Breaking Free

by Ellie Rose

  Joshua.

  Another ping came on my phone from the same number

  389-0723: Nice rose bushes.

  I dropped my phone on the floor then and raced for my window. I pulled aside my curtain and looked down at the street below.

  Joshua’s black truck sat across the street from my house, I could hardly see it. He flashed his lights once. He knew I was watching him.

  Petrified, I threw the curtains closed and quickly crossed the room to turn off my bedroom light.

  Another ping sounded on my phone.

  I reluctantly reached for my phone. The text’s preview made my heart freeze in my chest as I carefully opened the message.

  389-0723: Even if you turn off your light, I’m still watching you. I watch your every move. Even if you don’t see me, I’m watching. Don’t bother telling Beth either. She will never believe you. Just like she didn’t believe Wendy. Shocked I know you know about Wendy? Don’t be. I have eyes and ears everywhere. Until next time, my sweet Paige.

  My hands shook. I turned off my phone and hid it in one of my dresser drawers. I crawled under my covers on my bed and let the tears fall. I had never been that scared in my life, and I had no idea who to turn to for help.

  I knew one thing for sure though. I needed to tell Beth what was going on. She just had to believe me. Why wouldn’t she? Maybe she’ll be able to stop him.

  That was the first of many restless nights.

  Chapter 9: Present

  After going to multiple stores in the mall and Seth buying the shoes he needed, we finally left.

  We drove to my house so I could grab some clothes and toiletries. As I was getting my stuff together, I could hear my mom and Anna talking in the kitchen.

  I worried that Anna would mention to my mom how she met me on the first day of school.

  I rush out of my room to the kitchen where I find Anna and my mom laughing.

  My mom smiles and says, “I was just telling Anna that when you were younger, I used to find you asleep in your room with the TV on. You would watch one of the Harry Potter movies and would also have the book open beside you to see what parts of the movie didn’t follow the books.”

  My face turns bright red from embarrassment, making Anna and my mom laugh. I grab Anna’s arm and mumble, “See you tomorrow, Mom.”

  On our way back out to the Jeep where Seth is waiting, Anna says happily, “Your mom seems cool.” Which makes me snort.

  Now I stare at the front of their house in complete awe.

  It is a two-story, red brick with a big white porch. Their porch has a swing on the right-hand side of their front door and two white chairs on the left-hand side.

  Seth is the first one to open the door and walks inside, followed by Anna, then me. Anna closes the door behind me and prances off to the living room where the sounds of TV are coming from.

  “Hi, Dad. Where’s Mom?” I hear Anna say from the living room.

  I slowly shuffle into the living room just as Anna’s dad and Seth answer at the same time, “In her office.”

  Anna rolls her eyes at me before she introduces me to her dad. “Dad, this is my friend Paige. Paige, this is my dad. I met her at school.”

  The breath I didn’t realize I was holding slips out slowly. For a split second, I was afraid she would tell him where exactly she met me.

  Anna’s dad looks a lot like Anna but has gentle blue eyes instead of brown, and the edges of his brown hair are turning gray. Sitting on a gray sectional couch, he looks up from the TV and waves a hand at me. “Hey there! It’s nice to meet you. Whatever you do, don’t call me Mr. Frazier. It makes me sound older than I actually am. You can just call me Tim.”

  I give an awkward smile. Now I know where Anna gets her funny personality. Anna’s dad, Tim, turns back to the TV, and Anna starts gently pushing me out of the living room.

  Seth has disappeared as I follow Anna up the stairs leading to the second story. The landing opens into different rooms at the top of the stairs, but one door to the right is closed.

  Anna walks up to it and knocks. I hear a muffled, “come in.” Anna opens the door. The room is an office with several bookcases and a desk in the middle of the room. There are crumbled up papers scattered all over the floor and on top of the desk. A curly, brown-haired woman sits at the desk behind a laptop and looks to be writing something in a notebook.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  Anna’s mom looks up from the desk and smiles tiredly. “Hey, sweetheart! How was your day at the mall?” She then notices me standing at the doorway behind Anna. “And who is this? Is this the famous Paige I haven’t stopped hearing about this past week?” She gets up from her desk as Anna’s face flushes red.

