” Donny? How bad is it?”

“Y…Y..you Sh…Shouldn’t have let me…me out Sam”

“ Shhh keep your voice down and go slow.”

Shane rubbed her hand along his back as he tried to keep the sobs that shook the bed quiet. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and slowly pulled it back. She bit her bottom lip that trembled as she saw the blood on his back from where the belt buckle had broken his skin.

“Please don’t”

As if they shared one mind, he knew she was already reaching out to touch the welts and bruises that had already formed.

“ I’m sorry…I…I couldn’t leave you in there again Donny.”

“You should have…its …n..n..not worth both of us …ge…ge…getting hurt”

“ Yeah but, you’re all I’ve got so when you’re in there its like I am too.”

“Sam”

“ No… No Donny….Stop it, you’re scaring me, your giving up”.

“There’s no point in fighting anymore it just makes it worse”

She climbed in bed and tucked her body under the covers along side his smaller frame. She wrapped her arms around him.

“ Promise me Donny….Promise me you won’t stop fighting him…if you let him do what he does to you that means its right and its not….he’s not supposed to touch…”

“Stop Sam …I…I don’t wa…wa..want to talk about it anymore”

Shane gasped as he turned around and revealed he full damage that was done to his face. His lip was swollen and split and his nose looked like it sat at an old angle as the bridge throbed with blood. She held out a shaking hand and he recoiled immediately but stopped when he saw the pleading in Shane’s desperate eyes. She smooted the hair that was matted with blood to his forehead aside and pressed her hair against his cheek causing him to wince in pain.

A fresh set of tears began to fall from his eyes as he saw the bruise on Shane’s cheek from where she’d been hit from disobeying orders. The tears slid across his bruised cheek and left a pool of salt and blood on the thread bare sheets on the bed they shared.

“ I’m sorry”

“You were only trying to help…besides most of it was done before you let me out.”