Haunted

Frozen in fear, Emma stared around the vacant house. A million thoughts rushed through her mind. Where was she and who had brought her here?

“Hey, baby. How was your day?” Taylor walked in and shut the door behind him, car keys dangling from his slightly open palm.

“You called me baby.” Emma was shocked.

Taylor smiled sweetly. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Emma decided to play along with the charade. “Babe?”

“Hmmm?” He walked over to the couch to settle in next to Emma.

“I missed you.” She carefully nestled her quivering features in his welcoming and warm chest.

Again, Taylor grinned. “I missed you more,” he recited, pulling her face toward his, gently pressing a kiss to her lips.

Emma felt a shudder erupt from underneath her and she separated from Taylor. The walls were tumbling and shredding, slowly morphing into her former best friend Selena’s house. She saw herself weeping in the main hall with her clothes mangled, Taylor in front of her. Logan stood against the wall with striation marks circling his neck. Emma realized what she was over-seeing.

“You made your choice.”

Emma saw her clone opening her mouth to rebut. “After everything we’ve been through, you can stand there and seriously tell me that you want nothing to do with me? What did I really do that was so bad? I almost got raped and you won’t even take my side on this!”

“I don’t want anything to do with a slut. You deserved what you got tonight.” Taylor quickly moved toward the front door without facing either the clone or Logan. “I wish he would’ve gone through with it. At least then I could actually believe that you didn’t choose to be with him.”

The clone ran to the door and screamed, “I love you!”

Taylor slammed the door in the clone’s face and suddenly the room fell silent. She was reunited with her own body again, but the floorboards were dissolving beneath her. Emma was falling into the unknown and she couldn’t cease her screams for help.

Emma shot straight up in bed and clasped a hand to her forehead. Taylor’s parting words echoed in her fragile mind. A cold drift of air consumed her small body. Fear filled her lungs as she searched the room for any unwanted demons. Strong wind gusts whistled through the unfamiliar area. As Emma gathered more and more of her conscious mind, the wind was getting closer to her. She glanced off to her left and was shocked to see a pair of arms wrapped around her tightly. The body was slender and sleek. For a quick second, Emma thought that it may be Taylor. She blinked hard. When she finally found the face, it was Logan.

A great disappointment filled her with grief. The wind gusts were only the sounds of Logan breathing into the pillow. He was serene and beautiful, but he would never compare to Taylor. Emma felt a cold whisper travel down her spine. She instinctively folded her arms around her ribcage. Her palms met with the skin on her sides.

Emma shrieked inaudibly. She was naked. She raised the sheets tentatively to see if she at least had intimates on. No, those were gone too. She couldn’t believe what was happening…or rather, had happened. Her mind went totally blank. She was nude in Logan Lerman’s bed and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. Flashes of the previous night clouded her thoughts. Logan taking her to his apartment; Logan carrying her inside because she was dizzy and drunk; Logan taking her clothes off and him following suit. She vaguely remembered him climbing on top of her. Her head was pounding with the memory.

Logan began to stir next to her. She silently wept as she slid out of bed self-consciously and tried to gather all of her clothes but her eyes were blurred from the tears. She hooked her bra and slid on her t-shirt, feeling empty inside. The night of the almost rape had been completely terrifying and now she was haunted by it. She couldn’t erase the images from her mind. She hadn’t wanted to have sex with him this time either but he had once again taken advantage of her state. His face and the light kept playing tricks on her. She kept seeing Taylor in his place because she was so messed up from the alcohol. Logan suggested that she drink. In fact, he had brought her the first one. Emma looked over her shoulder at Logan’s sleeping form. Had he slipped something into her drink?

Her skinny jeans slipped easily over her boy shorts. She hiccupped from all her silent cries. Emma bit her lip and grabbed her purse. Its contents were scattered across the floor. A new question entered her mind. Had they used any contraceptives? What if she turned up pregnant? Taylor would never take her back. Especially not after he found out that she and Logan really did sleep together. Everything was so fucked up and she didn’t know how to make anything right.

Hot breath blew against her ear. “Where do you think you’re going,” Logan asked, seductively.

Emma took a sharp intake of breath. “Please don’t touch me.”

She could feel Logan’s body tense behind her. “Em, what’s wrong? I thought everything was fine with us.”

“You’re not Taylor,” she whispered. She refused to turn around.