  She smiles warmly at me. “Anna hasn’t stopped talking about you since the first day of school. It nice to finally meet you. My name is Nina.”

  Then she engulfs me in a hug before I can respond, making me tense up from the sudden affection. But she smells like lavender soap, and the smell helps me relax.

  “Mom,” Anna groans, “do you have to embarrass me?”

  Anna’s mom pulls back and smiles at Anna. “I’m not embarrassing you, but I can,” she says in a teasing tone and sending a quick grin in my direction.

  Anna pretends to glare at her mom in a joking manner before she responds. “I asked Paige to spend the night with us if that’s okay. We’re going to watch a movie series called Harry Potter.”

  I look at her mom for a reaction to the name Harry Potter.

  Her mom brings a hand to her chin, and she looks up at the ceiling. “Harry Potter...? Is that about a boy who finds out he is a wizard?”

  Anna shrugs at her mom and states, “I think so, but I’ve never seen it. So, we bought the movies to have a movie night.”

  A ping coming from her laptop distracts Anna’s mom suddenly, and she rushes to it. “That’s fine. Let me know how it is. I’m sorry, honey, I need to get back to this. We will catch up later, okay?” she says as she sits down and stares at the screen.

  Anna taps me on the shoulder to let me know she is leaving the room. She shuts the door and sighs sadly. This is the first time since meeting Anna that she seems down.

  “My mom writes professional speeches for senators. She’s always at their beck and call. Especially lately, with the election right around the corner. We don’t see her much when the election is near. She loves the job.” Almost immediately, Anna brightens up. “Come on, we have a movie series to watch!”

  I watch her walk away and can’t help but feel bad for her. I follow Anna to the last door on the left and stop in the doorway when I see her room. It is bright yellow with a twin-sized bed, a light blue bedspread with yellow sunflowers along the bottom.

  Anna has several pictures of sunflowers on her walls, and a few pictures of smiling people in yellow frames. Her desk is also yellow, and so is the laptop sitting on it.

  Anna sees me eyeing her room and says sheepishly, “If you couldn’t tell... I like yellow.”

  I feel a sudden tingle radiating from my toes to my stomach and let out a laugh. I laugh so hard my sides hurt. Anna laughs too. Seth enters her room with the movie series in hand to find us doubled over in laughter.

  I instantly stop laughing and stand up straight.

  Seth looks between both of us as Anna wipes tears from her eyes. “What is so funny?”

  Anna lets out another giggle before answering, “My obsession with the color yellow.”

  Seth shakes his head and turns to me. “Her obsession with the color yellow scares me sometimes.”

  I bite my lip to keep a giggle from escaping, and Seth’s eyes instantly shoot to my lips. The glance was only a second before he talks again, “Dad is ordering pizza for dinner. He doesn’t expect Mom to leave her office long enough to make dinner tonight. Do you guys want to start the first movie while we wait?”

  Anna goes to her closet and opens the door, grabbing her towel hanging on the other side. “Let me get a shower really qui
ck, and I’ll meet you guys downstairs.”

  Seth nods and leaves.

  I set my backpack down, open it, and pull out a white tank top and black shorts. I quickly change into them. Right before leaving the room, I take my hair down from the ponytail.

  I walk downstairs to the living room and see Seth bent down in front of the TV, inserting the first Harry Potter movie. Their dad is no longer in the room.

  Seth must have sensed I was behind him because he stands up and speaks, “Dad went upstairs for the night…” His voice trails off as he turns around and stares at me.

  I am suddenly very aware that I am in a room with a guy… by myself.

  But instead of feeling afraid, I am nervous.

  A pink tinge rises up Seth’s face, and he coughs, trying to cover it up.

