This is a story about the emotional effects of domestic abuse that I wrote a couple of months ago but never put online because I had a boyfriend at the time so I didn't want people to think it was about him haha. The inspiration came from a book I was reading, titled 'Mirror Mirror' which is a book of short fiction that is not as it appears. The stories are entirely in metaphor. Anyway I visualised this piece as part of an ad campaign against domestic abuse, but as I am a writer and not a media buff, I had to keep it to fiction instead. Hope you enjoy!
Hidden Damage
Ophelia's heart was on the floor in front of them, beating softly, right next to her brain, which was slightly more disgusting because it looked like an oversized maggot, and a dead one at that.
She used to love her two most vital organs being there in the open like that. They got a bit overworked in her body and so meeting Sebastian and being given the opportunity to take them out of her body for a while and leave them entrusted in his care had been a comforting one.
Sebastian had taken her heart and it's companion and laid them side by side on his pillow. He knew that until him, Ophelia had kept them locked inside her, never letting them breathe the open air of a boy's bedroom, or worse still be touched by one.
However, that was then and now Ophelia's organs were getting sick. Her heart kept racing unexpectedly, making it difficult to breathe and her neurotransmitters weren't half making it difficult to smile these days. She'd told Sebastian that she feared he may be neglecting them and mused over whether she should take over the responsibility of looking after them for a while but he had begged and pleased against this, saying he would surely die if he couldn't have full control over those things that once he had cherished so.
In it's run down and vulnerable state, her brain had given into the plea and Ophelia watched hazily from the bed as Sebastian now stamped on her heart with his foot over and over, throwing it against the wall, taking slow, deliberate chunks out of it with a kitchen knife.
Her brain he took a different approach with. He systematically destroyed it, splitting it in two and juggling with the pieces, singing songs about things that never happened and grinning at his progress, the devilish curl of his lip not quite meeting his empty eyes.
Those eyes.
So many people had commented on them. How something just wasn't there. How something was not quite right.
Sebastian spat on Ophelia's organs and pummelled them one more time for good measure before handing them back to Ophelia with a wry smile.
"I had to do it. You made me. Can't you see I had no choice?" he shrugged, not quite apologetically.
Ophelia's hand didn't react at first as her organs were pushed into it, black and bleeding and barely there. After a time, she wasn't sure how long, she forced them back into their rightful places. Her brain was so swollen she feared it would explode inside her head and create a mess and her heart struggled to find a rhythm it could stick to.
Knees shaking she stood and made her way back home. On the surface she was beautiful.
She wondered what her friends, what society would think if they could peer inside her and see the real damage, hidden beneath a layer of skin so strong she doubted anybody ever could penetrate it to see the truth. Knees buckling, she fainted.
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