What it all comes down to |Chapter 8|

“She could be dead!” I heard Courtney say. Her voice seemed to be really close to my face. “We have to do something… what if—”

“—for the fifth fucking time… She isn’t dead!” Chris yelled. He seemed farther away. I heard a car horn at that moment. “Get out of the way!” He yelled.

Oh. So we were in the car, Chris was driving—badly.

“This isn’t good… she could be hurt.” Courtney said. She seemed to be crying now.

“She passed out, court.” He was a little calmer now, obviously noticing her tone. “She’ll be fine in a little while. I just have to get her home.”

“Why were you fighting anyway?” She hissed at him. “This wouldn’t have happened if you wouldn’t have started all that with Kevin!”

Silence.

“No answer, huh?” Courtney asked; her voice was still bitter. “I didn’t think so.”

“You don’t know anything about anything.” Chris said. “Maybe you should mind your business.”

“I think you have enough business to deal with, lately.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing… I’m just going to say this once though,” She paused for emphasis. “If you don’t know the real reason why you were fighting tonight, then you’re dumber than I thought.”

The car was left in silence again.

We got home and Chris carried me to my room. I opened my eyes as he laid me down on the bed. I guess Courtney was in the bathroom or something because we were alone.

“You’re awake…” He said as he pulled my shoes off.

I nodded. In truth, I had been awake for a while. But it was only now that I was noticing his face. He had a long, open gash on his cheek and his eye was swelling.

“What happened?” I asked, even though I already knew.

He shook his head from left to right. “Nothing important.” He said too quickly, as if he was hiding something. “We can talk in the morning, try to get some sleep.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

A few minutes after he left, Courtney came in wearing shorts and a white tank top. “Oh my God!” She said as she ran over to hug me. “I thought we were going to have to take you to the hospital or something! I’ve never seen someone pass out before, I was so scared!”

I laughed lightly. “I’m fine.” I sat up and noticed instantly that my muscles were tense. “Ouch.”

“What?!” She asked instantly. “What happened?”

I laughed again. “Chill, nini!” I stretched my arms to try to loosen my muscles a little bit. “I must’ve fallen on my arms too hard. They’re a little sore.”

“Oh… well, how did you pass out anyway? You were fine before.”

I shrugged, “I’m not sure, really… It’s kind of a blur. I remember trying to get them to stop but that’s it.”

“Wow… After you fell, everyone was completely silent. It was like the fight didn’t even matter anymore. All eyes were on you.”

I winced at the thought. “Ugh! That’s embarrassing!”

Courtney laughed for the first time that night. “Not really… people were really concerned. Even Kevin and Chris stopped the madness to help you.”

This caught my attention. “Really? Okay, remind me to pass out whenever someone’s making an ass of them self in my presence.”

“Will do.” Courtney said laughing again.

“Let’s go order a movie On Demand,” I sat up and lost my footing. Courtney grabbed me and balanced me.

“Watch yourself, clumsy,” She said in a jokingly manner.

“Oh whatever.”

“Maybe you should get some sleep, though…”

I sighed. “No. I can’t sleep anyway.” As soon as I said it I regretted it.

Courtney looked at me with concerned eyes. “Why not?” She asked.

I shrugged. “Nothing really… Just, every since my step-father…”

I trailed off figuring that she would put the pieces together herself. “Oh.” Was all she said; I was glad.

We ordered 17 again and watched it while eating cookies, chips, candy, and anything else we could find in the cabinets.

We watched a few more movies, but out of the two of us, I stayed up the longest. I turned the television off and walked upstairs, leaving Courtney to sleep on the couch. I went into my room and shut the door behind me.

You have to sleep, shayla.

Shut up!

I shook my head to stop the voices in my head… even though they both seemed to be my own. It scared my how, in my head, it seemed as if I had two different personalities. It was as if I was a split personality or something.

But you are…

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” I yelled in a whisper. “This has to stop!”

My room was completely dark, but I knew my way around. I heard a noise coming from my window and I immediately turned to see what it was, but I didn’t see anyone.

I started having flashed of the night when travis knocked on my window—the last time he knocked—that Saturday night.

I felt the warm tears trailing down my face as I realized that night would forever haunt me—weather I was awake or not, I’d forever be plagued by it.

There was another knock at my window… this time there was a shadowy figure standing there.

Don’t open it, you idiot.

I wanted to be a rebel against the voice, even though this was probably one time I should obey.

I walked toward the window slowly and examined the face that stared back at me. “Kevin?”

I opened the window and he climbed in. “Sorry… I know it’s late.” He mumbled.

“No, it’s fine. You didn’t wake me.”

“Good… I wanted to check on you.”

I walked over to the lamp and turned it on. I turned back to face him and he was still standing by the window. I walked back to where he was and touched his cheek.

His face wasn’t as badly bruised as Chris’ face. He had a cut above his lip and a small cut under his eye, but it didn’t seem serious. His shirt was ripped though, and he had a bruise on his rib.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He smiled. “This is nothing… trust me.”

I smiled back at him and pulled him closer to me so that I could embrace him tightly. For some reason, I felt connected to him. When he’s around, I feel like I’m free from the world. It made me feel bad to know that I was using him for my own escape, but it also made me feel good.

He pulled away and looked down at me with concern. He brushed the hair from face and then he kissed me. My body immediately responded to him and I was instantly craving more. It was insane how someone I barely knew could wake my whole body up and the people I were closest to couldn’t accomplish a decent conversation with me without trying their hardest not to say something they thought would upset me.

I turned around and pushed his body toward my bed. When he was sitting I straddled him and continued kissing him passionately. His lips were so soft; that was a turn on by itself. I began to pull his shirt off, but I had to break the kiss to do so.  

Everything after that sped by in my mind but after a few minutes of fumbling with clothing and making sure we were protected, we made love.