by Luna Lucas
He had stopped her. He was an idiot.
But she was drunk, and he knew she would have regretted it later. And he didn’t think he could stand that possibility. Of course she would have regretted it. She had a boyfriend. And she was drunk.
His thoughts went to the moment she had opened her bedroom door. She stood there, wearing nothing but an oversized, red t-shirt which covered the essentials, but not much else. She looked lovely – but she always did, with her messy curls and skinny arms and mysterious eyes.
She had called out his name before he left her bedroom and when he had turned around, she had thanked him. Her curls fell around her eyes, which had had a wild look in them.
And he had wanted to say something to her – that she had been utterly careless for not remembering that she had locked the door, and just sending him away without even letting him check the house. Or that she didn’t need to look so scared because no one was going to hurt her now that he was there, or that – dammit – she looked beautiful, really beautiful, standing there in the dim light of her bedroom with her red t-shirt and her pale legs and her golden hair.
Josh shook his head to clear his mind. He was sitting in her living room, and he was supposed to be thinking about who had decided to break into her house – and why.
If this person did not have any particular motives – if it were just a thief or a burglar – then they would definitely not come back. However, if it was someone who had wanted to get into this particular house… would they be stupid enough to come back twice during the same night? But if it had been just a burglar or a thief, why did nothing seem out of place? Why was there nothing missing?
Josh walked over to the window and looked outside. The street was deserted and quiet. It was past midnight.
He didn’t want to think about what he might do if this person did decide to come back.
*****
Josh ended up spending most of the weekend nights at Donna’s place, just to keep her calm. She constantly told him that he could leave and that she would be all right, but Josh did not want to take any chances. Donna thought she was paranoid, but Josh knew that her fear and uneasiness were not unreasonable. He was equally worried, if not more.
It was Saturday night, and Josh sat in her living room, reading the newspaper while Donna was up in her room, presumably asleep since it was late. What had started as a light rain had now turned into a heavy hailstorm. The sound of thunder and rain was oddly comforting for Josh.
He didn’t realize that he had been dozing off until he woke with a start when he heard movement around him. He squinted his eyes in the darkness of the living room – he had turned off the lights, in case the intruder decided to come back – and saw that Donna was sitting beside him.
“Did I wake you?” she whispered.
“Yes, unless I’m still asleep and dreaming.” He straightened up and rubbed his eyes. “I thought you would be asleep. Are you okay?”
Donna was amazed at his ability to be completely sarcastic one minute, and incredibly caring the next. “I was asleep. I just woke up.”
“What’s up?”
She shrugged. “I don’t like the sound of thunder, I guess.”
“What’s there to not like about the sound of thunder?”
“What’s there to like about it?” she retorted. “It’s so loud and annoying.”
“And scary?” He smirked.
“No,” she said, irritated. “Why would thunder scare me?”
“Why would I scare you?” He was still smirking.
Donna rolled her eyes. “You don’t scare me, Parker.”
“That’s not what I heard the other day.”
“I told you,” Donna said, glaring at him. “I said you were scary. Not that you scared me.”
Josh laughed. “All right, all right. Don’t get angry now.”
They were quiet for a while before Josh spoke up again. “So, your dad travels a lot?”
Donna’s pulled her jacket tighter around herself and nodded. “He’s a photojournalist.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
“About him being a photojournalist?”
“About him being away so much.”
Donna shrugged. “I’m used to being alone now.”
Josh raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t mean to sound like a drama queen,” she added hurriedly. “I’m genuinely used to being alone now. Ignore the melancholic sound of that.”
“You’re never alone,” he said, but he understood what she meant.
“People don’t really see it.” Donna stared ahead, her eyes glazed over.
“How come?”
“I’m always surrounded by people. I guess I have a lot of friends. But not many people who are actually there, you know.”
“Who is actually there, then? Your friend, Brook?”
Donna shrugged. “Sometimes.” She was quiet for a moment. “Brook and I go way back. Childhood friends.”
“But?”
“But we’re in high school, Josh.”
“So?”
“So people are busy with other stuff. Like partying and experimenting.”
“But you’re not?”
Donna shrugged again. “I’m not into that stuff. But I understand it’s a phase. Brook has been one of the most consistent people in my life.”
Josh watched her as she stared ahead. He had an urge to know everything about her, to solve the mystery in her eyes. “Who else is there? Sam and Raymond?”
Donna smiled. “Well, they’re the first people I think of when I’m in trouble, so yes. There was Peter too, before, but…”
“But what?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
“And… your mother… is she…?”
“Alive? Nope. She died when I was nine.”
“I’m sorry.”
Donna shrugged. “Out of sight, out of mind.” She smiled, but Josh could tell it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Do you have siblings?”
“Nope. Well, not by blood.” She smiled genuinely now. “But Sam has always been that annoying, protective older brother.”
Josh still watched her intently, as though he was trying to solve a puzzle. She looked at him and noticed.
