Part II:

Help Me…Please

A week later Amber was preparing to return to work after one more day off, but her plans were interrupted by another attack. This time it was by Darien, in fact she felt so humiliated she started to wish that Darien was the one who attacked her. This time it was Sandy, she had come home from work to grab some lunch and apparently use Amber as a punching bag. Amber was laying on the couch watching the news when she heard the door open. She didn’t bother to look she knew that it must be Sandy because Weaver always called before she came home to check in on Amber. She yawned slightly and continued to watch the news thinking that Sandy would get her lunch and leave but she was wrong.

“I am so sick of you…” She heard Sandy say from behind her, she sat up and looked in the direction of the other woman wondering where this sudden hatred was coming from, “If you are going to stay here you are going to earn it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Amber replied as she watched Sandy approach the couch, since it had almost been two weeks since Darien’s last attack her personality was moving back towards her regular attitude. Sandy grabbed the remote out of Amber’s hand and then back handed her as hard as she could, Amber cried out in pain and surprise. When Darien did this to her, her first instinct was to cower but it had been a while and she decided that she would try to fight back. She didn’t take into account the fact that she was still rather malnourished and weak from the previous months of binging and purging. She was slow and not strong at all and Sandy put her hand on Amber’s throat and pulled her to her feet. Amber tried to scream but the grip on her throat was too tight, she could barely breathe.

“Did you eat today?” Sandy growled at her, “You don’t even work any more, and you think you can just eat MY Food?” After declaring that Sandy punched her in the stomach hard and considering the fact that Amber had just eaten she knew that she was going to throw up from that. Sandy saw her gag slightly and let her go happy with the results that she had caused, Amber darted to the bathroom where she emptied the contents of her stomach in the toilet and started to cry. A moment later Sandy was in there with her, and she pulled Amber up by her hair and stroked her cheek gently. “You are going to do everything I say…and if you even THINK about telling Kerry…”

“What’ You’ll hurt me more?” Amber managed to spit out even though she was more terrified then she could ever remember.

“No…I’ll hurt Kerry and make you watch.” Sandy smiled wickedly and shoved Amber towards the sink, “Now brush your teeth and get into the bedroom when you are finished.” She hit Amber in the back of the head for good measure before leaving. Amber then leaned against the sink and started to cry, her getting hurt was one thing but there wasn’t any way she was going to let Sandy do something to Weaver. She slowly brushed her teeth and headed into the bedroom, her body trembling, and just for a moment she wished that Darien was in there instead of Sandy.

When Weaver came home after her shift she didn’t see Amber on the couch in her usual spot and she began to worry. She set her stuff down and walked into the house more, wondering if Amber had decided to sleep in the bed instead of on the couch but she wasn’t in the bedroom either. She took a deep breath and listened for anything , any movement, or sound. For a moment there was nothing but then a gagging sound came from the bathroom, followed by the sound of some one throwing up. She hurried into the bathroom to find Amber on the floor by the toilet crying, there was a little blood trickling from her nose and a small cut under her eye.

“Oh my god Amber what happened?” Weaver hurried over to her and got down, she started to rub Amber’s back gently. Amber looked at her for a moment almost like she was in shock and she didn’t exactly reply, “I know you were talking about going back to your house earlier to get some stuff…did you go? Was Darien there?” Amber took a deep breath and suppressed a gag, it was going to be a lot easier for Weaver to believed that over Sandy attacking her so she nodded slightly. Amber thought she was going to be okay after the encounter, she tried to eat but for some reason her brain was back into the mode that eating was bad, probably because Sandy had yelled at her and punched her in the stomach. She couldn’t keep anything down and she had tried, tried everything, but her body wasn’t listening to her.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered, her body was shaking terribly and there was a thin coat of cold sweat covering her entire body. She was wearing one of Weaver’s sweaters and a pair of sweat pants, she had put the sweater on after Sandy had left because it smelled like Kerry and amazingly enough it helped to calm her down. “I was cold I needed a sweater and…”

“No it’s okay don’t worry about that.” Weaver replied, she took a deep breath and shook her head wondering what on earth would make a woman go back to a man who was beating her. “Come on, you need to lay down.” Weaver helped her up and Amber slowly made her way to the sink where she rinsed her mouth out her eyes wouldn’t even glance up at the mirror, she knew she was in horrible condition. She was so afraid of Sandy hurting Weaver, and because she loved Kerry so much she was going to keep quiet. She told herself that it was her fault that she shouldn’t have become so laid back, that Sandy was right about her being selfish and not working and in that way she was able to justify the way she had been treated. Weaver walked Amber into the bedroom and Amber looked at the bed but she wouldn’t get in it, she looked away and took a step back.

“I’d rather be on the couch Kerry.” She whispered, she didn’t want to be in that bed ever again not after what Sandy had done. Weaver didn’t ask questions she just wanted Amber to lay down so they both walked out of the room and Amber sat down on the couch before laying down and curling up into a little ball. Weaver took the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and covered Amber’s trembling body with it but she was almost positive that Amber wasn’t shaking because she was cold. “Thank you.”

“No problem, can I get you anything?” Weaver offered before taking a seat next to Amber, Amber shook her head slightly she knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep anything down there was no point in eating. She looked at the clock on the wall, there was less then ten minutes before Sandy would be home and this caused Amber to start crying again, she couldn’t believed how afraid she was. If it had just been a few days more she would have had enough strength to fight the woman off but it seemed like Sandy knew that she would have the upper hand and she definitely was going to take advantage of a weaker woman…that’s just how abusers operated. “Shhh it’s okay.” Weaver gently pulled Amber into her arms and held her, she was attracted to Amber but she was in love with Sandy, or so she thought…she sometimes didn’t think she was in love with Sandy as much as she was afraid of her. In any case she wasn’t going to make a move, she had some one and she should be happy.

