Prologue

 

There was something wrong. Something didn’t seem right. I looked around, but all I saw was darkness. I called out, but no sound came from my mouth. I grabbed my neck out of reaction, but as much as I tried, there was still no sound. I soon gave up after a while, so I decided to walk around to figure out where I was. After walking around in darkness for a while, I soon saw a door with light coming up from underneath the bottom of the door. I let the light lead me towards the door, almost as if it was pulling me towards it. My feet moved without the consent, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to leave this darkness.

My hand reached out towards the door handle, but I hesitated. What was on the other side of this door? Where would it lead me? I shook my head and pulled on the handle, but the door didn’t budge. I pulled on it harder, but it still didn’t move. I put both of my hands on the handle and pulled with all of my might. After what seemed like hours of trying to get the door open, I heard something click inside the door. I instantly let go of the door and backed away from it. It slowly opened and I had to cover my eyes from the harsh light that instantly flooded the room. After my eyes had adjusted, I finally saw what was on the other side of the door. My hands started to shake and tears pricked my eyes.

This was all wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I fell to my knees and covered my mouth. The blood soaked into the knees of my jeans, but I didn’t care. I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to stop this. It was my fault. I screamed at the floor, but all that came out was a deafening silence.

 

 

Chapter 1

My eyes shot open and I gasped for breath. My heart was accelerating faster than it ever had and I put my hand over my heart. I sat up in bed slowly, afraid that any more movement would make my heart beat faster. My hair clung to my face from the sweat that had built up from the nightmare. I wiped my long, auburn hair from my face and shoved the hot blankets off of my legs. I stood up from my bed and stretched as much as I could. My whole body felt sticky from the sweat, so I decided to shower before I went to school. When I was done showering, I checked my clock. I started to move around my house faster when I realized that I only had twenty more minutes until my friend, Jenna, picked me up for school.

I smiled when I remembered that it was the day that Jenna and I had planned for months. We were going to do something special, but Jenna wouldn’t tell me what she had planned. After I had gotten done getting ready in my room, I bounded down the steps to get breakfast. I walked into the kitchen and was surprised when I saw my mom making coffee. I stopped walking and just looked at her for a few seconds. She was always gone before I was in the morning, since she worked as a surgeon at the local hospital. Her silk pajamas shimmered from the overhead light as she turned to face me.

She smiled at me and said, “Good morning Aleksandria.”

I smiled faintly at her and said quietly, “Good morning.”

“I asked for the day off a few months ago so we could spend a day together!”

“A day together?”

“Yeah! I asked for it off so we could catch up.”

“Catch up?”

“Yes! I barely know what’s going on in your life nowadays and I just want to spend some time with my own daughter.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. Why did she pick today of all days? My mom and I had never really been that close ever since the accident, so I was curious of what had sparked her sudden mood change.

I said quietly, “Well mom, Jenna and I planned to hang out today…”

Her smile faltered as she asked, “What?”

“Jenna and I have been planning to hang out for months.”

“Well what’s so important that you have to miss spending a day with your own mother?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Well that’s the thing. She never told me what we were doing because she wanted to keep it a surprise.”

My mom looked at me and I could tell that she thought I was lying to her. I wanted to tell her that I really wasn’t lying and that I actually did have something planned. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t my fault since she never told me that she had asked for it off, so it really wasn’t my fault.

She said quietly as she turned back towards the coffee machine, “Okay. I see. Have fun on your day with Jenna.”

I could tell that she was upset with me, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to get in a fight with her before school. I heard a honk from outside and I started to walk towards the door. I looked back once and saw that my mom was still staring at the coffee machine. I turned back towards the door and walked out of the house. I smiled when I saw Jenna waiting in my driveway in her silver Grand Prix. She was comically singing along to the music playing on the radio, which I could hear from my front door. I shook my head as I walked towards her car and almost covered my ears when I opened the passenger door. She laughed and turned her radio down. I sat down and she pulled out of the driveway.

She asked me as she was driving to school, “Are you excited about tonight?!”

I smiled and said, “Well, you’re lucky that we’re even hanging out. My mom asked for a day off just to hang out with me and catch up, but I told her that I had plans with you.”

