by Dakota Lake
“You coming out or staying in there?”
“Did that boy come back this way?”
“What Emmett? No he's probably gone downstairs,”
I nodded and looked behind me at the stairs.
“You be careful done there.” he said pulling the door shut again.
I turned and looked at the stairs where the source of the music was coming from. Well at least I was out of the rain. Now all I wanted to do was find that boy and ask him how he knew my name. Maybe he was a friend of Seth's or Micah's? I looked at my cell one last time in hopes Micah had called or messaged me. It was still blank.
The only time I needed Micah the most and he was ignoring his calls, typical guy. The stairs led down then turned right and led down some more, it sounded like an underground club in the basement. The music thudded louder the further down I went, flashing lights lit up the archway at the bottom. The stairs were dark and crowded with people standing around on the lower steps. I had to squeeze past a couple who were practically getting it on there on the stairs and they didn't seem to care who saw them.
A few heads turned in my direction, probably because I didn't look old enough to be in here. The place was dark lit up by flashing overhead lights, the air was clouded with smoke. There were people everywhere, the place seemed far too overcrowded.
My head started to pound from the loudness of the music banging, it was so loud it drowned out any thoughts all I heard was music. I looked around for the boy I had just met but the chances of finding him down here amongst this crowd was unlikely. I backed myself into the nearest wall wondering where I was.
I never saw a sign outside, no one from school had ever mentioned this place. Heaven's Point was a quiet hidden in the woods sort of town, this seemed completely out of place and it wasn't even the weekend.
Everyone was either dancing or at the bar which ran across the back wall. It looked mostly to be older teenagers, maybe colleges kids. There were a few older people but not many. The room was warmer than upstairs and I was starting to feel normal again the numbness in my toes was now gone.
Someone grabbed my shoulder.
“There you are. Come on, you shouldn't be down here.”
But it wasn't the boy with the friendly smile I had just met upstairs. It was Cam. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me towards the stairs. I had no choice but to go with as his grip was too tight. He pulled me up the stairs where I managed to trip over my own foot and I stumbled forward, Cam barely looked back at me as he dragged me back onto my my feet and kept pulling me towards the exit. People were definitely looking at me now, probably wondering what was going on. Even I wondered what was happening.
When we were in the foyer he turned to look at me.
“You practically ripped my arm out the socket dragging me away. What's wrong with you?” “You shouldn't be here, its not safe. Who bought you here?” he asked furiously.
“No one I came on my own.”
He grabbed my wrist again and started pulling me towards the main doors, outside it had stopped raining and we bumped into a group of people that were coming in, he pushed past them pulling me with him.
“Let go of me,”
“I'm taking you home.”
He pulled me across the street. He was starting to scare me, I didn't feel safe with him, there was no way I was getting in a car with him.
“Cam my arm, please could you let go?” I said asking nicely.
His hand dropped away and he carried on walking in front but my pace slowed down. I panicked what was I supposed to do.
I looked around and saw a small alleyway between two shops. Maybe if I could get to it quick enough. I could hide and lose him. Hopefully the alleyway would bring me out somewhere safe with lots of people around. I slowed down my pace even more and walked backwards instead. He hadn't noticed and pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, I heard a car beep near by. I turned and ran running for the alleyway.
I reached it in seconds running as fast as I could, my speed seemed to pick up with every step I took. My feet hit the floor over and over again, I was halfway down the alley in a matter of seconds. I was always the slowest runner at school and out of breath in seconds, but this was different. It was effortless and I was running fast and I mean really fast, even I was double guessing myself how was this happening. I shot out the other side of the alleyway and into a street I didn't recognise. There were a few parked vehicles over the street and I saw a black Dodge parked up. I jogged over to the truck checking back every few steps to see if Cam was following me, he wasn't. I went round to the other side of the truck, out of view from the alleyway and leaned against it to rest. I looked through the window, there were empty energy drink bottles and cans littering the floor, it was definitely Micah's truck. I checked my cell and tried calling him again but it went straight to voicemail. Not sure what to do, I climbed up onto the back of the truck and crouched down. All I could do was wait for Micah to come back, hopefully he wouldn't be too long. I waited for about twenty minutes with no sign of anyone, until a motorcycle pulled up and parked two spaces over. A tall dark haired boy wearing no helmet swung off. He had a long sleeve black Tshirt that matched his black pants and motorcycle. He had his back to me and his build reminded me of Mack, but this boy was dressed differently to Mack, so I knew it wasn't him. I turned away and fiddled with a strap on my boot, hoping he would leave quickly and not notice me. The last thing I wanted was to draw anymore unwanted attention to myself.
