Black and White (completely revised)

['the'*devil*]

She stares at the whiteness she holds in her hand. Her vision is fixed on it and the only sound she can hear is her breathing. What will happen she wonders? She breathes quickly in and out. Her hand starts to tremble and she slowly lifts the whiteness to her mouth. She closes her eyes and with one gulp it’s gone. Almost immediately she realizes the change. Everything that was fuzzy has become sharp and clear. The pain, caused by various bruises and cuts, disappears.

Hey Bianca! Honey, let’s go get some drinks
She looks around for the owner of the voice. There he is. Her eyes trace his face as she has done so many times before. She notices though, that something is different this time. His smile is twisted, and does not reach his eyes, which are cruel and hard.
I said, lets go get some drinks.
Bianca? Hello? Why are you staring like that?
Damn you bitch!

She doesn’t notice the pain at first. Then she sees the blood, running like a river down her jaw, her neck and onto her clothes. A white light surrounds her and grows brighter. She feels herself spin. Then she hits the floor and everything stops.
Bianca? Bianca! Wake up! Oh Jesus, what have I done?

She blinks her eyes. Her eyelids are like a door, wanting to slam shut and drums are playing in her head.
Wha- what happened?
My hand slipped. I’m so sorry sweetie, I never mean to do it.
She closes her eyes against his excuses. She doesn’t want to hear them anymore.

Did someone call for an ambulance?
Yes I did. Please you have to help her. I didn’t, it wasn’t, I mean..
All right, just calm down mate. What happened?
We were arguing and I lost control. I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve never done this before. I’m so sorry. Please you have to help her.
Ok mate, it’ll be all right. Why don’t you just go sit down over there? Miss can you hear me? My name is Dave and I’m an ambulance officer. We’re just going to take you to hospital to be checked out, okay?
Yes.
What is her name mate?
He name’s Bianca, and I’m Robert. Can I come?
No mate, It'd be better of if you stay here for a while.
I’m so sorry it happened, It was an accident
You’re lying! She wanted to scream out. But she couldn’t. Slowly darkness crept back over her.

When she woke up all she could see was a white light. It surrounded her. Where am I? She wondered. Then it became dark again. She could hear footsteps, people running, and whispered messages.

I hope she’ll be okay.
Bianca recognized that voice. Tim, a friend from school.
She will be, Bianca always pulls through.
Another voice. Jason’s.
You mean she seems to pull through.
She’s been through so much.
I know, I mean, it all started when Robert got her drinking a lot.
Yeah, and she tried drugs, remember that?
It didn’t help that Robert’s best friend raped her
She drinks to forget
And he hits her a lot doesn’t he?
More often than not she does nothing about it. I’ll bet he did this to her.
Why does she stay with him?
I don’t know. I don’t even think she knows. I wish we could help her. She needs to get away from this.
I know, but what can we do?
The voices drifted off into silence

Footsteps enter the room.
Hey, you may as well go home. We’ll keep an eye on her and keep you up to date okay? Just leave your phone numbers at the nurse’s station. If she gets worse, we’ll ring you straight away.
Yeah, thanks.
She hears Jason and Tim leave.

Where am I?
You’re in the hospital
Slowly things came back into vision. She looked to the point where the voice had come from and saw a guy in a suit staring at her.
Well you’ve had a pretty tough time haven’t you?
What do you mean?
You’re boyfriend knocked you out didn’t he? He hit you. You just have to look at that cut on your head to tell it was no accident.
He didn’t. It was an accident. Who -who are you?
My name is Luke. I’m well, I’m a counsellor. I work here at the hospital and I’ve been asked to talk to you. And you know as well as I do, that was no accident.

Suddenly Bianca burst into tears. She’d just had enough. She was sick of lying, sick of hiding the bruises and the pain.
Hey, it’s okay. Please don’t cry. What has he done to you?
He’s hurting me. I can’t take it anymore! I just want to die, to be rid of this pain. I can't take it much longer.
Hey, it'll be okay. I'll have him charged, put in jail for everything.
No! You can't do that! He'll find out it was me, and once he's out he'll keep on hunting until he finds me! I’ll never be left alone.
It'll be okay. We’ll find you help. Somewhere to stay, somewhere to hide. It will be all right.
No, you can't! It won’t! It will never be! Get out!!!!!!!!!

Through my tears I saw Luke leave the room. I'm sorry, I wanted to yell, but I couldn't. They wouldn't understand. No one ever does. They can't understand what it's like to be in a relationship with no end. How that, if I leave, he'll find me and kill me. I’m his, he once told me. They don't understand what it's like to be faced by the same terror everyday. To want to go to sleep and never wake up in the hope you'll never see his face again. I’m getting used to it now. No one can help me. No one.

She comes out of her thoughts as she hears someone enter the room. It's Luke again. Why won't he give up, why can't he leave me alone, she wonders
I've told the police what happened.
How dare you! I'm going to deny it all! There won't be anything you can do about it. He won't go to jail. Please, you, you couldn’t of……..
I'm sorry Bianca, but he is. You've got to trust me. I can help you
No! If it’s the only thing I’ve learnt in life, it’s to never trust anyone.
Please Bianca. You have nowhere to go once you get out of hospital. Let me help you.
No. I'll do it on my own.
Please Bianca! You won’t make it on your own. You need my help. Please let me help you.
Just go! No-don't argue! Please just go!

After Luke left Bianca lay in bed, tears streaming down her face, and thought about what he had said to her. Why can't he understand! I don't want his help. I can make it on my own. Slowly and carefully she got changed, grabbed her backpack and crept to the window. Chucking her backpack out onto the ground she slid out the window. Tiptoeing through the hospital gardens she reached the main road and started walking. Where to she didn't know. Anywhere but here. She'd left a note for Luke telling him that she was sorry she had to leave, but she didn’t want his help. She didn't need it anymore. Finally she was free! Free from all the pain, the anger, the hurting. And free from the sympathy of others. I'm going to start a new life! Away from all this. Where no one will know my past or me. I told him I could make it and I will. Without their help.