Her jaw dropped and she said incredulously, “Your mom asked for a day off? Your mom?”

I laughed and said, “She’ll probably just go in anyway now that we can’t hang out. She’s actually probably glad that I couldn’t spend the day with her. She probably wanted to go back to the hospital. I swear, I think she’s more comfortable in the hospital than in our own home!”

Jenna laughed and said, “I can believe it.”

Jenna shook her head and it was silent in the car as we drove into the school parking lot. We both got out of her car and slowly walked towards the school. When we opened the doors, it felt as if everyone was looking at us. This wasn’t abnormal for Jenna, since she was one of the most popular girls in school, but for me, it felt as if they were all looking at me like I was some kind of animal. Most people didn’t understand Jenna and I’s friendship, and neither did I. She was one of the most popular girls in the school, but I was the quiet, straight-A student that never talked out of turn. We walked to our lockers, which happened to be right next to each other and grabbed our books for first period.

As we walked to class, most people said hello to Jenna or asked how she was, but most of them didn’t even look at me, almost as if I didn’t even exist. A few of the more humble students nodded at me, but I just quietly nodded back at them. We walked into the class and saw that we were already two minutes late. The only seats that were left were completely across the room. Jenna smiled at me and darted towards the one that was in-between the two boys that she has had a crush on the whole year. I smiled faintly when I saw that the only seat was next to Stuart Johnson. He smiled at me as I sat down, but the teacher quickly commanded for our attention.

She said slowly, “Today, we’re going to watch a movie. Don’t get too rowdy or I’m going to shut it off and we’re going to read out of the book.”

She looked at us sternly before turning towards the TV to set it up. All of the students immediately shoved their desks together and started to talk. Everyone knew that she wouldn’t punish us for talking. She never got truly mad at anyone. She said that the only reasons she ever threatens anyone is if she sees the principle walk by. Stuart slid his desk over to mine and clapped his hands together.

He smiled at me and said, “So, there’s a party going on tonight at someone’s house. Do you want to go with me? Like as a date?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

I told him, “You know that I’m not going to say yes for a very long time and besides, you know that I have never been one for parties.”

He sighed heavily and nodded his head. He seemed like he was upset for a few seconds, but he quickly shook it off. He turned his attention towards the TV as the movie started. I chuckled to myself as the movie began. He had always asked me to go out with him since the end of junior year, which was last summer. I told him no, but he continued to ask me every week. He was determined to be the first one to date Aleksandria Baynes. I shook my head and turned my attention back on the TV.

He smiled at me and said, “Can’t you try something new? For me?”

I shook my head and smiled sarcastically.

He persisted, “Please! Can’t you just-“

I cut him off, “Shhh. I like this part of the movie!”

I looked back at the TV and instantly groaned. The movie was, of course, right on the saddest part of the whole thing. On the screen, there were kids being taken away from their families and the mom was crying on the ground. Of course. It was just my luck.

I heard Stuart laugh and he asked, “You like it when kids are taken away from their parents? That’s a little harsh if you ask me. You know what? I could tell everyone in school about your sick habits and everyone would make sure to never let you babysit their siblings.”

I faked concern, “Oh no! Anything but that!”

He was about to say something else, but the lights were turned on and the teacher started to talk before he could.

The teacher said, “Okay, we only have a few minutes left of class, so just make good use of your time.”

Stuart immediately turned to me and asked, “So, what if we didn’t go to the party? What if we just went and saw a movie?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Well, I already have plans that I really cannot cancel. I really can’t get out of it.”

He gave me a skeptical look, but he didn’t say anything. I turned to look back at Jenna and she smiled at me.

She mouthed the words to me, “I can’t wait for tonight!”

I nodded back at her and she immediately gave her attention back to the boys who were more than happy to give her the attention that she wanted.

Stuart asked me, “So you’re hanging out with Jenna tonight?”

I said cautiously, “Yes…”

He nodded and the bell rang before I was able to ask him why he was curious. He got up from his seat and smiled at me before he walked out of the room. Curiosity rose inside of me as he walked out of the room. Why had he given up so easily? I cleared my thoughts as I walked out into the hallway. My next class was science, which was halfway across the building. When I got to the classroom, I was already a few minutes late. I walked in and immediately groaned. The teacher glared at me and completely stopped talking. She waited until I sat down in the only seat left to begin talking again. The only seat left was, of course, next to Stuart.