  I look down at myself, and I see the white tank top and black shorts staring back at me.

  “You… uh… look good.” His voice sounds strangled and amused at the same time.

  The room feels very quiet, too quiet.

  “She really likes yellow, huh?” I ask him to break the silence.

  He laughs and nods. “Ever since she was five. Our parents stopped on the side of the road so we could look at the field of sunflowers. I think they have regretted it since then.”

  “It matches her personality,” I say without thinking.

  “She has always been like that. Nobody can resist her bubbly personality.”

  He’s right. Since I met her, I have laughed more in the last few days than I have in the last few months. She has also kept me from thinking about he-who-shan’t-be-named. The thought of seeing her afterward is the only reason I’ve been able to get through homeroom.

  “So, you didn’t want to move here?” I ask him as I head in the direction of the couch to sit down.

  “No. Definitely not. We have relocated so much in the past few years that I just want to stay in one spot.”

  “I can understand. My dad retired two years ago from the Navy. Packing up and living in different states was almost like a habit. Last year was my first year at a public school,” I say as I sit on the couch.

  “Homeschooled?” He moves to the ottoman in front of where I am sitting.

  It feels easy to talk to Seth. Just being in his presence, I don’t feel afraid.

  “Yeah, I was.”

  “Must have been tough. Did you have any friends?” he asks.

  “Not many. I had a few growing up that I would hang with when my mom got together with other military wives, but I never saw them much to really call them close friends. Did you have any?”

  He shrugs. “After the first two or three moves, I tried not to become friends with anyone. I have a best friend, though. His name is Rick. He lives in our hometown in Colorado.”

  “Do you miss him?”

  He lets out a laugh. “Uh, sure. But we don’t talk every day or anything like girls do.”

  I smile at the joke, and he takes another quick glance at my mouth. His eyes collide with mine, and my heartbeat quickens.

  The doorbell rings, breaking the sudden awkwardness between us.

  He clears his throat and gets up from the ottoman. “That must be the pizza. Be right back.”

  While he’s gone, Anna comes bounding downstairs in yellow pajamas. “I’m glad the pizza is here. I’m starving!” She flops down next to me just as Seth is entering the living room with the pizza.

  “I’ll be right back.” Seth making his way towards the kitchen. “I’m going to get plates and drinks.”

  Standing up, I follow him feeling like I should help. “I’m going to help. Do you want a drink?”

  Anna is already reaching for the remote. “Yeah, a coke, please. Thank you.”

  I find Seth taking plates out of the pantry. “Want any help?”

  “Sure. If you don’t mind grabbing the napkins and the drinks. I can head upstairs to give my parents their slices.” He says, handing me the napkins. As he does, our hands graze each other, sending a slight shock up my arm. Wondering if he felt it too, I look up at him and see him frowning, but he turns back to the pizza boxes without saying anything.

  “The sodas are in the refrigerator. Any soda is fine with me.” He says before disappearing out of the kitchen. I watch him go, feeling as confused as ever.

  Later while the movie is playing, I look over at Anna then Seth, who are both engrossed in the film. I smile and get more comfortable by burying myself deeper into the couch.

  Two movies in, and they are hooked. Anna looks over at Seth as he gets up to change out the DVD, and says, “Why have we never seen these movies?”

  “Seriously,” replies Seth grabbing the third movie to put it in. “I’m tired, but I want to keep watching.”

  I laugh at them both, feeling giddy and relaxed. Seth sits down next to me, and his knee bumps into mine, sending an electrifying shock wave all the way up my leg. Seth swings his arm around the back of the couch behind me before pressing play.

  Halfway through the third movie, I see Anna has already fallen asleep. I bite back a yawn as my eyes get heavier. I have been fighting sleep since the middle of the second movie, but I have fought it back. My head falls onto Seth’s chest, but I’m too tired to care. I let sleep overtake me.

  “You can’t escape me,” he says, pressing me down harder into the mattress.