“No don’t…” Amber pushed away from Weaver gently, “Sandy will get mad if she sees you holding me.”

“Amber…”

“No Kerry.” She said more firmly this time, Weaver blinked a few times and nodded. She gave Amber one last hug before she stood up and headed towards the kitchen she decided that tonight was a good night to order out. Amber laid back down on the couch and went back to curling up in her fetal position, tears poured down her cheeks as she cried silently…she didn’t know how much longer she could live like this.

Two days later it seemed like Amber was in another downward spiral, and Weaver couldn’t figure out why. Sandy hadn’t lost her temper for the past few days, in fact they didn’t fight at all so it made her wonder what was going on. Amber was sitting on the couch rocking herself back and fourth, Sandy had been hitting her in places where bruising wasn’t visible, but she didn’t know how much longer she could go with out saying anything. Weaver came home after her shift and finally Sandy was working a night which meant she wouldn’t come home.

“Amber, I think we might have to get you into counseling.” Weaver said as she took a seat next to Amber, Amber looked at her for a moment like she was crazy, she knew what the problem was and she couldn’t tell anyone.

“You know what Kerry?” Amber finally spoke up, “I know what the problem is and you are the only one who can fix it but if I tell you then you might get hurt and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sandy is the problem, she comes home from work and uses me as her own personal sex toy!” Amber stood up from the couch and headed over to the kitchen to get a drink, she still was having trouble keeping food down but she was able to eat enough that she wasn’t in any danger. Weaver looked at her she could hardly believe that Sandy would do anything like that and so she followed Amber into the kitchen.

“Sandy wouldn’t do that.” Weaver replied completely shocked at the accusation that Amber was making. Amber opened one of the cabinets and took out a bottle of vodka and started to drink from it. She now regretted that she said anything about it but it was too late to take it back.

“Yeah well she comes home…yells at me for eating your food, then she hits me in the stomach and then I throw up and then…I have to…pleasure her.” Amber swallowed hard before taking another drink from the bottle and she started to walk back to the couch. Weaver followed her and sat back down next to her, she didn’t know what she was supposed to believe but why would Amber lie about such a thing?

“Well I’ll talk to her and see what is going on okay?” Weaver tried to reassure Amber that she would make things better.

“NO!” Amber screeched, “You can’t she said she would hurt you and make me watch.”

“Come on Amber Sandy is not going to do anything to me, It’ll be okay.” Weaver put her hand on Amber’s shoulder but she just shrugged it off and drank more vodka. Weaver growled slightly and took the bottle away from her, she didn’t want Amber to be getting drunk on an empty stomach.

“Yeah sure that’s what they always say.” Amber frowned and then curled up on the couch, she couldn’t say she was surprised with Weaver not believing her especially considering how nice Sandy was to Kerry over the past few days. She would take all of her aggression out on Amber and then come home all happy and calm to sleep with Weaver in the same bed that she had used Amber on. Weaver sighed and stood up, she turned and looked at Amber who had already curled up on the couch and pulled a blanket around herself.

“I’m going to take a shower and then I’ll make some dinner, do you want any?”

“No, I’ll be fine…” Amber muttered before rolling over on her side so she was facing away from Kerry. Kerry rolled her eyes slightly and headed for the bathroom, all Amber could do now was wait until Sandy found out that she told…she couldn’t even imagine the kind of pain she would be put through when Weaver told her.

The next day Amber was dressed in the morning when Weaver got up for work, she wanted to go into work too because she decided that anything was better then being Sandy’s punching bag for another day.

“No, you aren’t going to work.” Weaver said as she poured herself a cup of coffee, “You are not in any condition to work.”

“Please Kerry, let me come in and if I show signs that I can’t handle it I’ll come back here okay?” Amber pleaded, Weaver looked at her for a moment and then reluctantly agreed. Amber smiled and ran into the bathroom to get ready. Kerry hadn’t talked to Sandy about what Amber had said the night before, and Sandy was now asleep in the bedroom so Amber didn’t have to worry about any harassment.

Amber came into work and was greeted with a very warm hello from everyone, it made her feel so much better seeing so many people who had missed her being there. Weaver started her on simple things trying to make sure she wasn’t going to be over stressed, usually Amber would have been annoyed with the easy cases but right now she was just happy to get away from Sandy.

“It’s good to see you back…how’s Darien?” Luka asked her casually as she passed by him, she stopped and smiled slightly.

“We broke up.” She said not sounding the least bit disappointed with that, they hadn’t really broken up, and until she could get Darien out of her house she was going to have to continue her stay at Weaver’s…unless she could find some one else to be with. “Wanna get some coffee with me?”

“Sounds fun, I’m on break in about an hour so I’ll see you then?” He replied as they both stopped a the front desk. He set down the papers he was holding and looked to her for confirmation she smiled and nodded at him before walking off to her next patient. She was thinking that she had sex with Darien enough times that if things came down to it should could sleep with Luka if it meant being away from Sandy.

“Did you just ask him out?” Weaver said as she came up behind Amber, Amber turned and looked at her for a moment.

“Yes…so?” She replied quickening her pace trying to lose Kerry who was now close on her tail. She felt a lot better being at work then she did sitting around watching TV. Weaver clenched her teeth but decided not to say anything about it, if Amber wanted to do something stupid then she was going to let her. She shook her head slightly before turning to walk away from Amber. Amber breathed a sigh of relief before stepping behind curtain three to talk to her patient, and she was starting to feel better already