Breaking Free Read online

But after several times of sneaking out the window, it became easier to do. It almost felt natural.

  I was sitting in front of her vanity mirror, chewing my left cheek, trying to start the conversation.

  She was combing my hair to style it and humming something that strangely sounded like Jingle Bell Rock, even though it was almost May.

  “Hey… um… Beth?” I sounded nervous.

  “Hmmm…?”

  “I was wondering… I mean… During U.S. Government about three weeks ago I heard some people… talking.”

  “About what?” she mumbled around a clip she had for my hair.

  “About Wendy…” I checked the mirror for her reaction.

  She immediately stilled the comb she was using and dropped the clip from her mouth. I could see shock and anger creep into her features.

  “What about her?” she spat out.

  I have never seen Beth so livid before. Not even when she was arguing with Joshua.

  I shrugged my shoulder, hoping to ease some tension in the room. “They just mentioned that she stopped coming to school, and I just wanted to know if you knew why?”

  I could see the annoyance leave her face, but her eyes still showed irritation.

  “She was nobody. She had a thing for Josh, and she tried to tell me one day that he raped her, but I called her bluff. She never showed her ugly face at school again after that because she knew that he didn’t, and she realized that nobody would believe her if she told such a lie.” She bent down to pick the clip that fell on the floor and put it in my hair.

  She smiled, but it was strained. “There we go. All done. Let’s go! Josh is waiting for us.”

  And that was all she said about Wendy.

  Would Joshua really have raped Wendy? Or was Wendy lying?

  Beth opened her window and climbed out without a backward glance. I followed shortly after her.

  We arrived outside to see Joshua’s pickup truck blending into the dark, waiting for us across the street from Beth’s house. Beth climbed in the front seat while I jumped in the back. Beth leaned over the console of the truck and kissed Joshua on the cheek.

  “Hey, babe. You look hot!” I was sure Joshua was saying this to Beth, but then I caught his dark eyes watching me in the mirror.

  I looked away, feeling uncomfortable.

  Joshua had been doing this a lot lately. I would catch him watching me randomly during lunchtime. I also kept running into him at school, even though his classes were located in D-wing.

  I caught him once hanging around where my sixth-period class was, and when I asked him what he was doing, he just shrugged and walked away.

  Sometimes when I was out with my mom, I swear I would catch glimpses of him, but when I looked back, he wouldn’t be there.

  I tried to shrug it off, but the anxious feeling I had would not go away.

  We arrived at the party to see that it was already in full swing.

  Rap music blared from the speakers inside the living room of the house, making it almost too difficult to talk over the loudness. Most of the partygoers seemed like they were already too drunk to care about their surroundings. Many of them were making out in any corner they could find.

  Easing around most of the party guests, we made it into the kitchen where alcohol bottles were littering the counters, and empty cans scattered across the floor.

  “Here!” Joshua shouted over the music and shoved a red cup filled to the brim into my hand. I looked down at the alcohol in the cup, and a queasy feeling in the pit stomach made me set it aside.

  I’d never drunk alcohol before, and I wasn’t about to start then.

  A tug on my light pink shirt made me turn around to find Beth indicating that she was leaving the kitchen. I followed her to the dance floor in the living room. We did this often enough that when we started dancing, I fell right into the routine.

  But this time, something was different. Something didn’t seem right. Joshua joined us and was grinding against me. Beth didn’t seem to notice because she was already chugging a drink that someone had handed to her.

  Joshua joined our dancing before, but he always danced with Beth, with his eyes never seeming to leave me. I twisted away, trying to focus on something else as we danced the hours away.

  After some time passed, the room we were in suddenly felt extremely hot, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I decided I needed to get something to drink, so I pushed Joshua away and shouted to Beth that I was going to get a drink. I wasn’t sure if she heard me over the music, but I didn’t wait for a response from her.

  I pushed through the crowd, going back toward the kitchen. When I came to a set of stairs, I knew I went the wrong way, but I decided to go up them anyway, hoping to find a bathroom to throw some water on my face.

  When I got to the landing of the stairs, I went straight for the door across from them. I opened it to a pitch-black room, but I heard a muffled scream, and a deep voice said from the darkness. “Get out! Kind of busy here!”

  “I’m sorry!”

  I shut the door as my face flushed in embarrassment. I continued down the hall and opened several other doors that led into rooms. I was going to give up and go back downstairs when I finally stumbled across a bathroom on the far left side. I opened the door and looked at myself in the mirror.

  My face was pale looking even though it was covered in makeup. I knew the makeup was waterproof, so I turned on the faucet in front of me and splashed some water on my face. My body heat was starting to cool down.

  I heard a knock on the door but ignored it, hoping the person on the other side of the door would get the hint and leave.

  Another knock came, with a sigh, I opened the door.

  The person on the other side of the door was the one person I wanted to avoid the rest of the night.

  Joshua Henley was leaning against the door frame, and his eyes traveled up and down my body almost predatory.

  “I saw you come upstairs and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Something in his voice didn’t sound right, and pure terror pounded in my chest.