  I try to move my arms to hit him, and he grabs them, shoving them over my head as he forces his lips against mine…

  Suddenly. I’m awake. Somebody is frantically shaking me and saying my name. “Paige. Hey, Paige. Wake up!” My eyes snap open to see Seth’s concerned face looking back at me. I sit up quickly, trying to catch my breath, and he moves out of my way to sit next to me.

  “Are you okay?” he whispers to me, his tone laced with concern.

  I shy away, crossing my arms in front of my body as I get up off the couch and walk out of the living room.

  “What just happened in there?” Seth asks, following me to the front door.

  I shake my head at him. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I walk into the dining room, trying to put distance between him and me. I round the table and turn to stare at him.

  He places his hands on the back of a dining room chair and watches me.

  The only light in the room is the moon shining in through the glass window. “You were thrashing and moaning in your sleep. It had to be something.”

  I pace in front of him, and I wish he would just go back to the living room.

  I’m backed up against the wall next to the bed.

  My breath is coming out fast now.

  My heart is racing.

  I feel dizzy.

  I need to get out of this house.

  Seth moves around the table slowly, and I back up against the wall with my hands up. “Please, don’t,” I whimper.

  Joshua advances towards me with a malicious smile on his face.

  Tears roll down my face. “Leave me alone, please,” I beg him.

  Seth steps back like I slapped him across the face. “I won’t hurt you, Paige,” he whispers.

  The light to the dining room turns on, and a sleepy voice says, “What’s going on, guys?”

  We both look over to find Anna in the doorway, rubbing her eyes.

  I stutter out, “Nothing. I was trying to find the bathroom, and… and Seth heard me moving around. He was just telling me where it’s at.”

  I look at Seth with pleading eyes, begging him not to tell Anna what just happened.

  He gives me a look telling me that the conversation isn’t over and turns to Anna.

  “It’s late. I think we all fell asleep in front of the TV. Let’s go to bed.”

  He walks away from me and passes Anna as she yawns, turning away to follow Seth.

  I wipe the tears from my face and straighten up. I walk out of the dining room and turn the light off. As I walk upstairs, I try to get my emotions under control.

  I crawl into bed next to an already sleepi
ng Anna and lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

  My thoughts are racing a mile a minute.

  He knows something is up…

  What if he asks again?

  What if he tells Anna what happened tonight?

  I’m not sure I’m ready for it to come out.

  I’m not sure If I’m ready for anyone to know Joshua raped me.

  Chapter 10: Past

  I texted Beth the next day to ask her to come over so we can talk. Two hours later, she was sitting on my bed with a smile that made her eyes twinkle like she had stars in her eyes.

  “So, what do you need to talk about? Is it a boy? Ooh… Do I know him?”

  “No… I mean… You know him… But, it’s not…” I couldn’t figure out how to explain it to her without assuming she thought I liked Joshua.

  The twinkle in her eye dimmed just as the smile on her face did. “What is it, P?”

  I almost didn’t tell her as I stared at her face. I didn’t want to tell her that her boyfriend might be stalking me.

  Now I knew how Wendy felt when she tried to tell Beth about what happened between her and Joshua. I paced the room, trying to figure out what to say to her. What do I say without upsetting her?

  “Okay. You’re starting to scare me, Paige.”

  I take a deep breath and stop pacing to look at her.

  “Beth.” I walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. I grabbed her hands in mine and connected my eyes with hers. “Joshua… Joshua has been stalking me… He’s scaring me… and I need you to talk to him.”

  Beth’s face paled of all color, and her eyes were blank with no emotion in them.

  She slowly slipped her hands from mine and got up off the bed to move away from me.

  “Beth…?”

  Why wasn’t she saying anything?

  She stood with her back to me for what seemed like forever.

  “I have proof,” I told her, reaching for my phone on the side table and searched my phone for the messages he sent me. “Here…”

  I get off the bed to hand her the phone.

  She turned around then with a smile. But the smile was fake, strained, and it seemed to not reach her eyes.