“I know it seems like I’m always surrounded by people like you said.” She looked away again. “But I like to keep to myself. I guess I’m a bit of an introvert.”
“Well, do you want to know what the funny thing is?” Josh asked as though he had just had a brilliant thought.
“Not really.”
Josh ignored her. “You didn’t mention your boyfriend… again.” He grinned.
Donna rolled her eyes. “Watch it, Parker. Don’t make me angry. You’re in my house.”
“To protect you,” Josh said, an amused glint in his eyes.
“Not to protect me, since I can protect myself, and nobody asked you to be here.”
“So? Nobody has to ask me to be here.”
Donna shook her head with mock annoyance and slid down on the sofa, half lying and half sitting. She closed her eyes.
“Seriously, though,” Josh said. “Why are you with him?”
Donna was quiet for a while. “I don’t know, Josh,” she finally whispered.
They were quiet for so long that Josh thought Donna had fallen asleep. After several minutes, she spoke again, her eyes still closed. “You mind if I stay here?”
“It’s your house, Donna.”
“But you’re here for me.”
“Fair enough. No, I don’t mind if you stay here.”
Donna settled down on the sofa. “I don’t want to go back upstairs. The thunder sounds strange, so…”
“Sounds scary, yeah?” he said, his tone teasing again.
Almost asleep, Donna whispered, “Just a little.”
Josh smiled.
Chapter Eight
“Spent the whole weekend with Josh, Donna?” Sam caught up
with her in the hallway as she walked to calculus. “I approve… well, sort of.”
Donna rolled her eyes. “He told you what happened?”
Sam nodded. “How are you doing?” he asked seriously. “You should have told me.”
Donna shook her head. “It’s all right. I already had Josh worried enough. I didn’t want to bother more people.”
“Or you didn’t want more people around.” Sam winked. “Seriously though, Don, stay safe.”
“I didn’t make this person break into my house, you know.”
“Hmm, true. But I’m not just talking about this intruder business.” He looked at her. “Just stay safe… generally.”
“Okay…” Donna said, confused.
He patted her on the shoulder and walked away.
*****
It was after dark when Donna left Collin’s house. She had decided to walk there instead of driving since he only lived three streets away. A few days had passed since she had found her front door open and nothing out of the ordinary had seemed to happen. She hummed under her breath as she walked. The weather was beginning to get colder day by day, especially during the nights. She buried her hands deeper into the pockets of her hoodie. As she passed by the park where she and her friends had drunk tequila last week, her thoughts wandered to Josh. She thought about the night when she had almost kissed him, and he had stopped her, saying that she was drunk. He had refused to take advantage of her in her intoxicated state – she knew that most boys wouldn’t have done that. The thought gave her a strange feeling in her chest. He had been with her the whole weekend after the intruder incident, watching over her while she slept.
She shivered as she heard the snap of a branch. She thought about her initial encounters with Josh – he had punched Chase and had almost beaten a man to death. But there was more to his tough and macho persona.
There’s that snapping noise again, she vaguely registered before she heard the distinct sound of footsteps behind her. For a second, she froze. Then she quickened her pace, stealing a furtive glance behind her. And sure enough, someone was following her. She took deep, calming breaths. He might not have been following her at all. He might just have been a regular person, walking home. She turned into a small alleyway that was always deserted – no one ever went there, since not many people knew about it.
And sure enough, the man followed her. She considered turning back and fighting him but, deciding against it, she broke into a run. She came out on the opposite side of the alleyway, onto a larger street. She remembered that she was near Josh’s house – he had pointed it out to her one day as they had been passing by. She ran down the street, taking a few more turns. The man followed her the whole while.
She was out of breath when she reached Josh’s street. She ran down the slightly sloping street until his house came into view. She saw that someone outside in the garden, facing away from her. At the sound of her frantic footsteps, the figure turned around. It was Josh, smoking a cigarette. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw her. She ran down the footpath and flung her arms around him, resting her head against his chest.
“Josh,” she choked. “Someone is following me.”
He dropped the cigarette and looked toward the direction she had come from. For a moment, his muscular arms tightened around her in a comforting gesture. He then moved away from her.
“Go inside,” he almost growled.
“Oh, God,” Donna heard a voice from behind her as Josh walked purposefully out onto the street. She turned around to see a girl, around the same age as her, with long, black hair and big, brown eyes, exactly like Josh’s. “He’s going to do something reckless.”
“H-Hazel?”
“Hi, Donna,” Hazel said, looking around distractedly. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t kill anyone.” She looked at Donna. “Sam told me about your stalker. Go inside.” And with that, she followed her brother.
Donna stood frozen, unable to move. She stood like that for what seemed like forever, until she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around, expecting to see Josh or Hazel, but it was not either of them. A figure strode forward out of a dark corner of the street. It wasn’t as tall as the one that had been following her, so she knew it wasn’t the same person.
