Anywhere But Here

“So, you have to tell me now,” Joe said quietly. Alyssa glanced up from the darkness and tried to pick Joe’s face out against the water that was next to him, but it was nearly impossible. “How long have you felt like you were being followed?”

Alyssa took a deep breath before slowing her fast pace. Joe, who was still holding onto her limp hand, also slowed down.

“Remember when you helped me bring my bags up to my room?” She questioned, averting her eyes to in front of her. A few miles before them, around where the Jonas’ house was, she could see the beginning of what looked like a bonfire.

“That long?” Joe asked incredulously.

“Before that,” Alyssa said quietly. She still couldn’t believe that she was telling someone this. “Since he disappeared that afternoon… ” Alyssa paused, shaking her head once more. “him and his stupid red sweater have been everywhere.”

“Red sweater?” Joe questioned, the tone changing in his voice made shivers pour down Alyssa’s back. She shrugged it off and nodded her head, although Joe couldn’t see it.

“My mom, she got him this red sweater when they first started dating.” Alyssa explained, “He never wore it. But I remember walking down from my bedroom before going to school that morning and seeing him walk out the front door with the red sweater on. I thought he had gotten rid of it when he moved in to our house, but…I guess not.”

Joe’s grip on Alyssa’s hand tightened. Had it only been coincidence that the first person Joe saw after Alyssa had disappeared from the pier was wearing a red sweater?

Joe’s thoughts were shoved to the back of his mind as soon as the two teens approached the bonfire that he assumed Nick had started. Nick struggled his way through the sand and instantly noticed the way Joe was gripping onto Alyssa’s hand-as is if it were for dear life.

“What’s up with you two?” Nick questioned quietly, pointing a finger between his brother and Alyssa. They shot each other unsure glances before Joe shrugged his shoulders at Nick, dropping Alyssa’s hand while doing so.

“Nothing,” Joe concluded, shoving his hands into his back pocket. “We were just walking.”

Nick gave Alyssa, who had been staring down at the ground the entire time, a skeptical look before shrugging it off and turning back around towards his group of friends.

“I should probably be going,” Alyssa said uncomfortably, attempting to ignore the few pairs of eyes that watched her from the fire. Joe, not noticing the attention, began to protest but stopped when he saw Alyssa glance back toward the group. “I don’t think your friends like me.”

“They’re not my friends,” Joe mumbled, taking his hands out of his pockets. “They’re Nick’s. And they don’t have a problem with you.”

Alyssa folded her arms across her chest and glanced up at Joe with a small smirk on her face.

“Okay,” Joe laughed, “They don’t have that much of a problem with you. But at least let me walk you home.”

“It’s just-”

“Please?” Joe interrupted, glancing up through his shaggy hair.

Alyssa took a breath and exhaled slowly through her teeth. “Why not?” She asked, smiling as a small grin played across Joe’s lips.

It wasn’t a far journey across the road that separated the Jonas’ household from Alyssa’s dads, but the silence between Joe and Alyssa almost seemed strange to her. The entire evening the two teens hadn’t once been at a loss for words. Even if most of their conversation was about the possibility of Alyssa being stalked by her missing step-father, it was comforting to have at least one person looking out for her here.

“Thanks, for tonight.” Alyssa said quietly, crossing her bare arms across her chest. She wasn’t used to living so close to a lake, so the cold winds were unfamiliar to her. Joe, noticing this, shrugged his hoodie off of his shoulders.

“Thanks for listening to me.” Joe said, offering Alyssa his jacket. She took it slowly before shoving her small arms through the sleeves.

“You’re welcome.” Alyssa replied, “Thanks for trusting me.”

“You’re welcome.” Joe said quieter. It was only then, when Alyssa could almost feeling Joe’s warm breath on her skin, that she realized that they had been inching closer to each other with every word that they spoke. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, she backed away.

“It’s late,” she stated, searching frantically for the doorknob.

“Okay,” Joe murmured, glancing down at Alyssa. She awkwardly rubbed her arm and began to twist the front door’s doorknob. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa agreed, smiling back at Joe. She stepped into the house and shut the door behind her quietly, padding her way up the stairs to her bedroom. Much to her dismay, Greg and Lisa’s bedroom door was open, and Lisa had just walked out with a pile of towels draped across her arms.

“Oh, Alyssa,” Lisa said, glancing down the staircase with a confused expression. “Where have you been all night? I thought you were up in your room.”

“I was at the Jonas‘ house.” Alyssa mumbled, stumbling her way up the rest of the stairs. Lisa nodded her head, frozen in the entrance of the doorway and watched as Alyssa continued to walk her way past her.

“Were you planning on telling me or your father?” Lisa asked quietly, forcing Alyssa to stop dead in her tracks. She turned around and looked at Lisa.

Her pin straight hair, which was probably fried from the amount of heat and hair dye that she put in it, was pulled into a tight ponytail on the top of her head. By the way Lisa was dressed, Alyssa assumed that she was pretending to be at least ten years younger than she really was.

“Do you need to know where I am every minute of the day?” Alyssa questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. Lisa nervously folded a towel in her hand and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, “that’s one of the roles as a parent, you know?”

“You are not my parent,” Alyssa snapped, letting her arms fall down to her sides. She began to turn back toward her bedroom, but Lisa stopped her.

“I am in no way trying to replace your mother, Alyssa,” she said sternly, “but as your legal guardian, it’s the least to ask where you are going when you leave my household.”

Alyssa, strangely at a loss for words, obediently nodded her head before reaching out for her bedroom doorknob. Lisa, shocked despite of herself, smiled in victory and began to make her way into the laundry room.

Alyssa silently walked into her bedroom and intentionally slammed the door shut behind her. Flicking the bedroom light on, she glanced around the room cautiously. Every night since she had arrived, it was like a ritual. She would check every corner of her room to make sure that nothing had been placed somewhere else. Then she would turn on her desk lamp and turn off her bedroom light and stay up for hours, coming up with crazy scenarios in her mind.

Just before Alyssa was going to crawl into her unmade bed, she noticed a small movement from the curtain that was permanently placed over her window. It came and went, and as she walked closer to the window, the noises from outside became more audible.

Her bedroom window, a window in which she assumed had been locked, was wide open. The curtains were now swaying in the wind. But it wasn’t the wind that frightened Alyssa. It was the pair of shoes, the shoes that she had worn to the party, carried while walking in the sand with Joe, and had forgotten at the spot where the two teens sat, that were resting safe and soundly on her bedroom floor.

Someone had been her bedroom. And something told Alyssa that the same person had been close to her the entire night.