Stray

by Solveig Yrsa

  Samantha was eleven and was at a friend’s house for a slumber party when she got upset and wanted to go home. Her mother got in the car in the middle of the night to go pick her up while her father stayed home with Liam. Unfortunately, a drunk driver came across the line and hit her mother head on, both drivers died.

  After the accident, David gave up on life. He became a bitter drunk and spent every penny they had on booze, pills, and gambling. His brother, Matthew, offered him his home and a job, but David rudely refused. Instead, they made the trip out to the west coast, and David moved them into a sleazy apartment while he pissed away every cent they had.

  Once Samantha had turned eighteen, she talked her uncle into giving her a job at his company; it was not what she wanted; she had dreams of college and a glowing career in the medical field, but because of the stack of bills and her father’s addictions, she had no choice but to work. Soon after getting her job, she could afford a slightly better living situation for herself and her brother. She told their father they were going to move and he could either stay there or move with them. To their dismay, David actually joined the twins in their move.

  Now, at twenty-two, Samantha still worked at her uncle’s company as an executive assistant. The money was significant, though she rarely saw any of it because of her father. And all the nice clothes and purses were hand-me-downs from her Aunt. She sighed as she looked at her phone and saw the text from Liam saying he would be late tonight. That meant it was up to her to deal with their father. She loved her brother dearly, but sometimes she wished she could change places with him. Liam was in college, working on becoming a doctor. Which had been Samantha’s dream. She wanted to work in pediatrics, but she couldn’t. Her father couldn’t hold down a job, and with her brother in school and unable to work, someone had to support everyone. Honestly, their Aunt Catherine had offered Samantha and Liam a place to stay for free, but Samantha couldn’t leave their dad. If she left him, he would be homeless in less than a week.

  Speaking of homeless, Samantha stopped when she thought she saw a familiar person sitting on the sidewalk. That can’t be, she thought as she moved closer. “L… Layla?” she questioned in almost disbelief. She kneeled down in front of the half-asleep girl and shook her gently.

  “Huh?” Layla fought momentarily against the person touching her before she realized who it was. “Oh, hey, Samantha.” Her voice matched her face, exhausted.

  “Layla, why are you here? Why aren’t you at Spencer’s house?”

  Layla cocked her head to one side and looked at Samantha in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I be there? Spencer said I was a waste of time and that he was going to drop me off somewhere, so I ran away.”

  Samantha’s hazel eye held fire in them. That’s it, Spencer is a dead man. Her lips were as thin as a line.

  Layla raised a brow. “Samantha? Are you okay?” Samantha snapped back to reality and nodded while standing up. “You shouldn’t be in this area, Samantha,” Layla stated softly. “There are a lot of bad people around here. Someone tried to steal Meow the other day.”

  “Meow?” Samantha looked down and saw the stuffed cat clenched tightly to Layla’s dirty chest. The cat looked as dirty as Layla.

  Samantha shook her head. “Layla, you need to come with me. I live right down the street, I’ll get you some clean clothes, food, and a shower.”

  Layla wanted to say yes, God, that all sounded so amazing, but she shook her head. “No, no thank you.”

  Samantha furrowed her brows together in confusion. “Umm… Layla, that wasn’t really a request. I want you to come with me.”

  Layla shook her head again. “I said no. I can’t go through that again. It’ll end up the same as Spencer. I’m fine where I am at, now please, let me be.”

  The harsh tone in Layla’s voice shook Samantha. “Okay,” she said feeling defeated, while reaching in her pocket and found a ten-dollar bill. “Here, I’d rather you have it than my father finding it. Go get some food.”

  Samantha didn’t wait for a response. She quickly headed towards her apartment, leaving Layla alone. Layla smiled softly and stood up, heading the opposite way as Samantha, hugging her cat tightly. “Look, Meow! We can get food now!”

  ***

  Spencer looked down at the sleeping girl lying next to him. Shaking his head, he looked around at the over the top princess room. He couldn’t understand why a woman in her twenties would want this as their bedroom. He noticed Rachel shift further away from him.