He leaned over and said after a few seconds, “You’re lucky. I saved that seat just for you. I had to beat off some other people just so they wouldn’t sit there.”

By the looks of some of the other girls in the class, he wasn’t lying. In school, Stuart was the guy that every girl wanted and every guy wanted to be. He was the golden, all-American student that was involved in almost every sport and had near-perfect grades. He was able to hang out with the populars, as I like to call them, but he chose not to. He told me that he would rather hang out with people like Jenna and I instead of the other people who were completely fake. It also helped that Jenna, him, and I had all grown up together since we were all toddlers.

Since we had grown up together, he had always made jokes about me and poked at me for fun, but he was just having fun with all of it at the time. Now, he thought that I wouldn’t go out with him because I was getting back at him for all the times he had made fun of me when we were young kids. Little did he know, I was making sure that he wasn’t just asking me out to say that he was the first to date me. I wanted to make sure that he was serious about liking me and that he was willing to pass up other girls who would gladly do anything that he asked of them.

I smiled at him and said, “Thank you so much. You are so considerate.”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “What can I say? I’m naturally talented.”

I shook my head and tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, but I was lost within minutes. I started to doodle on the side of my notebook and before I knew it, the bell rang. The rest of the morning passed in a blur and I before I knew it, I walked into the lunchroom. I grabbed my tray and smiled when I sat down next to Jenna. I took a bite of my hotdog and saw Stuart enter the lunchroom out of the corner of my eye. He looked over at me and smiled widely. I smiled back and turned my attention back on the food in front of me.

Jenna looked between Jenna and I and said, “Someone’s got his eyes on you.”

I almost choked on my food and asked incredulously, “What?”

“Stuart. I can tell that he likes you.”

“Does not.”

“Does too.”

“Does not!”

I heard Stuart’s voice behind me, “Does not what?”

I almost jumped and said quickly, “We were talking about how one of the teachers was pregnant. Jenna thinks that she shows a belly, but I think that she doesn’t.”

Jenna shook her head at me and smiled mischievously.

Stuart just shook his head and said, “Whatever.”

He started to shovel down his food, but he suddenly stopped.

He asked Jenna after he had swallowed his food, “So Jenna, what are we doing tonight?”

I almost spit out my milk.

I asked loudly, “What?!”

A few people looked over at me, so I asked again in a quieter voice, “What?!”

Stuart looked at me like I was dumb, “Oh come on! Do you honestly think that I would let it go that easily?”

I instantly glared at Jenna, but she held up her hands.

She said in her defense, “What? He was very persistent. Trust me. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

I shook my head and he asked again, “So, what are we doing?”

Jenna smiled and said, “I can’t say in front of her. It’s going to be a surprise.”

I rolled my eyes at both of them, but they just laughed. The bell rang, signaling that it was time for the next class to start. I sighed heavily as I stood up, not really sure how to feel about the fact that I was going to have to spend a whole night with Stuart trying to hit on me the entire time. The afternoon classes passed slowly, almost as if time was going slower in order to make my nerves about the coming night to rise throughout the afternoon. I walked out of the doors as the last bell rang and saw Jenna waiting by her car. I walked over to her car and threw my bag in the back. She smiled at me as we drove out of the parking lot, but she turned the wrong way.

I asked after a few seconds, “You do know that your house is the other way right?”

She laughed and said, “Yeah I know. We’re not going to my house until we’re done.”

“Done with what?”

“We’re going to have some fun tonight.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

I asked her in a quiet voice, “Fun?”

“Of course! I’m going to help you embrace your inner wild side!”

I definitely didn’t like the sound of that.

“Where are we going Jenna?”

“Well, we're going over to someone’s house for a party, but we need to make a few stops before we do that.”

A party? I had never been to a party in my life, but Jenna had definitely been to enough for both her and me in a lifetime. I never saw the point in parties, which was why I thought they were a waste of time. Everyone just gets drunk at the end and makes decisions that they’re going to regret. Why have a “night of fun” if you can’t even remember it the next morning?

I sighed heavily and asked, “Where are we stopping?”

