by Nora Shkodra
Thunder and lightning blazed above me as I dived over the wall and landed on my feet. My knees gave up, and I collapsed to the ground.
I forced myself to stand up and run, my legs felt like titanium; however my determination to get to safety was stronger than my weak legs.
I moved further away from the wall, which he had started to climb.
As I forced myself to speed up I took a right and heard someone crying. I slowed down, and realised it was a baby’s cry. I caught my breath as I saw the little body lying on the cold, hard ground, wrapped in a brown blanket. I walked towards the baby and picked the baby up.
She was a little girl.
I folded her into my arms and allowed my body to warm her up. His footsteps got closer so I started running with her in my arms.
There was a large dumpster, big enough for me to hide in, just ahead of me. Hurriedly but cautiously, I climbed in, careful not to drop the baby in my arms.
I put the lid over us and holding the little baby tight; rocking her gently so she wouldn’t cry.
The footsteps stopped and I heard heavy breathing; he was just out there. Still as a rock, I forced myself to slow my breathing, so not to give away my hiding place.
The baby in my arms wasn’t making any noise, it was as if she knew that if she cried, we’d both die.I looked down at her little face, her green eyes illuminated the dark; they shone so bright I had to squint to look at her.
The lid of the dumpster suddenly flew open and the last sing I saw was a flash of silver before a white light over took me.
I woke up panting, and my heart thundering against my rib cage. My hair and clothes were drenched in sweat, and as I sat up in bed, I realised it was all a dream.
I sighed in relief and got out of bed, making my way to the bathroom. I washed my face and when I stood up straight, I looked in the mirror, only to see someone standing behind me.
I screamed and picked up the nearest possible object which was a hairbrush and whacked the imposter across the head a few times.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom?” I shouted as I pushed him against the wall.
“Ow, Amber! Stop, it’s me!” I recognised the voice as my brother’s.
“Jacob! What the hell is your problem you douche?” I screeched at him whilst sitting on the edge of the bath tub.
Placing a hand on my thumping heart, I glared at Jacob.
“You scared the living daylights out of me! Don’t ever sneak up on me like that again, especially in the middle of the night!” I warned as my heartbeat settled down.
Just at that moment my parents walked into the bathroom with worried expressions plastered across their faces.
“What on earth is going on here?” my father asked, angrily.
“I needed to use the bathroom, and while I was washing my hands, I saw Jacob standing behind me in the mirror. I didn’t know it was him so I screamed,” I explained, purposefully leaving out the part about my nightmare. I didn’t want them to know.
“If you were using the toilet why didn’t you lock the door? You always lock it, even when you are home alone.”
I knew they were catching on. My mother knew me inside out; she could read me like an open book.
That was something I needed to work on, be less readable.
“Well, I, uh...” My voice trailed off as I was unable to think of an excuse.
“Amber, is there something you’re not telling us?” my father asked me, his voice calmer now.
I shook my head; however my facial expression gave me away.
“Amber Rose Jones, you tell us why you were up at two in the morning, on a school night. And the truth would be nice,” he added.
“I had a nightmare,” I mumbled as I stood up and walked back to my room.
My whole family followed suit.
“Oh darling, how long has this been going on for?” my mother came and hugged me, however my stiff body made her move away quickly.
“Honestly, this was the first one since the last time, which was almost three years ago,” I replied, making hand gestures to prove my point.
“Promise?” she asked.
I nodded and whispered the word back to her. “Promise.”
Here’s the thing, when I was twelve, I used to have bad dreams almost every night, I would wake up screaming and crying. My parents sent me to see a therapist, but it was just a waste of their money. The sessions didn’t help, I didn’t talk to her. I spoke about other stuff, just not what the nightmares were about. They were too traumatic to talk about.
“What was the dream about Amber?” Jacob had asked me after my parents had gone back to their room.
“This is your fault,” I answered in an accusing tone as he followed me to my room.
“How is it my fault? I didn’t do anything wrong?”
We were arguing in hushed voices so as not to attract our parent’s attention again.
“You didn’t do anything? Are you sure Jacob?” I spat the question out at him as I rummaged through my things.
“What are you looking for?” he asked me.
I ignored him until I found what I was looking for. It was between the pages of one of my books.
“This!” and handed him the note Jodie had put through our letterbox.
His eyes widened as he read the words.
“Is this what caused the bad dream?”
I nodded feebly as I slumped onto my bed; I put my face in my hands and began to cry silently.
“Amber, are you crying?” my brother asked me helplessly. I felt him sit beside me, and then his arms were around my shoulders as he let me cry on his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, rocking me gently.
I didn’t feel safe in my brother’s arms. The feeling wasn’t there, and the word ‘safe’ didn’t mean anything to me anymore.
“I won’t let him hurt you, I promise.”
I didn’t believe him. What could my brother, who was afraid of worms, do to stop the number one bad boy, I regarded as a criminal, from hurting me?
Trey Smith was the personification of danger; he terrified people just by glaring at them. One look at his deadly black eyes and you’ll be running in the opposite direction. At least, I was running.
