10. Maria Reynolds x Reader: Don't Leave Me.

                                    

                                          
╔═.✾. ═════════════╗
                          
HELPLESS.
10. Maria Reynolds x Reader: Don't Leave Me
                          
╚═════════════.✾. ═╝
                          
( Requested by Xx.And.Maria.Xx: Quotev )
                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
                          
THE woman standing before you was breathtakingly beautiful. But she was also bruised all over her face, as well as the skin that her tattered red dress failed to cover.
                          
"Please..." the woman begged once you had opened the door and found her staring at you with teary brown eyes. "Help... me..."
                          
You gasped in shock when she collapsed at your feet.
                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
                          
A few hours later — which consisted of you sitting in a chair beside the mysterious, but beautiful, woman's bed in case she woke up — the woman stirred in her sleep, muttering something that was too quiet to make out. Eventually, you realized that she was saying, "James... no, no, no!" over, and over again.
                          
It stopped when her eyes shot open, and she bolted upright, her chest heaving up and down as every breath she took was ragged and uneven.
                          
"Are you alright, Miss?" you asked hesitantly.
                          
Her eyes that had been darting around frantically met yours. "Who are you?"
                          
"I'm (Y/N) (Y/L/N)," you replied. "And may I know the name of the beautiful woman lying in my bed?"
                          
Her cheeks turned red to match her still-tattered dress. "Maria Reynolds, though I suppose it's Maria Lewis now."
                          
"Why?" you asked, before realizing that you were probably being incredibly nosy. "I'm sorry — that was incredibly rude of me. You don't have to say if you don't want to."
                          
She sighed, before looking down at her hands, and sighing again. "Long story short, my husband — ex-husband, now, I suppose, since he wants nothing to do with me — kicked me out of the house. He was angry, and, uh..." She gestured to the bruises on her face and arms, "this happened."
                          
"I'm sorry." You were at a loss for words, not wanting to believe that someone had hurt this beautiful woman sitting in front of you.
                          
She shook her head, her brown curls bounced up and down on top of her head, catching the the sunlight that was streaming through the curtains, and making it seem as though she had a halo made of light. "Don't be," she said. "It's not your fault. James has always been like this."
                          
You were scandalized. "He beats you?"
                          
"No." Looking uncertain about whether to continue, she said. "He used to make me have sex with other men in exchange for money. The motto was, if you pay, you can stay."
                          
"But that's just disgusting!"
                          
She nodded gravely. "And when he made me sleep with Alexander Hamilton for three months even though he had a wife and five children, I just couldn't take it anymore, especially after he publicly humiliated me in what he called the Reynolds Pamphlet."
                          
"But it wasn't your fault!" you exclaimed. "It was Hamilton's. He's the one that wrote about it."
                          
"I know, but James just needed someone to blame. He'd been getting angrier, and I suppose that it was the last straw."
                          
"Before he..." you, like she had done earlier, gestured to the bruises.
                          
She nodded, and it was silent for a few seconds before you asked, "Would you like another dress?" Her chest was now almost completely exposed, and the only thing that was hiding it was the thin sheet on top of her body. "That one's looking past its days."
                          
"If it's not too much trouble," she said. "I don't want to look like this anymore."
                          
"Not at all." You stood up from the chair you had been sitting on, your back cracking slightly from the amount of time you had been sat there, waiting for Maria to wake up. "I'll go and get you one—"
                          
"Wait." Her voice sounded loud and strong when she interrupted you, though weak and desperate at the same time. "Don't leave me."
                          
With a smile, you sat back down. "Never."