  Figures, he thought. She invites me over to spend the night because she misses me, we have sex, and then she wants nothing to do with me. He looked at the extra cover that was becoming a wall between them. Why am I even here? It pissed him off that their relationship was like this. He had been questioning why he was even with her. Sure, she was good looking, but other than that, there was nothing between them.

  His mind trailed off to the conversation that he had had with Samantha earlier. He couldn’t believe that Layla was living on the streets downtown. Of course, he shouldn’t really be all that shocked. After all, she was sick and injured with no way to get back to her old place, and honestly if she could go back, would she? Obviously someone in her old place was hurting her.

  He felt a sudden pit in his stomach, though realistically it had been there since the moment Layla had run away. He hated himself for not running after her. He should’ve taken her to his mom. He felt horrible; she was so tiny and frail, and was now completely alone.

  What if something happened to her?

  He growled and rolled over, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. Why did he feel this need to protect her? Why didn’t he feel this need towards the woman sleeping next to him? Sighing, he closed his eyes; he needed sleep, but visions of Layla, with tears in her eyes, kept filling his mind. He grabbed a pillow and smashed it over his face.

  Stop thinking about her. Stop thinking about her.

  ***

  Layla coughed and winced as the burning sensation went up her throat. Her body was so weak and she had puked up everything she had tried to eat. Standing up slowly, she headed to her spot, her stuffed cat still clutched tightly in her arm. She sat down with an old coffee cup she had found, and waited. What she was actually waiting for, she didn’t know. Besides Samantha, she hadn’t received a single cent. But honestly, it didn’t really matter as she couldn’t eat anything, so collecting money was pointless. She rubbed her head and groaned. She’d had a throbbing headache for the past two days. She usually wasn’t one to complain, but today was so bad she could barely stay conscious.

  “I miss Sue,” she whispered. She hated Spencer, all he did was tease and torment her. He took her somewhere safe, somewhere that had a bed, clean clothes, food, and people who cared about her, and then he took it all away.

  She felt chills run down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She had a weird feeling, though actually, she had been having it for a couple days. It felt like she was being watched. Sure, she was used to people staring at her, but this was different. Looking down the sidewalk; she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Nobody really seemed to pay her much attention.

  “It must be nothing,” she muttered, before resting her head on the building behind her.

  ***

  “Man, what the hell? You’re supposed to be covering me!” Spencer smacked Jensen upside the head as he tossed his gaming remote to Liam.

  “I was covering you, but I am only one man, Spencer.”

  Samantha rolled her eyes at the bickering gamers as she continued to scroll through her social media on her phone.

  Suddenly, Spencer’s phone alerted him. He looked at it and noticed it was his security system saying someone was at the gate. He pulled the camera up and instantly groaned. “Why?”

  “Who is it?” Samantha asked, looking up from her phone.

  “Landon,” he muttered. Samantha instantly perked up, causing all three guys to roll their eyes s
imultaneously.

  “I’ll never understand the creepy ass crush you have on him,” Liam said while continuing his game with Jensen.

  “Erm… he’s attractive, smart, successful…”

  “And also my cousin,” Spencer piped in as he stood up.

  “Yeah, on Aunt Catherine's side. He doesn’t have any actual relation to me.”

  “Nah, that’s still weird.” Jensen laughed and dodged a pillow that Samantha aimed at him.

  Spencer walked up the stairs from the game room and headed to the front door. He opened it and was greeted with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tan man with a huge, bright smile.

  “Hey Landon,” Spencer muttered, he then groaned when the man threw his bear-like arms around him and squeezed tightly. “Hey there, little cousin! How have you been?” His voice was deep, and his British accent was very thick.

  “Fine…” he muttered again, moving out of the way to let Landon in. “I’ll go get Mom.”

  “Ah, no need, Spencie. I know the drill.”

  Spencer shuttered at the nickname. He watched as Landon grabbed his large luggage bags and threw them over his wide shoulders. “How long… are you staying?” Spencer asked, as he tried to calculate the number of bags with the amount of time he would have to endure the hell that was his older cousin.

