Never Let Go - Part 5

Sara woke feeling groggy and confused. Her head hurt and her body felt as if it was stuck in mud. Laying in bed for a few more minutes, she tried to recall the night before.

At first, she came up blank. Then, Oh yeah.. date with Matt. She slowly replayed the dinner, the after meal stroll, and coming home in her mind. But then things were very foggy, fear crept in and a shiver ran down her spine. I can't remember.

Sara sat up carefully, swinging her legs over the side of the bed in preparation for a trip to the bathroom. Her crotch hurt. Oh, no. No no no no no.. What did I DO? What happened? Come on brain.. think. THINK. She felt embarrassed, self-conscious, and ashamed. But she didn't know why. Oh, jeez.. what Matt must think of me... Matt. As she thought of him, a lump of anger rose within her. She couldn't think of why she might be angry with him, but it was there. She dismissed it as just being angry at herself for the whole embarrassing situation.

Sara stood and walked to the bathroom, she still felt slightly sluggish but she made it okay. She pulled on some sweats and ran a brush through her hair before gathering it into a pony tail, and then went downstairs. As she entered the hall to the kitchen, she could smell bacon and hear someone moving around in the kitchen. That's odd.. Ms. Worthington should be at work by now..

As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Matt standing at the stove scrambling eggs. He turned when he heard her come in and smiled at her.

"Hey, sleepy head. You sleep okay?" he greeted her. She felt indignant yet vulnerable in his presence and wondered both why and how he was in the house. Surely, he hadn't been there all night?

"I'm... okay. What.. How did you get in?" she answered.

"Your key." he replied with a smile as he held up her house key. Sara's cheeks felt hot and she grabbed at the key, but Matt snatched it up away from her with a playful look. "What's the matter with you?"

"I think you should go, Matt.. I'm not feeling well."

"No."

"What??"

"No." The playfulness quickly dissolved into anger. "I come over here to make you breakfast and you kick me out!? What the hell is wrong with you Sara?"

"I.. I just don't feel.." Sara stammered as he stood there scowling at her.

"I don't want to hear your stupid excuses. You have someone else coming over here, don't you!" he turned away from the stove, hot spatula still in hand.

"No.. no, I.."

"Shut up!" he shouted as he swung and struck her in the face with the spatula. She cried out as searing pain spread across her face and her cheek burned red. Sara cowered and slumped into a chair at the table, but Matt came after her and, dropping the spatula on the table, lifted her out of the chair and shook her. "I've been so good to you, and this is how you treat me!? First trying to wear that slutty dress last night on a date with me, and now kicking me out when all I did was try to make you breakfast??" he shook her one more time before dropping her onto the floor and turning to walk out. On his way, he knocked the pan of eggs off the stove on to the floor.

"Make your own damn breakfast, bitch." he spat as he walked out of the kitchen.

Sara drew her knees to her chest as she sat on the kitchen floor and let the tears come. She listened as Matt walked down the hall and out the front door, slamming it behind him.