“Ruby,”
I turned to see Mack looking at me from beside the truck. I don't know who was more shocked to see the other, he looked more concerned than anything. I would have never of recognised him, he looked so different, the way he was dressed now made him seem older than a regular school kid. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I was waiting for my friend to come back, this is his truck.”
“Does he know you're here?”
“No. I told him I didn't need a ride home tonight, but there was a change of plans. He's not answering his cell and I got kind of stranded out here and then I saw his truck, so I'm waiting for him to come back from where ever he is.”
“Come on, get down I'll take you home.” he said, expressionless.
“No it's okay, I'll be fine. I'm sure he wont be too long.”
Mack probably didn't want anything to do with me, he seemed annoyed he had even run into me. I didn't want him to feel like he had to take me home, he didn't owe me anything. I would be fine here on my on. Micah would be back any minute. Hopefully.
“Ruby it's not a problem,”
I shook my head looking at him, he was obviously on his way somewhere.
“You look different,” I realised it sounded weird as soon as I had said it. But it was true his hair was even styled differently. He scratched at his chest and I noticed a skull ring on his middle finger. He didn't say anything.
“I'm sorry about that night outside mine. I didn't mean what I said, the way it came out.” He wouldn't even look at me.
“I know you've been avoiding me at school,”
Now I couldn't look at him and looked down at my boots instead.
“What time do you have to be home by?” he asked. I shrugged.
“I don't know, there's no one at home waiting for me, but not too late I guess.”
“You wanna go for a ride?” he asked, holding his hand out to me.
“And go where exactly?” I asked, standing up, already knowing I would willingly ride anywhere with him.
Mack didn't give of any weird vibes like the ones I got when Cam was around, which gave me the creeps. Even though I had heard some very disturbing rumours about Mack he didn't frighten me, but hopefully that's all they were, were rumours. I reached out to him and he lifted me down from the truck. His hands lingered on my waist for a moment longer than they needed to, then he stepped back putting distance between us.
“Copeland Harbour, it's about an hours drive but shouldn't take that lon
g on the bike.” I nodded, I knew where he meant then I looked down at the other boys jacket I was still wearing. Hopefully whoever that boy was he wouldn't mind me borrowing it a little longer. I would need it if I was going to be on the back of Mack's bike. Maybe Micah knew someone by the name of Emmett, I would have to find out where he lived and return it to him.
I noticed Mack was only wearing a T-shirt, was he not cold?
“Nice jacket,” he said looking me up and down.
“It's not mine.”
“Never would have guessed.” he smiled, probably laughing at the way the jacket was swamping me. He walked back over to his bike, I followed slowly glancing back at the alleyway. “You okay?” he asked following my gaze over to the alleyway.
“No. I mean yes I am now. Just today's been really weird. This town gets stranger everyday.” “Why what happened today?” he asked, as he climbed onto his bike.
“Well earlier I thought someone was following me,” I shook my head laughing it off. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I was sure I had seen someone in the library earlier. “Then I got stranded in town and soaked from head to toe. I grazed my hand on the floor,” I laughed waving my hand in front of him. “Ended up in some strange nightclub then Cam dragged me out and tried to get me to leave with him,”
“What, the janitor freak,”
“Yeah, but I sort of ran away. That's how I ended up over here. My day has gone from bad to worse.”
“I hope I'm not the worse part,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. He started the bike grinning.
“I forgot my helmet so promise you'll hold on real tight,”
I climbed on behind him and slipped my arms around his waist wondering what a bad idea this was, riding with no helmet.
“Just promise me you won't crash,”
“We're not going to crash. You ready?”
“Yep.” I hugged him tighter.
He pulled out onto the main street and took the turning at the end. We soon made it out of town away from the street lights, shops and houses and drove into the darkness heading towards Copeland Harbour.
The ride didn't take as long as I had expected, but I was sure that was due to the fact Mack was driving over the speed limit. We passed a few signs for Copeland Harbour and pulled of the main route, within minutes the Copeland lights came into view in the distance. We weaved round the streets and came out near the front of the harbour. He drove slowly along the seafront and parked his bike near the harbour, I could see the pier further down, it was lit up with sparkly lights and fair ground rides were moving and playing music, there was even a big wheel that stood out in the middle, it towered high above the rest.
I hopped of the back of the bike and leaned against the railing looking over at the sea, there were boats everywhere.
“Come on,” he said taking my hand.
We walked along the edge towards the pier. I looked down at my hand which fit perfectly in his. I looked up at him, he was grinning back at me.
“What?” I asked, wondering what was so amusing to him.
“I didn't say anything.”