  “I just needed to splash water on my face. It was getting too hot downstairs.” I tried to push by him, but he blocked my way.

  “Can you let me go? Beth is probably looking for me.” I tried to keep the fear out of my voice as I talked.

  “You are beautiful. Do you know that?” There was a dangerous tone to his voice.

  “I really need to go.” I tried again to push past him, but it was no use because his body now blocked the whole doorway.

  His eyes connected with mine, and a look of confusion passed over his face.

  “It should have been working by now,” he mumbled more to himself than to me.

  I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I knew I needed to get away from him. Once again, I tried to walk out of the bathroom.

  He put his hands on my shoulders and shook me hard.

  “Why isn’t it working?” he said out loud. A rage I didn’t understand clouded his face.

  “Let me go!” I pushed against him, and he moved out of the way to let me go. I sprinted for the stairs and ran down into the swarm below.

  My heart wouldn’t stop racing as I fought through the mass of people. I was looking for any sign of Beth’s red hair, and when I finally found it, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey, girlfriend! Where did you go?” She was clearly drunk.

  I needed to tell her what happened upstairs, but first, I really wanted to leave.

  “I want to go home, Beth! Can we go?” I shouted over the music.

  She slurred the words as she threw an arm around my shoulders, and the smell of her breath almost made me puke. “Why? The fun is just getting started!”

  “She’s right, Beth. It’s time to go.” I didn’t even notice he was behind me. Joshua grabbed the arm around my shoulders and put it over his shoulder before he picked up a protesting Beth off the floor.

  I watched them leave through the crowd, and I
wished that they weren’t my ride home.

  The silence in the car was only broken by Beth’s moans, who seemed to have started to realize how many drinks she actually had. I avoided looking in the rearview mirror of the truck and instead stared at my clasped hands in my lap. His eyes were on me, this much I knew, but I didn’t indicate that I knew he was watching me.

  We arrived back at Beth’s house just in time for Beth to throw open her door and puke all over the road.

  I jumped out of the truck to grab her. I turned to Joshua to ask him for his help to her bedroom window, but he was already putting the car in drive.

  “Shut the door,” he growled out.

  I did as he asked and watched him speed away in the dark. He left me alone in the middle of the street with a very drunk Beth.

  I half-dragged, half-walked her across the road to her house. I set her down on the ground, so I could remove the small rock that she put in between the windowsill and the window to keep it from closing.

  I opened the window as far as it would possibly go and went back for Beth, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

  “Hey, Beth. Wake up. We got to get you inside,” I whispered to her, trying to pull her up to a standing position.

  She groaned and stood up, pushing her way through the open window.

  As she laid in her bed later, snoring, I tried to figure out what happened with Joshua. I didn’t understand why he acted that way, and I tried to convince myself that I misinterpreted what he was doing.

  I looked over at Beth and realized I needed to tell her what was going on. I turned on my right side and looked at the moon’s light reflecting through the window. My last thought before I fell asleep was that I hoped I didn’t lose Beth’s friendship.

  Chapter 7: Present

  Being in the same classroom as Joshua made it difficult for me to crawl out of bed for the next three days. During class, he would lean forward to touch my hair and twirl it around his finger.

  The first time he did it, he leaned in really close and whispered in a sad tone, “I liked your blonde hair better, my sweet Paige.” I wanted to throw up but held my ground.

  Even though there were many other people in the same room with us, it made me feel like it was just the two of us again back in his room.

  The only thing that got me through the rest of the week was the idea of going out to spend time with Anna on Saturday. She asked me on Wednesday after school if I wanted to hang out with her at the mall Saturday morning.

  I wanted to tell her no because I haven’t been out in public since that night, but I gave in when I saw the hopeful look in her eyes. I figured going to the mall wouldn’t do me any harm.

  When I climbed in the Jeep on Saturday, I regretted my decision to go almost immediately. I haven’t been to the mall since I went with Beth.

  I greet Seth and Anna with a small hi and hope I am hiding my nervousness well.

  Seth was driving us to the mall because neither Anna nor I had our license yet.

  We arrive there shortly before ten. Seth was supposed to drop us off at the entrance, but he decided he needed to buy some sneakers. We all climb out of the Jeep and walk toward the mall entrance that had a sign indicating to the food court.

  Seth groans as the smell of the food hits our nostrils and rubs his belly. “I’m starving. Anyone else hungry?”

  Anna rolls her eyes and replies, “You just ate breakfast. How in the world are you hungry already?”

  Seth opens the door for Anna and me to walk through. “I’m a growing boy. I need to eat.” He makes me blush with a wink as I walk through the door past him.

  I haven’t quite figured out why he makes my heart go into overdrive every time he looks at me, and I am not ready to figure it out either. He’s just Anna’s brother, and we’ve barely spoken.

  The mall is packed with people shopping, and out of fearful habit, I look around to see if Joshua is here. When I don’t see him, my body relaxes.

  The food court has a lot of choices.

  Seth grabs some tacos, and we all sit down while he eats. Anna watches him in slight disgust as he shoves a taco in his mouth but laughs when half the inside of the taco falls in his lap.