  “Not sure, I’m here to help Uncle Matthew with the numbers. A month for sure.”

  Spencer mouthed out a long string of curse words behind his cousin’s back as he watched Landon climb the large staircase. Sighing, he slowly dragged himself back to the game room where he found Samantha, Liam, and Jensen sitting in a circle, trying to throw cheese balls into each other’s mouths.

  Jensen looked over at Spencer with his mouth full of cheese balls. “Ow frong e fraying?” Spencer furrowed his brows while Jensen tried to chew and swallow his mouthful, Samantha and Liam snickering behind him. “Sorry, how long is he staying?”

  Spencer shrugged. “Said at least a month.” Samantha gasped and smiled.

  “Hi Landon!” Samantha’s grin grew as the blonde man walked into the room.

  “Good evening, my Samantha, you are truly a vision!” Samantha blushed and giggled while Liam made gagging noises.

  Samantha smacked her brother in the head. “Sorry about him.”

  “Ah no worries, love.” Landon winked and sat in a chair next to Spencer. “So, what’s new with all of you then? Auntie Cat said that you and that girl you fancied, Rachel, was it? She said you two were an item now?” Spencer groaned inwardly. This was not how he wanted to spend his evening. Making small talk with his ‘perfect, handsome, can do no wrong’ cousin made him want to bang his head against the wall.

  “Yeah, we’re fine,” Spencer said shortly.

  “Well, that is good to hear, I know last year when I came to visit you were quite taken with her. I don’t blame you, she is quite a looker. A little skinny for my personal tastes, I prefer a girl with a bit of meat on her bones.” He smiled again at Samantha, who was about as red as a tomato at this point.

  “Your mum also mentioned that there would be another girl living here? Where is she at?”

  The room got really heavy and Samantha instantly started glaring at Spencer. Spencer rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. “How in the hell should I know?”

  “Easy Spencie, it was simply a question, I just thought I would introduce myself to her.”

  “Yeah, well she doesn’t live here, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

  Samantha rolled her eyes, but then a thought came to her. “Spence, did Layla ever mention having a boyfriend?” That perked Spencer up.

  “A what? No. Who is he?”

  Samantha shrugged and got back on her phone. “I don’t know, I never met him. I just constantly see him following her around whenever I pass by the alley she hangs around. Maybe he has a crush on her or something.”

  “Or a stalker,” Jensen chimed in. “No offense to you or Liam, but that isn’t the greatest part of town.”

  Samantha shrugged. “You don’t have to tell me, I know it’s not. I’ve tried several times to get her to come to my apartment, but she refuses. She just keeps saying that it will be like Spencer all over again. Which honestly, is a bit insulting.”

  Spencer winced as Samantha spoke. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “Uh huh…” Samantha said, looking at her phone.

  Suddenly Spencer’s phone beeped. He looked down at his phone and then glared at his cousin. “Really, Sam? Was that necessary?” She simply shrugged and played with her fingernails.

  Spencer looked at the photo. It was of Layla, sitting on the street; she was filthy again. Her scrubs that the hospital had given her were dirty and torn. He saw an old plastic bag around her cast. He looked at what she had in her arms, and his heart broke. It was the cat he gave her. It looked dirty and disgusting, but she had it pressed to her chest.

  “Son of a bitch,” he growled and stood up.

  “Where are you going?” Jensen asked, though he already knew the answer.

  “To… take a walk, I’ll be back.” And with that, Spencer walked off.

  He walked outside and took his flask out, taking a swig before heading to the detached garage. The garage was mostly his. His mother couldn’t drive and his father was never home. His father had one car, and deep red Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, that now had the slightest nick in it thanks to Spencer pulling up a little too far.

  Spencer was a huge car guy. He loved working on them, driving them, racing them, everything. He opened the end garage door and grabbed the keys to his orange with black stripes, Mustang Shelby GT350R. He had two mustangs; the orange one, and a black one with red stripes.