“What did you say, babe?” Logan scooted over to sit next to Emma on the edge of the bed. She caught a glimpse of his black boxer-briefs from the corner of her eye.

She shrugged. “I just forgot that I have an interview this morning. I, uh, I have to go.”

Logan’s eyes faltered from her face. He kissed her cheek gently. “I’ll meet you at Koi tonight.” He rose and headed toward the bathroom door.

Emma swallowed her tears and forced herself upward. She had to get out. The door opened under her palms and she broke into a run. What had she done?



The scene marker slammed shut as Chris Weitz called cut. “That’s a wrap everyone! Great work.”

Taylor smiled confidently and walked off set. It had been a long filming day and he couldn’t wait to party. Once outside, he was met with a crowd of screaming fan girls. He picked the hottest one from the crowd and winked in her direction. She automatically swooned. He couldn’t resist; he had to take her out to party.

“We‘re going to a party tonight,” he whispered softly so only the girl could hear.

“We?” She asked, flabbergasted.

He smiled cockily. “Yeah. Me and this beautiful thing that’s standing in front of me.” Taylor could tell that she was on the edge of passing out and he ate the attention up like candy. When she didn’t answer, he mouthed the words ‘follow me’.

The girl slipped under the boundary between them and he immediately grabbed her hand. He led her to his private trailer, making sure that no one had spotted either of them. Once they both made it inside, Taylor went in for the kill. He kissed her deeply and even harshly, releasing all his anger into his poor prey.

Truth be told, he was still incredibly hurt from what happened between him and Emma. He hated to think about it and he refused to talk about it. He loved Emma with all he had and she had stabbed him in the back. It was heartbreaking and it was tearing him apart inside. More than anything, Taylor wanted to have her back but he knew that every time he would look into her eyes he would only see Logan’s face. The thought angered him and made his blood curl.

All of a sudden, the girl flinched backward and clasped a hand over her mouth. “Why the hell did you just bite me?” Her voice was full of shock and fury.

“Get out,” Taylor whispered. Then, he repeated himself with a louder tone. He watched as she huffed and stormed out of the trailer.

Taylor wiped his mouth haphazardly and stomped to the bathroom. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and saw nothing but a broken boy with an ugly outlook on life. He would never forgive Emma for what she had done to him. She was the biggest mistake of his life…yet, he couldn’t get her off his mind. At one point, Emma was everything to him; his every thought had always contained something about her.

Emma’s smile flashed before his eyes. He remembered their first kiss and the way she used to tell him that she loved him every day. The secure feeling he felt when he hugged her; the way her body felt against his; the warmth of her skin. It was all gone.

Taylor couldn’t take it anymore. He threw a glass candle holder across the tiny bathroom space and cringed slightly when it shattered with a disheartening whisper. Sighing, he stepped over the puddle of shards and left his trailer. As soon as he stepped down from the last step, he could feel a pair of eyes searing into the back of his head.

Kellan was standing outside Ashley’s trailer with a sadistic stare in his eyes. He hated Taylor with a passion that he was sure Kellan didn’t even understand. Big deal; so he’d lied for Selena. She was going through a hard time and the last thing she needed was for Kellan to harass her for answers.

Taylor ground his teeth together and spun around with a growl. “Do you have a fucking problem?” He rushed up to Kellan who was over half-a-foot taller than him.

Kellan snickered and stalked off in the opposite direction. Taylor assumed that he wasn’t in the mood to have another argument. They had been snippy with each other for several weeks and one of them either walked off or pretended they had suddenly gone deaf.

Taylor had so much anger built up and he desperately needed to release it. He re-entered his trailer and grabbed his cell phone. The first number he thought of was Selena’s but then he came up with a better solution. He typed fast and carefully before finally hitting send. Emma deserved every word of what was coming to her.

Several seconds later, the phone beeped twice. The reply text read:

Emma’s mine now. Don’t try to get in contact with her again because I will make sure you get what you deserve. And by the way, she’s not a whore or any of those other words you used. I’m glad we finally got the chance to sleep together though. She was amazing and you never even got a piece of her. Watch your back, bro! - Logan

Taylor squeezed his phone hard and slammed it down on the table. He had a plan. He didn’t know whether he wanted Emma back just to show that he could or if he still loved her, but he was going to show Logan who really needed to watch their back.