  She reaches over the table to grab a napkin off the tray and throws it at him. “You are so disgusting!” she squeals, rolling her eyes at him. I watch with a smile on my face.

  Since I met Anna and Seth, I feel so much more relaxed when I’m around them. For just a few hours, I forget what happened to me and just enjoy the moment.

  Anna turns to me and says, “Excuse my repulsive brother. He apparently has no manners when he eats.”

  Seth snorts and continues to eat by picking up the next taco to unwrap it.

  I laugh under my breath as I watch him consume the next one as fast as the first one.

  “So, what store would you like to hit first?” Anna asks me.

  I shrug. “Maybe the video store?”

  Seth interrupts before Anna can answer. “Yeah, I need to go there. I want to buy the newest Avengers movie.”

  Seth finishes his food, and we head to the video store with Anna babbling about the homecoming dance.

  As we walk, I keep an eye on the crowd around us. I worry that every person we pass is Joshua. One time, I thought I saw him leaning against a wall next to one store, but when I looked back to get another glimpse, there was no one there. After that, I stare straight ahead and ignore the feeling I’m being watched.

  When we get to the video store, Seth takes off down one aisle looking for the movie he mentioned. The video store also had a book section to it, and Anna goes to see if there are any good books to buy.

  I head to the aisle on my right and look at the movies there. Again, I feel somebody watching me and turn. There is nobody in the aisle with me, but I can’t shake the uneasy feeling that someone is watching me.

  I continue to browse and come across one of my favorite movie series, Harry Potter. I pick up the first movie and turn it over to see the price on the back. I don’t own the set yet, and when I see that it is discounted, I head to the cash register. Just as I’m putting the movies on the counter, it’s suddenly taken from my hands. My breath catches in fear, but I relax after I notice it’s Seth.

  He reads the back of the movie case, so I’m able to take in the sight of him. Today, he is wearing a blue shirt that brings out his eyes and white shorts. His hair looks a little curlier today than it was the first day I met him. I get the strange urge to reach out and touch his hair to see if it is as soft as it looks.

  “I’ve heard of these movies, but I’ve never seen them. Are they good?” his question brings me back to the present, and my mouth drops open in shock.

  “You’ve never seen Harry Potter?”

  He shakes his head and looks at me.

  “It’s only the best story in the whole world. You’ve never seen it? Are you sure?”

  Seth shrugs and looks behind me. “How about I buy it, and we can watch them?”

  “Watch what?” I turn around just in time to see Anna walking up the aisle with two books in her hand. Seth angles the movies in her direction. “Ah, I’ve heard of them before. Never actually seen them, though.”

  I stare at them, dumbfounded, as Anna takes the movie from Seth’s hand.

  I speak before I think of what I’m saying, “Were you guys hermits your whole life?”

  They both look at one another and laugh. I turn to Anna. “Have you never read the Harry Potter books?”

  Now it’s Anna’s turn to stare at me. “Nope. Are they as good as the movies?”

  I slap my hand against my forehead and let out a sigh.

  I hear Anna take in a breath and say excitedly, “We should have a movie night!”

  I remove my hand from my face to look at her smiling face. “You can spend the night tonight, and we can watch the whole series together!”

  I shake my head at her and reply, “There are eight movies. I don’t even have the collection.”


  Seth looks over at the shelf and sees the rest of the movies, he grabs them off the shelf and starts walking toward the cashier. I watch him as he goes and turn to Anna, “What is he doing?”

  Anna grins and follows him. “He’s buying the movies to watch. Our parents give us an allowance for doing chores around the house.”

  I watch her walk away in shock.

  Seth buys the entire movie series and walks out of the video store. Anna purchases her books, and we turn to follow him.

  Anna asks me, “So, you want to come over tonight for a sleepover?”

  “Yeah, let me just check with my mom.”

  Anna squeals loudly, and people turn to look in our direction. As I pull out my phone to send a message to my mom, Anna and Seth bicker over what store to go to next.

  I send a quick message to my mom to see if I can spend the night, and as I follow them, a ping sounds on my phone.

  Mom: Sure! Love you xo

  For a second, I kind of hoped she would say no. I didn’t want Anna to find out about the nightmares that wake me up panicking. I am worried about her asking questions that I’m not sure I want to answer.

  Chapter 8: Past

  I was willing to forget about what happened at the party because it didn’t seem important enough to tell Beth about it. Joshua seemed to pretend it never happened, so I did the same. Maybe he was drunk and didn’t remember it happening. The week following the party seemed normal. Almost too good to be true.

  I didn’t see Joshua much at all that week. It was like he was avoiding the lunch table, and I didn’t notice him in the halls between classes.

  It wasn’t until Friday night that things became a little weirder and more terrifying.

  I was getting ready for bed when I heard a ping come from my phone. I reached for it, thinking it might be Beth asking to see if I had any plans this weekend.

  I was wrong.

  As I read the message, burning terror shot through my veins.

  389-0723: I haven’t forgotten about you. About us. One day you will be mine.

  My pulse started pounding as I reread the message on my phone. I knew right away who it was.