  He jumped into the car and pulled out of the garage, shaking his head. What was he going to do? Resting his head against the seat, he sighed.

  “Fine,” he muttered, hitting the gas pedal and heading towards the street. He could not stop thinking about her, and it wasn’t just right now; since the day he took her money, she seemed to always be on his mind. It aggravated him. He wanted peace. He was tired of his heart and stomach aching because of the way he treated her.

  He stopped at a red light. But now she has the boyfriend, or whatever… his lip curled in anger as he thought about it. He couldn’t stand the thought. He didn’t want another man around her. Not much of a man if he can’t get her off the streets. He blinked as he spoke to himself, “Why do I care? She’s not my girlfriend.”

  He sped off again once the light turned green; noticing the skies were getting darker as the sun set. “It’s not like I like her or anything.” He stopped at another light and tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. “I mean, sure, she’s not half bad looking when she’s clean, but I have no interest in her, so why is the thought of this guy pissing me off?” He shook his head as he took off again.

  The conversation that he had had with Sam, Liam, and Jensen came to his head. What if he’s a stalker? His hand gripped the steering wheel. An image of Layla lying in an alley, beaten and clutching that stuffed cat came into his head. He gritted his teeth and floored it as he headed downtown.

  ***

  As she walked down the sidewalk, Layla looked at the nearly black sky. She gave a small smile as the cool night’s air hit her face. She held meow and a water bottle in her hand tightly. At this moment, she was happy. An elderly man had given her the cool bottle of water and two dollars. She was holding onto the two dollars, she decided she was going to try to save up as much money as she could to repay Spencer and Samantha. Though she hated Spencer for the things he said, he had helped her and she didn’t want to be in his debt forever. So, regardless of how long it took, she would find a way to repay him everything.

  Layla walked around the corner, and into the dark alley where she had made her nest. She stopped walking. Something felt off. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Suddenly, something hit her in the head with such forc
e that she stumbled into the other building’s brick wall.

  Right about the time she was regaining her composure, the force slammed her up against the wall. She winced and let out a cry as the brick scraped her across the cheek and chest. She tried to fight, to move, to wiggle free, but whoever it was grabbed her by her long hair, pulled her back, and shook her violently before slamming her against the wall again. She let out another cry and closed her eyes to try to stop the dizziness.

  “Miss me, LaLa?”

  Her eyes widened. She knew that voice. Her breath caught in her throat and tears welled up in her eyes. She felt herself going numb with fear. Only two people called her that, and she knew one of them was too old to be throwing her around like this. “J…Jackson…” she breathed. She felt tears spill out of her eyes as he laughed loudly.

  “You were safe in the nest, Lala. That old man refused to let me near you without supervision. But now, you’re out here all alone, no one can keep you safe anymore.”

  Layla felt him rip her pants off, and her eyes widened. It was really about to happen, no; she would not let him take her without a fight.

  “HELP ME!” she screamed, her voice raspy and cracking.

  Jackson grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her into the wall. He grabbed her good arm and noticed the stuffed cat. “The hell is this?” He grabbed the stuffed animal and threw it towards the alley’s entrance.

  Layla cried and fought to grab her toy. He twisted her arm behind her back, she let out a scream, it felt like he was ripping her arm off. She slammed her head back and connected with his face.

  “You bitch!” he yelled, and twisted her arm harder. “I’ll make you regret that one.”

  “Please… Someone… HELP ME!”

  ***

  Spencer sighed as he pulled up to the area that Samantha had said Layla was squatting. He parked his car and walked down the alley. He stopped as he heard grunting and rustling. He felt himself heat up inside. Was she really with someone? Had this been a mistake? He turned around and stepped on something. Picking it up, he noticed it was the cat he had given her. I thought she was attached to this thing. He shrugged it off, figuring her boyfriend may not want her to have it. He tucked it in his pocket and headed back to his car, thinking he should’ve just stayed home. He stopped again when he thought he heard someone crying. “Layla?” he whispered.