to me,” I try to lie convincingly but my voice cracks. "Then who did?” She raises one eyebrow at me. “I got mugged,” I mumble as I turn around to walk back to my bed. “I know you don’t expect me to believe that,” she cackles as she folds her hands against her chest.

“Well I don’t care what you choose to believe Maria, I’m going to bed now.” I grumble.

I pull up my bed cover after Maria storms out and slams the door shut. My head is still pounding…my eyes are bloodshot and my entire body is enduring stabbing pains. I search the drawers to find pain killers. I breathe a sigh of relief when I manage to find two aspirins. I instantly swallow and gulp down water from my sports bottle that I keep in my room always. I hop back into bed and cry myself to sleep while making sure I'm not crying loud enough to be heard by Maria.

It's the last thing I want to let her hear me sobbing over the man she has told me to leave a million times.

**

A couple of days quickly pass by without a word from Chad. I'm not amazed because he usually goes quiet for days after his boxing training on top of me. I believe staring at the bruises he designed on my face, makes him feel ashamed of himself and he does not like feeling that way and so he stays away from me until my bruises fade away.

I hate to imagine how broken hearted grandma was going to be if she saw the state I was in the day Chad edited my facial features with his fists. Nana would rather die than to have me suffer like this for her sake. How I wish she was around to console me and sooth me with her pleasant company.

***

Since Chad is still quiet on me I get to spend the weekend with Maria. It’s been a while since we last spent the weekend together all the more reason we are both in high spirits and looking forward having a jolly good time.

It's a promising Saturday and we start the day by preparing breakfast together toast, scrambled eggs, bacon and coffee. We exchange cheerful smiles as we enjoy working together as a team regardless of whatever we are doing. Maria and I see eye to eye most of the time, we like the same things and we have a lot in common. I enjoy being with her she is the best friend anyone can ever ask for. We only fight when it comes to my relationship with Chad and today we are not focusing on him, today he doesn't exist. It's all about us and having a good time.

It doesn't take us long to devour the delicious breakfast before we hit the shower and sift through the closet rack for what seems like a hundred times. We spend all eternity trying on different outfits and still not being satisfied with anything.

“I give up, maybe we should just stay home,” I heave a discouraged sigh. “No way! I will find us something nice to wear. Let me have a thorough search in here,” Maria lifts her brows as she once again browses through the wardrobe.

I settle on putting on a black crop top, maroon shorts and over the knee high heeled black boots. My makeup is bold and it highlights my facial features. As I stand in front of the mirror admiring my own reflection a sense of freedom and happiness fills me.

This is because Chad forbids me to wear any makeup whenever we are to meet and he doesn’t approve of me dressing in anything that goes above my knees as well as anything that reveals my cleavage, thighs, belly or even my back. His reason being I should cover up his assets (my body) and let no man have the pleasure of leering at them.

Well today I'm thrilled to finally get to wear whatever I feel like and I feel sexy and beautiful. I love what I'm seeing in the mirror.

Maria wants us to dress in matching outfits just for the fun of it. She asks for my opinion and I nod my head in approval. She eagerly slips into a maroon mini body con dress and over the knee black boots.

“My parents would have a fit if they saw me dressed like this, they would probably tell me that this is satanic dressing,” Maria smirks as she straightens her dress. I remain quiet for a brief moment as I'm reminded that I never had any parents thus I have no idea what they would have been like or what they would have approved and disapproved of.

“Good thing you are free of them,” I respond as I force on a weak smile.

I style my hair into a high pony tail and Maria tongs her hair into tight curls. We gleefully marvel at how breath taking we look as we impressively stare at ourselves in the mirror. “Okay let’s go,” I beam after having enough self admiration. “Wait! We need to take pictures before we get sweaty and our makeup starts wearing off,” Maria proposes and I agree without hesitation.

We pose gracefully for photographs and afterwards we make funny faces including sticking out our tongues.