I Don't Belong Here

Chapter Two

Waking, hours later, I opened my eyes and was only greeted by darkness. Rolling my eyes upward, I saw the open, inky black sky, dotted with stars. I was outside somewhere, laying face down, my body twisted in weird directions. The next thing that registered was pain, racing like wildfire all throughout my body. I gasped at the sudden awareness of it, and even in doing that doubled the onslaught to my senses. My memory of the last several hours was blurry, and I knew that I would never want to clearly remember them.

I tried pushing myself upright, and collapsed immediately. Everything just hurt, so bad… unwelcome, shameful tears rolled down my face as I crawled across the grass to the road. Biting my lip, I attempted to stand again, slower this time. Finally, I was on my feet, and in worse agony than I had ever experienced before. Looking down, I was horrified to see that I had blood all over me. Trying to take several small, shallow breaths, I tried to figure out where I was. Even as I turned around to stare at the outside of my house, a horrible, terrifying feeling settled into my gut.

They brought me home.
They know where I live.

Paranoid now, I questioned myself on whether I should go inside. What if they were waiting in there? I knew that I needed to get –somewhere- or I would collapse again from the pain. Dizzy and nauseous, I stumbled forward, the only option being to go inside. I unlocked the door with the hidden key on the porch and fumbled for the light. Making sure to shut and lock the door, I hurried to the bathroom, fighting not to pass out from the shock and the pain. I purposely avoided looking at myself in the mirror as I rushed to the toilet. Dropping to the floor, I relieved my nausea, crying as I emptied what little was in my stomach.

A couple more hours later, I sat curled up on the couch in the living room. I had taken a hot bath, trying to relieve some of my soreness, and still I couldn’t stop crying from the sight of all the bruises beginning form across my body. The handful of aspirin I took didn’t seem to be helping too much, other than making my already exhausted body even more tired. Sniffling, I grabbed a pillow and lightly squeezed it, feeling more alone than I ever had.

I was often alone – my parents hated each other, hated being here, hated having to take care of me. My mom was always away on some kind of business trip, so she called them; Dad just stayed with his girlfriend most of the time. Slowly, I fell into an uneasy sleep, waking often throughout the night.

Come morning, I awoke with a plan, almost as if I had been thinking it over in my uneven bouts of sleep. I was not staying here. I was going to run, and get as far away from here as I could. Stuffing my small stash of money, a change of clothes, and a knife in a spare backpack I had, I walked out of my house forever.

My path led me to a bus stop just outside of town. As I stood there and waited for the blasted thing to come, my skin started to prickle, and tiny chills made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I turned instinctively to look over my shoulder, but I knew I was being silly – there wasn’t a soul in sight. Still, it felt like someone’s eyes were trained on me. Shrugging, I turned to face the road again, and felt my breath hitch as I caught a glimpse of a pair of bright green eyes, staring unblinkingly through the screen of trees across the road from me. The next moment, they were gone.

I can’t remember seeing a figure, or a face. Just those cold, hard eyes. I was unnerved, and it was with relief that I stepped aboard the big Greyhound bus when it finally came. Taking a seat in the far back, I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes.

Sometime later I awoke to the blue-gray colors of an evening settling into dusk. The bus was pulling in to a rest stop at the side of an unfamiliar road. A touch of panic brightened my eyes briefly as I realized I had no clue where I was, or where I was even headed. I did have to pee though, and stretch my sore, cramped muscles. Stepping off the bus, I hurried to the gas station, afraid of being left behind.

After I had finished, I went to the counter with a bag of chips in one hand and money in the other. The cashier was nice-looking, and I immediately flushed out of silly nerves.

Then, he looked up, stared right at me with vivid green eyes.

I gasped, and my muscles tensed, preparing me to run.

“What is it, honey? Come on, before your bus leaves,” he said just then, in a handsome, deep voice. What other option did I have? I walked jerkily forward, throwing the chips on the counter so he could scan them, then threw five bucks in his direction.

“Keep the change,” I mumbled, snatching the bag and running back out to the bus.

“See you later…” I heard him call out softly from behind me as I made my quick exit. Once I was on the bus, I turned to look at him through the window.

He was gone. Shivers ran down my spine.