“We need to pick Stuart up of course!”

“Is there going to be room for him?”

“Oh yeah he should be able to fit in the back.”

“Are you sure?”

“If there’s no room, maybe he’ll have to sit up front.”

“There’s no way that I’m going to sit in the back.”

“If he doesn’t fit, the only other choice that you’ll have is to sit in his lap. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that.”

I gaped at her and she burst out laughing.

She said loudly, “I’m just kidding! I’m completely kidding!”

We drove to his house in silence and Jenna pulled into his driveway. He walked out of his house and I got out of the car so he could get in the back. He climbed into the back surprisingly smooth and I got in the front seat. Jenna smiled knowingly at me, but I just hit her arm. She laughed and pulled back out of his driveway.

I asked, “Who’s house are we going to anyway?”

Jenna said happily, “Luke Castille’s house.”

Luke Castille? How the heck had she managed to get invited to his party?

I gave her a look and she explained, “It was an open invite and I figured why not? I’ve had a crush on him for a couple years now, so why not try to make something happen tonight?”

Stuart made gagging noises from the back seat and she glared back at him. I laughed as they both made faces at each other. When Jenna drove up to Luke’s house, I could hear the music a block away. I groaned when I saw that there were cars all along the block. This definitely wasn’t my crowd. We all got out of the car and looked around to take it all in. There were people stumbling out of the house, and they looked like they didn’t really know where they were going. Some people were smoking something near the back of the house, but the smoke smell had a sweet bite to it, which made me think that they weren’t just smoking cigarettes. Jenna and Stuart seemed confident as we walked towards the house, but I felt the exact opposite.

As we walked towards the door, it felt as if everyone’s eyes were plastered on me. I could clearly see the confusion on some of the people’s faces as they saw me walking into Luke Castille’s house. Jenna smiled at most of the boys that we passed, which made me nervous. I reminded myself to keep an eye on what she was going to drink, since she was both Stuart and my ride home. Stuart seemed like he was at ease, but he kept looking at me, almost as if he were afraid I was going to run away from this house never to come back, which was what I really wanted to do. We walked around his house for a while until Jenna finally spotted Luke. We were standing in the living room doorway, not really wanting to get sucked into the crowd of people who were dancing wildly.

Jenna smiled as Luke caught her eye and she said, “Catch you later.”

I tried to stop her and ask for her keys, but she was already mixed into the huge crowd. I was about to go through and find her, but Stuart grabbed my waist just as I started to move forward.

He said as he pulled me closer to him, “I wouldn’t go out there unless you want to be violated at least five different ways.”

I physically shuddered at the thought and he laughed. After a few seconds, I noticed that he still had his arms around my waist. I coughed and tried to pull away from him, but a few girls who had already drunk too much walked past and pushed me back into Stuart.

I said jokingly as he shot the girls a glare, “It’s really rough at parties.”

He smiled and said, “I bet the other living room’s not that crowded. It’s usually more mellow than this.”

He unwrapped his arms from around my waist and grabbed my hand. He beckoned me with his head to follow him and I did, beings how I didn’t have that much choice in the matter. It was either go with Stuart, where I knew that I was going to be safe, or stay in the hot, uncomfortable living room with a bunch of drunken people. It wasn’t that hard of a choice. I followed Stuart until we arrived in a different room of the house, and I smiled when I heard the noticeable softer music. It kind of made me wonder how many parties of Luke’s that Stuart had been to, since he knew which rooms were which and where they were. Stuart sat down on the couch that was in the middle of the room and I sat down next to him. There were only a few other couples in the room, but they all just looked bored.

One girl was leaning against the wall, nodding, almost zombie-like, to what a guy was saying to her, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He just kept whispering excitedly. A different couple’s faces were close to each other and I could tell that they were both whispering to each other. I quickly looked away from all of the couples in the room and down at the floor.

Stuart asked me after a few seconds, “Do you want something to drink?”

I gave him a look and he threw his hands up in the air.

He said jokingly, “I meant water! I swear!”

I laughed and said, “Water would be great, thanks.”

