Drag Me to the Grave

There was a soft knock on the front door and Beth’s dad opened it to find a cowering, shaking Emily staring back at him with tired eyes.

“Emily!” He exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Are you alright?”

She nodded slightly and then shrugged her right shoulder, brushing her chin against her jacket. “Is… Is Beth home?” She mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah!” He said. “Come in, sweetheart.” He wrapped his big, tattooed arm around her and for once in a long time, she felt safe in the presence of a man. He led her to the living room where he sat her down on the couch and insisted she make herself at home.

After a few minutes, Spencer and Beth hurried down the stairs and into the living room to join Emily. She was curled up on the couch, her worn down, navy blue vans sat on the floor next to the end table, and she was chewing on her thumb nail staring intently at her phone screen.

“Em?” Beth called to get her attention and sat down next to her. She reached out a tender hand and started rubbing her knee. “What’s going on? Talk to us.”

Emily shook her head and retracted her body further away from Beth. Marcus was a part of this band family. If she told Beth what was going on, she would never forgive him. She’d kick him out. He’d be living on the street somewhere, trying to find a new job, and Emily might never see him again. She would rather suffer through this and still be with the person she loved rather than never see him again.

“Emily, you need to tell Beth. She needs to hear this from you.” Spencer added.

Beth looked at him with a confused face. “You already know?”

Spencer shrugged. “She confided in me. What am I supposed to say?”

“Don’t blame Spencer for this.” Emily finally chimed in. “It’s about Marcus. And Spencer kept prodding so I caved and told him. Otherwise, I’d never have told him about this.”

“About what, Em?” Beth insisted.

“Marcus is abusing me, okay?” Emily raised her voice.

Beth sat frozen on the couch with her mouth hanging open and her eyes glued to Emily’s. The past few weeks filtered through Beth’s head and she started to blame herself for not seeing the signs: the long sleeve t-shirts, the excuses, the supposed “accidents”. It all fit together and she missed it completely. She’d let this go on for weeks and never even knew.

“How bad is it?” Beth asked when she finally found the ability to speak.

Emily looked down at her tucked up knees. “If I took all this makeup off, you would see how bad it really is.”

“Emily, you need to tell someone about this. I can’t let you keep living with him if he’s abusing you! You can stay here if you need. I’m not letting you go back there and once my dad knows, he won’t let you go back either.” Beth insisted.

“Beth, no, please.” Emily grabbed onto Beth’s forearm with a tight grip and a pleading look in her eyes. “You can’t tell anyone, especially not your dad. Marcus will go to jail if anyone finds out and that’s the last thing that’s going to help right now.”

Beth shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t believe her best friend was letting her boyfriend abuse her and wasn’t willing to let anyone do anything about it. This wasn’t like Emily at all. She remembered the moment she found out about Emily’s past.

“What are you doing over break? Anything fun?” Beth asked, packing away her things and getting ready for her dad to pick her up.

Emily shrugged, throwing a t-shirt into an old, worn out bag. “No, nothing really that fun honestly. Probably work so I can pay off next semester.”

Beth stopped throwing items into her bags and stared at Emily. “You’re paying for school all by yourself?! What about your parents? Aren’t they helping you?”

Emily looked down at her torn up chucks and continued throwing things into her bag. “My dad left us when I was young and my mom isn’t really in my life that much anymore.”

“You’re living on your own? How?!” Beth sat down on her bed.

Emily stopped throwing clothes into her bag and looked at Beth. “I don’t know, I’ve always kind of lived on my own.”

Beth could see the pain living in her eyes as she spoke about being on her own. She shifted back on the bed and patted the spot next to her. Emily walked over and jumped up onto the spot on the bed next to Beth. She scooted back and rested her body against the wall behind her.

“Wanna talk about it?” Beth offered. “My dad won’t be here for another hour. I have time.”

Emily rested her folded hands in her lap and stared down at them. “It all started when I was really young. My dad just up and left us one night and never came back. He was the source of our income and when my mom couldn’t pay the bills any longer, we ended up on the street. I lived in a cardboard box in an alleyway with my mom for years. Sometimes we were able to stay in a shelter, but most of the time it was always full by the time we got there. By the time I was sixteen, my mom was addicted to drugs and any money she made went to getting her next fix. I somehow managed to land a job in a restaurant bussing tables and eventually got moved up to waitressing when I was eighteen. I saved up all my money and put it towards college. I don’t really know what I’m going home to, but I know I’ll at least be making some money so I can come back to school.”

Beth put her arm around Emily. She was a fighter. She wasn’t one to give up easily and Beth admired her for that. With Beth’s dad being a famous rockstar, she’d gotten almost anything she could ever want or need. Emily lived a barren life full of uncertainty.

Emily looked down at her phone screen. “He’s calling me.” She felt a wave of panic rush through her.

“Don’t answer.” Beth advised.

Emily started hyperventilating. “I never should have left without telling him where I was going. He’s going to be so mad when I go home.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Spencer chimed in. “He doesn’t own you. He doesn’t need to know where you are at all times and he shouldn’t be mad at you for going out without him. You both need a reality check if you think that’s what a normal relationship should be like.”

“This is all because of his stupid dad!” Emily stood up, throwing her phone to the floor. She started sobbing, cupping her face with her hands.

Beth and Spencer stood up and wrapped their arms around her in a group hug. A comforting touch was all she needed right now. She hadn’t had that from anyone in a long time.

Notes

What's that? I'm updating? Yeah, finally. A lot has happened in my life since my last update but finals are almost done so I'm hoping I can continue more updates!