I had no idea why a girl capable of doing great things would be with him. I promised myself I would try and help Jodie escape him.
“We should go back to sleep now.” Jacob said after he had let me go from the hug.
I nodded and dived under my covers, seeking warmth. Jacob had turned on my fairy lights so a dim glow illuminated the room. He left straight after and as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep in the hopes of having good dreams.
Chapter 8 I Attempt Being a Superhero
“Amber love, could you get me the sugar please?” my father asked me as we were sitting around the breakfast table.
“Of course,” I replied as I got up and walked over to the counter and grabbed the sugar bowl.
In my family, we were raised to be polite and respectful, if only others had the same upbringing, things wouldn’t be the way they were.
“Thanks,” he said as I handed it to him.
“Mum, can you drive us to school today?” I asked, hopefully.
“Of course I can, but what’s wrong with the bus?”
My mother asked way too many questions, so I had gotten really good at lying without feeling any guilt.
“Oh, I just feel really lazy right now and I can’t be bothered.” The lie rolled off of my tongue as if it were nothing. The truth was, that I didn’t want another bump in with Trey; we all remember what happened last time.
A while later, after we had been dropped off at school, I was standing with Liz by the school gate as Jacob walked over to Jodie. And guess who he was with?
Trey Smith!
I felt a drop in my stomach and my heart sped up in fear. I tasted bile in my throat as I remembered how he had hit Jodie.
“Is that her boyfriend?�
�� Liz asked me, gesturing at Jodie. “It looks like it,” I replied as we shuffled sideways, so people had space to walk through the gate and into school.
“What’s a guy like that doing with a girl like Jodie?”
“What do you mean?” I asked her and she shrugged, and answered.
“Well, Jodie doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would date a gangster.”
I shrugged my shoulders but inside I was thinking that she had no idea how much of a ‘gangster’ Trey really was. As Jacob walked back towards us, I raised my eyebrows and he nodded, before folding Liz into a hug.
As they walked into the school, I saw Trey dragging Jodie to the back of the building; I followed them silently and hid behind a wall.
“What on earth did you do?” he growled, his face inches from hers. He had her against the wall with an arm across her throat. She was trapped.
“I, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” she mumbled, causing me to strain to hear her.
“Shut the hell up! Everyone thinks you are psycho! Why did you warn her?” he spat.
I had a flood of sympathy for her. She didn’t deserve any of it. No girl should.
“I didn’t want you to do something that could get you into trouble, and since you don’t listen to me, I thought that if she knew, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
That’s when he started punching and kicking her, screaming the word ‘liar’ over, and over again. Her screams were muffled by his hand and before he could continue hurting her, I sprinted towards them and threw myself at Trey. We were both on the ground.
I was able to scramble up quicker than him.
Grabbing Jodie’s hand, I pulled her up with me and we ran into the safety of the school.
“What the hell did you do?” She gasped as we stopped running. I leaned against one of the lockers and sunk to the ground.
“I just saved your damn life!” I replied as I looked up at her. Her hands were on her hips and a bruise was appearing near her eye.
“He wasn’t going to kill me,” she mumbled.
“You never know Jodie. But why are you still with that guy? He’s a danger to you, and you still put up with him!” I huffed as she sat down on the floor beside me and allowed a tear to stream down her face. It was the first time I had ever seen Jodie vulnerable.
“You wouldn’t understand, no one does.”
Her voice cracked and I really wanted to hug her, and take her pain away.
“Well, maybe if you tell me, I might understand,” I whispered. She shook her head, so I continued.
“Sometimes, talking about things make you feel better, you’ll feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Why don’t you try it?” I asked softly and she inhaled deeply.
“My Dad and Trey’s Dad are business partners, they deal drugs together. My father is forcing me to be Trey’s girlfriend. I don’t know why, maybe it’s to stay in Mr Smith’s good books. I tried telling my father that he hits me, but he just said I was lying so I could get out of the relationship.”
Jodie took a little pause before continuing.
“I have thought about running away, but every time I do, I remember that I won’t be able to go to school. Then I can kiss university goodbye.”
I didn’t know Jodie was so determined about going to school and getting a proper education. I thought she would be one of those girls that would stop going to school after High School finished. I guess people are like books, on the outside, they’re just a picture, on the inside however; there is a whole other story.
“I’m going to help you. I’m going to make Trey look like such a bad boyfriend, which will make your father wish he never even allowed you to date in the first place. I just need a girl willing to make out with Trey!”
Jodie started laughing then, loudly. I watched her until she stopped. Then she sighed deeply and grinned at me.
“Why were you laughing?” I asked her, grinning myself.
“It’s just that, I know plenty of girls that want to get into Trey’s pants.”
“Well then, that’s perfect. I’ll meet you after school at the main gate, and then we can go to my house and plan the whole thing.” I replied, excitedly.
“Okay, that’s cool. Are you going to go to class late or going for the next period?”
I gasped as I remembered I had missed about twenty minutes of my lesson.