She wondered if this was a family member of Josh’s – she wasn’t sure who he lived with. Without warning, the person lunged forward, grabbing her and pinning her to the wall behind her, right next to the front door that still stood ajar.
Donna struggled against his strength. “Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you want?”
“Shh,” the person rasped.
Donna pulled her arm back, ready to punch him, but he grabbed both her hands, holding them against the wall on either side of her head, while he held her feet in place by stepping on them.
“I won’t hurt you if you cooperate. You see, while your little friends are busy hitting my little friend there – although he wasn’t much of a danger to you, anyway – I am going to take you away.”
When she continued to struggle, he chuckled. “No one told me you were this feisty… or sexy.” He leaned forward and bent down, bringing his face close to her. She turned her face away which only made him laugh more.
“I was just supposed to kidnap you and take you somewhere but… who says I can’t have some fun with you first? That’s why I said the other one wasn’t much of a danger to you. He would have just done his job.”
He let go of one of her hands and forced her to turn her face towards him. He brought his lips close to hers and roughly bit her bottom lip before thrusting his tongue into her mouth. He ground his hips into her roughly before pulling away. “Your struggling is just making this more exciting for me,” he rasped against her ear before biting her neck painfully. “Let’s take this somewhere more private, lest your little friends come back.”
Roughly grabbing her upper arm, he pulled her towards the small enclosure of trees at the back of the house. Deciding that the effort of dragging her there was too much, he grabbed her, lifting her off her feet, slung her over his shoulder like a rag doll and made his way towards the back. Donna wanted to scream, to shout, to cry out, to do anything – but somehow, she couldn’t. She flipped through her mind, looking for a way to handle this situation, but her thoughts were a blur. All she felt was fear and helplessness. When he reached the hidden place, he flung her to the ground. Before she had any time to recover, he reached down and ripped her shirt in half so that it hung from her shoulders. Pulling her up, he slammed her against a tree and grabbed her hair as he bit her neck. She cried out in pain and tears filled her eyes.
He roughly smashed his mouth against hers to stop her from making noise. He bit her bottom lip again, making the pain worse. Donna’s legs became weak as the helplessness took over her. If he hadn’t been holding her against the tree, she would have collapsed. She squeezed her eyes shut and stopped struggling as all the energy left her body.
And then the man was literally lifted off his feet and slammed into another tree. Donna almost collapsed to the ground, but Hazel ran forward and caught her. Her lips and neck were bleeding, and she was trembling. She could hear Josh hitting the man – ruthlessly, like that day he nearly killed that other man. Hazel helped her inside the house before darting back outside. Donna slid to the floor against the wall. She could hear Hazel outside, telling Josh that it was enough, that it was over. She heard the police sirens and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.
Chapter Nine
The questioning ended sooner than Josh had expected and the two men were arrested and taken to the station, to find out whom they were working for. Josh had only allowed the police to ask Donna as few questions as possible and had taken her inside as soon as they were done, sitting her on one of the sofas in the living room.
When he and Hazel were done talking to the police and their car had driven away, they went back inside to find Donna sitting there, staring straight ahead, as though as couldn
’t really see what was in front of her. The expression on her face stirred something inside him – rage, fury, helplessness, determination – he wasn’t sure. He blamed himself for leaving here outside when he knew she was in danger; he didn’t think he would ever forget that. Sitting there, staring into space, she looked so fragile, so unlike her usual self. There was a brittleness and helplessness in her eyes. He crouched down in front of her. “Hey,” he said softly, touching her cheek. “It’s over.”
Donna looked at him as though she was surprised to find him there. She shook her head as though to clear her thoughts away and pulled Josh’s jacket tighter around herself. She unsteadily got to her feet. Josh reached out and held her waist to support her.
“I’m going home,” Donna said, her voice hoarse.
“Donna, maybe you should stay here tonight,” Hazel said.
Donna shook her head. “I have to go home.”
Hazel opened her mouth to say something, but Josh shook his head slightly, and she stopped. “Well, at least stay here and put something on those bruises.” Her lip and neck were still bleeding.
“There are medicines at my house too.” Donna turned to Hazel. “Thanks, Hazel.”
Josh slipped his arm around her waist as they left the house. Donna stared at the ground as they walked and Josh did not pursue a conversation. He just held her in his strong arms until they reached her house. When they went inside the living room, Josh made her sit down in one of the couches and asked where the first aid kit was. She told him and he went to fetch it. When he returned, she was sitting in the exact same position he had left her, staring at the ground. Josh crouched down in front of her.
He cleaned the cuts with a wet cloth before applying the medicine over the cut on her neck. She sat still with her eyes closed as he worked. He then gently rubbed the medicine over her lower lip. Her eyes were still closed when he was done. He simply crouched down in front of her and watched her. He saw a tear run down her cheek. He took her face in both of his hands and reached forward, gently kissing her on the forehead. She buried her face in the nook between his neck and shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.