Holding back tears, she stumbled into the dark washroom. Her eyes stung and vision blurred as she tried fumbling with the light switch before slumping against the wall and collapsing onto the floor, her bruised cheek pressed against the cold hard bathroom tiles. Hot tears slid down her chin and dripped onto the ground almost as if to melt away its piercing grip on her body.
A piercing grip just like his.
Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet the stained shard of mirror that lay a few inches from her navel. It was a part of the same mirror he had broken last night while she desperately tried to run away. After he was done, he’d left the room, allowing her the privilege to at least sob in privacy. In between cries, she somehow mustered up the energy to reach out for the shard and fold it in a cloth before pocketing it in her torn, blood-stained dress.
She could still hear the crash of his fist slamming centimeters away from her porcelain face. She could still feel the glass raining down upon her, scarring her in places she wished never to be touched. Places that had been violated the very same night.
Lost in the memory, she pulled the shard closer. Blank and emotionless, she looked into it to stare at what was once a ray of sunshine, a thread of pure innocence, which was now all consumed by hurt.
She started to imagine heavy drops of crimson blood spilling from her entangled eyelashes. Scars of pain and torture were painted across every inch of her fragile broken body.
Her gaze slipped lower. She watched lines of blue branch across her wrist like a dead oak tree. She felt the blood pulsing through her veins.
As she held the shard against her skin, she bit into her lip and a metallic taste filled her mouth.
The familiar burning sensation ignited a fire beneath her skin while a bloodcurdling wail resonated from her pale chapped lips. The cry transformed into melodies of excruciating misery fading into the background, which was followed by a sudden period of eerie silence.
In her head, she could see herself reaching the cliff at last. Beyond the cracked edge was a void of complete darkness. Blood pounded in her ears, synchronizing with every footstep as she inched closer and closer. Emptiness grew like fungi on a deceased body and clung onto her. Then, she jumped.