He smiled at me and walked out of the room. I sat on the couch alone, not really trying to eavesdrop on any of the conversations going on around me, but the couples didn’t really notice me anyway. After a few minutes, Stuart came back with two cups in his hand. He sat down next to me and handed me the cup with the clear liquid in it. I noticed that his cup was filled, almost to the brim, with brown liquid. I started to get nervous when I thought how drunk he was planning on getting, but I just shook my head. I cautiously drank my water, but it tasted fine so I took a bigger gulp of it. Stuart leaned back on the couch and laid his arm out across the back of the couch.

He asked me after taking another swig of his beer, “So how long has Jenna liked this guy?”

I leaned back against the couch and shrugged my shoulders.

I said jokingly, “She likes so many guys it’s hard to keep track of them all.”

Stuart laughed and nodded his head. We talked for a few more minutes about how our lives had been, but I noticed that with every passing minute, his speech was becoming more and more slurred and the smell of beer was starting to roll off of his breath.

I asked him after not being able to take the smell of beer any longer, “Where’s the bathroom?”

He said a little slurred, “Up the stairs, first door on your right.”

I smiled at him and stood up. I followed his directions and found the bathroom with ease. I shut the door behind me and walked over to the window. I opened the window and smiled at the slight breeze that flew into the bathroom. I looked out and saw that no one at all was in the backyard, so I made a mental note to go out there after I was done getting some space from Stuart. I shook my head to myself and leaned against the windowsill. If I had known that I was going to be drunken control tonight, I would’ve never agreed to have a “girl’s night” with Jenna. If I had known that Stuart was going to get drunk, I would’ve never even let him come. I sighed heavily and shut the window. It slammed down hard and I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for the next person to open it. I walked out of the bathroom, but some people pushed me to the side. They ran past me and down the stairs. I didn’t think anything of it. That was before I saw the smoke.

Chapter 2

The smoke was pitch black against the lights in the house. When I focused on it, I could smell the charred furniture and walls that were downstairs. I tried not to panic, but it was a little hard with everyone rushing to get down the stairs before the flames reached the bottom of them. I got to the top of the stairs, but people shoved me back behind them. I was the last one down the stairs, but it was too late. The flames had reached the bottom of the stairs. I ran back into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I soaked towels and put them underneath the door, but some smoke had already entered underneath the door. I turned the fan on to disperse the smoke, which helped a little. I ran over to the window and tried to push it up, but it wasn’t going to move. I groaned when I realized that it was stuck.

I looked around the bathroom to see what I could use to break the window, but all I found was a plastic hairbrush. I searched for something sharper, but nothing was in this bathroom, which must’ve just been a guest bathroom by the looks of it. I grabbed the hairbrush by the bristles and hit the window with all of the force that I could muster. I looked at the window, but there wasn’t even a mark on it. I tried again and again, but the window wasn’t even scratched. I tried one final time, but the handle of the brush broke. I cried out in pain as the sharp edges of where it had broken off scraped against my palms. I looked down at my hands and started to shake when I saw that blood was pouring from my palms.

I grabbed another towel and held it in my hands to stop the blood flow. I looked around the bathroom, but nothing caught my eye to break the window with. After a few seconds, I started to ram my shoulder into the window. Tears started to flow from my eyes. I didn’t know if it was from the pain sparking through my shoulder from the hits, or the fact that I was getting more and more hopeless as the window stayed where it was. After a few minutes of useless pain, I finally gave up. I walked towards the door and put my hand on it to see how hot it was, but brought my hand back immediately when I felt the heat warm my hand. Someone must have seen the fire by now. Firemen had to be on their way. They just had to be.

I sat down on the floor and stared at the door, almost as if the flames themselves were going to burst in at any moment. I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. I heard a loud bang, but I just figured that it was because of the fire. Another loud bang sounded, but it was coming from the door, almost as if someone was trying to break it down. A few more loud bangs sounded before they stopped altogether.

I asked loudly, “Stuart?”

I heard something slam against the door and then, the door broke open and slammed against the wall. A cloud of smoke immediately flooded the room, which made it hard to see and breath.

I asked into the haze, “Stuart?”

A dark voice said, “Not exactly.”

I tried to back away from the mysterious person, but I was already against a wall. The smoke was starting to fill my lungs, which

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Rebekah Shimer
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.12.2014
ISBN: 978-3-7368-6379-8

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