“Oh poo!” I moaned as I scrambled to my feet, gathering my things.
“So this is what a good girl looks like when she realises she has skipped almost half of her lesson,” Jodie smirked as she sat calmly on the ground.
“I thought you cared about school. Why aren’t you worried that we’ll get into a lot of trouble?” I asked her and she shook her head.
“Sometimes Trey’s badness rubs off on me. Besides, I know half the stuff boring old Mr Ahmed has to say about linear equations,” she explained, laughing as she stood up with me.
We left the locker room and walked in the direction of my class.
“Excuse me, Miss Alsina and friend! What do you think you are doing out of class?”
A cold voice bellowed from the bottom of the hallway. Jodie and I stopped dead in our tracks and slowly turned around to face our Vice Principal, who thought he ruled the school, when, news flash, he didn’t.
“Miss Jones, I did not expect to see you truanting, what is the meaning of this?” he asked, in a shocked tone.
Wow, big deal! Amber Jones wasn’t in class.
“Mr Fox, we weren’t bunking. I needed to use the toilet and whilst I was in there, I heard Amber vomiting. I stayed to make sure she was okay.” Jodie lied in a sweet voice, almost angelic.
“Miss Jones, is this true?” he asked; his eyebrows furrowed.
I nodded feebly as his eyebrows went back to normal.
“Very well then, get to class,” he ordered, and we nodded before hurrying off.
“We almost got caught!” I giggled, feeling alive for some reason.
“How was my acting though?” she asked me, grinning proudly.
“It was great; did you see how he checked with me in case you were lying?” I replied, making crazy hand gestures.
“When you spend a lot of time in school lying to your teachers, they tend to never believe a word that comes out of your mouth,” Jodie said; I could feel the sadness radiating from her.
“I promise Jodie, I’m going to make this all better, you’re going to be free of the devil’s grasp,” I said as her shoulder slumped.
“Why are you being so nice to me? I have been nothing but a bitch to you and here you are, helping me change my life.”
“Well Jodie, I grew up. I realised that the reason some people are mean is because of what is happening in their life, not because they are actually mean people, a bit like you.”
My voice trailed off as we stood in front of our shared math class.
“Are you ready to do some hardcore acting?” Jodie asked; her eyebrows raised.
I felt queasy; my good girl traits were not ready to lie my way out of the situation. Lying to my parents was always easy, but not to teachers. Does that make me a bad person? I shook my head and started to hyper-ventilate.
“Relax; just pretend you’re one of the characters in your books,” said Jodie as she placed an arm on my shoulder.
That did the trick; I calmed my heart and slowed my breathing.
What would Avery Blue do? I asked myself, deep in thought. Avery would have fought her way out, however in my case, I had to lie; she was quite good at that as well.
I nodded and entered the classroom with Jodie on my heels. Our plan worked perfectly. The fact that I’m a good girl played a big part in keeping us from getting caught, or worse, expelled!
Chapter 9 The Plan
“Okay, so this is how it will work,” I started, as Jodie and her friend Jaylin sat with me on my bed.
“Jaylin, you’re going to text Trey off of Jodie’s phone to meet you
in the al
ley near the Chinese Restaurant. Jodie and I will be recording and
taking pictures. All you have to do is kiss him for like, ten seconds, and then
you can run.” I explained simply as she slowly nodded.
“If you want I can do …” Jaylin started but I cut her off. “No Jaylin, he’s vile! You cannot do more than kiss! Even that’s gross
when it’s with him!” I exclaimed, waving my hands about.
“Okay, okay, shall we go now?” Jaylin said as she played with one of
my throw pillows, which I don’t throw on the floor before sleeping because
they are so comfortable. I don’t care what Mum’s designer said. “Yes, we should do this as soon as possible,” Jodie agreed. I told my Mum that we were going to the library to work some more
on our school project. It was all a big lie; the girls never do homework, well,
apart from Jodie because she’s an undercover nerd.
“Okay Jaylin, he’s coming, so get ready,” Jodie said into the little
speaker.
We had given Jaylin a little ear piece so we could tell her what to do
without Trey hearing us.
“Jaylin, un-button your shirt a bit,” Jodie ordered.
“But make sure your microphone doesn’t show,” I added. “Cut it out, I know what I’m doing!” Jaylin snapped, as she fixed her
shirt to show a little cleavage.
That was when Trey approached Jaylin with a deathly smirk on his
face.
“So, I hear Jodie messed up, big time,” Jaylin said; her tone seductive. “Yeah, she let that bitch know I was on to her.”
I gasped at the word he used to describe me.
“Jaylin, put your hand on your hip,” I hissed and she did as I said.. “You look sexy in your school uniform,” he murmured, and that’s
when they started kissing.
Our camera’s went crazy as we clicked the shutters as many times as
we could, capturing the vile moment in time.
“Okay Jaylin, pull away and then run to my house,” I whispered into
the microphone. We watched her sprint away and we giggled at Trey’s face. He must have heard us because he turned around quickly, meeting