Purple Romance

She picked the hot broth and pointed at the woman adding, ''even the pain from this broth is nothing compared to the pain in my heart'' she poured the hot broth on to her hands and everyone gasped''

''Lisa'' Paula screamed and took of Lisa's hand. She had scalded herself really bad, 'hey!!!'' she screamed at her but Lisa didn't pay attention to her as she continued to speak to her mother.

''All my life, nobody wanted to be friends with me. nobody wanted to associate with me because I had a psycho as a mother and a stepfather who tried to abuse me every night. I had to lock the door every night and wear thick clothes from head to toe just so he doesn't see anything that could possibly arouse him and make him try to rape me. but, you knew all of that and never did anything about it. even with that, when you fell sick, I still brought you here. I work hard to pay for the bills and also provide for you but what do you do? You now want to insult the only person who has being with me despite knowing how wrecked and useless I am. Mom, you see this woman, she is my bottom line and this is the last time I am coming here''

''Lise'' Paula picked a bottle of water and opened it, pouring it on Lisa's hand. Her tears fell as she touched her friend who didn't even bother to care about the pain in her. She knew Lisa was hurting but she couldn't even do anything for her.

''Let's go'' Lisa said and turned to go and Hanna said to her.

''If she is worth it, then make sure you protect her because that man is watching you''

''You just take care of yourself. When you die, I will come for your ashes'' Lisa replied and heard Paula's voice.

''Leslie?'' Paula said and Lisa turned and saw Leslie at the door with another doctor and other patients. They were watching them.

''Ha'' Lisa chuckled dryly and walked towards the door. The people gave way and she stopped in front of Leslie and said to him, ''our contract ends today''

''Lisa wait'' Paula said and ran after her.

After standing still for a while, Leslie looked at the woman inside before running out of the shelter.

Lisa got into the car and sped off without waiting for Paula. By the time she and Leslie got outside, they saw her going away. Paula turned to Leslie.

''Please, go after her and make sure she is okay?'' Paula said to Leslie.

''Alright'' Leslie replied and ran to his car. he got in and drove off hurriedly.

Paula sighed and went back into the hospital. She entered into the ward to take Lisa's bag and Hanna spoke to her.

''Thank you for not abandoning Lisa''

''That's funny coming from the person who just hurt her?'' Paula said and looked at Hanna.

''As long as she associates herself with me, that man would come for her. She won't ever be safe by coming to see me often''

''Who is this man that is after Lisa?''

''Her stepfather. He is not even human. He is a monster. A flesh eating monster who thinks that Lisa is responsible for his life going wrong''

''What exactly happened? Can you tell me about it?''

''Sit down first'' Hanna said and sat up.

''Are you going to tell me?''

''Everything is my fault. I think that I am paying for the sins of my crimes. I grew up always looking for men who could help me and give me money. When I got pregnant with Lisa, I was scared. I didn't know what to do and tried to get rid of the pregnancy but never succeeded. After giving birth to Lisa, I tried again to kill her but I couldn't do it each time I tried''

''Did you hate her that much? She wasn't even asking for much. You weren't the one giving her breath so why did you want to take it away from her?'' Paula had been with Lisa for a little over three years and she had never really talked to her about her childhood. Paula didn't also ask her because she realised the topic was an uncomfortable one for Lisa.

''I met Donald when Lisa was six years old and we moved into his place. At first, he was good to us, but then he lost his job and then started drinking. I was a cleaner at a rich man's house and the family decided to take care of Lisa's school fees because she was such a brilliant kid. I didn't know that each time she returned from school she was always abused by Donald. I found out late but I couldn't do anything to him''

''She is your daughter. How could you not have anything to do about it? she was not even a teenager yet and he started abusing her. I can never understand you. No, I don't think I can forgive you for what you did to Lisa. Lisa is such a lovely girl. People think that she is a slut and say all sort of things about her but all I see is a broken girl who wants to be loved but she is finding it in the wrong places. Hearing you act as if you care about Lisa when you kept quiet all these years makes me feel disgusted. That man who is after Lisa, is he the same person who abused her?''

''Yes. Lisa reported him to the police and he went to prison but he is out. Lisa doesn't know that he is out but he came here to see me''

Before they had arrived, that man had visited her and told her horrible things. She was scared of that man. she was powerless against him, because he held all her secrets and the truth about Lisa which nobody knew.

''Okay. so he came back to take revenge on my darling, right?''

''Yes''

''Okay, let him bring it on then. If he as much touch even a single hair on Lisa, I will kill him. Tell him that when he comes again'' Paula said and took her bag and Lisa's and went out of the ward.

Paula went out and walked towards the roadside to pick a taxi when a car pulled over and Andy got down.

''Oh, Andy. What are you doing here?''

''Leslie told me you were stranded here and I came to pick you up. When you didn't answer your phone, I thought that you had left already''

''My phone?'' Paula removed the phone, 'oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see the calls coming. My mind is a little clustered right now''

''Get in'' Andy opened the door for her.

''Thank you for coming. Did Leslie tell you he found Lisa?''

''Yes, they are together. What happened?''

''Nothing much. A personal matter''

''No need to tell me if it's not about you'' he said and smiled before driving away.

''Thanks for understanding''

…..

Lisa sat down on the shore and stretched her legs towards the water and it splashed against her feet as it moved back and forth.

Leslie walked to her holding a black bag and a pack of can beer. He placed pack of can beer by her side before removing the contents of the black bag. There were medical first aid supplies inside.

''Give me your hand'' he said to her and she looked at him.

''I thought you left. What are you still doing here?''

''How could you deliberately hurt yourself in this manner? If you are hungry, speak out about it. I know that the pain in our heart sometimes makes the physical pain to feel like nothing, but if you do this to yourself all the time, then you would be hurting only you'' he spoke while applying the ointment on her scald. She hissed and held his hand.

''It hurts'' she glared at him.

''Right, it does hurt. So why did you do that? Listen, I am not going to talk about what happened because that is your personal life and we already promised each other not to be nosy but as long as you have ties with me, you must know what I hate the most'' he looked at her with a serious expression as he continued, ''I hate people who think that hurting themselves would make others feel guilty. If you hurt yourself and think that the other party would feel guilty for your scars, then you are wrong. in this world, people only care about themselves. So if someone hurts you, you either hurt them back or forget of them but never attempt to hurt yourself. You will only be harming yourself''

Lisa noticed he was looking at the knife mark on her cleavage and she used her free hand to pull her blouse up, covering it well before looking away. She bit her lips trying to keep the tears away. This was her war, her world and she didn't expect him or anyone else to understand her.