He grinned, swinging our hands backwards and forward between us.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, hesitating for a moment unsure whether he would want me asking him personnel questions.
“Shoot,”
“You weren't at school again today or any other day this week,”
“I have a lot of stuff going on at the moment.”
I nodded, I didn't really know what he meant but I assumed he was talking about his home life. “A girl at school got hit by a falling light today, they took her to the hospital.”
“Yeah sounds nasty. I heard she's all right though, they're letting her out tomorrow.” I wondered how he knew, he'd obviously heard the gossip from someone.
“So you just moved to Heaven's Point right?”
“Hmm,”
“Where did you move from?”
“Around.” he replied smiling.
“Around, does around have a name or a general location?”
He let go of my hand and jumped up onto the small brick wall that ran along the edge of the walk way.
“Sort of that way.” he said pointing in the direction we had just come.
I nodded, this was obviously something he wasn't going to share.
“So what made you move here, did you get kicked out of your last school?”
“No I didn't get kicked from any school. And I’ve never been to jail, never been in rehab, I don't do drugs and I've never barbecued my girlfriends cat because she refused to go to prom with me. If you were wondering. Just stupid kids with nothing else to do than make up elaborate and some very graphic rumours. They got it all wrong,” he smirked. “for a start I don't like barbecued cat.” He jumped down from the wall in front of me. I stopped in mid-step so I wouldn't bump into him. “I'm joking. I prefer barbecued chicken.” he smiled, taking my hand as we joined the crowd of people walking to and from the pier.
He stopped at the railings and leaned against it. The light from above shown down on him and even though he had on dark clothing I could still see his defined muscle and I knew what they felt like as I had been on the back of his bike twice now holding onto him with more grip than necessary. He leaned forward and reached for me, I willing let him pull me in.
“Which one do you want to go on? The big wheel, the waltzer, bumper cars or do you want me to win you a teddy?”
“I don't mind, what do you want to do?”
“Well I can think of a few things I want to do, but they don't involve riding the bumper cars, but while we're here we should make the most of it.” he winked at me.
“Well I think,” he took my hand and pulled me along side him.
“we should start with the waltzer you'll love it, everyone loves the waltzer.”
We spent an hour messing about on rides and other fair attractions. I'd not had this much fun in a long time and especially not with a boy.
“Do you want something to eat? I’ve kept you out all night, I forget you need to eat.” he said casually but it sounded strange.
He ordered a double cheeseburger and a coke for me, but nothing for himself.
“You're not hungry?” I asked. He shook his head.
“I'll get something from over the street on the way back. I ate my burger while Mack was over at the ring toss game, I watched him as he somehow managed to land every ring on the right hook. He won top prize which was an oversized stuffed rabbit.
“Maybe something smaller, I don't think Thumper will fit on the back of the bike, that pink one will do,” he told the guy behind the stall.
I finished my can and chucked it into the nearest trash can. Mack walked over to me and waved the small pink rabbit with floppy ears in front of me.
“Here match those crazy pink high tops you wear.”
“Thanks he's adorable.” I said, taking the rabbit while checking my cell.
“I didn't know it had got that late,”
Mack peeked over my shoulder at my cell screen.
“Better get you home.”
We crossed the street and went into a quick stop convenience store. He walked to the back of the store where the refrigerated drinks were. He went straight for the fridge that was filled with energy drinks. My cell started buzzing, I stuck my hand back in my bag digging around at the bottom trying to locate it again. The caller I.D showed Caitlin's name flashing up.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey, I've been trying to get a hold of you. You haven't been answering your cell, did you get home all right?”
“Sorry I didn't hear it, it's really noisy here.”
“What, where are you? I thought Micah was going to take you home,”
“He never answered his cell and I sort of bumped into someone,”
A group of loud boys nudged past me. I moved back and nearer to the exit away from the group. “Sorry, what was that I couldn't hear you?”
“Who
are you with?” she asked.
I looked over at Mack, he was just shutting the fridge door, in his hand was the same brand of energy drink I usually saw Micah drinking.
“I'm with Mack, we're in Copeland Harbour.” I whispered to her, noticing how Mack was keeping one eye on me as he was paying for his drink.
“What that psycho from school. Did you fall and knock your head when I left you, why would you drive out there with him?”
“I dunno spur of the moment thing I guess. But I'm fine were just heading back now.” “Well if you never arrive back home and go missing, at least we know who to interrogate as the suspect.”
Mack walked over to me, I smiled at him wondering what he would say if could hear Caitlin now. We stepped outside and he opened his drink.
“Caitlin I have to go now so....”
“Wait no, I heard he carries a gun on him.”
“Well I didn't feel one earlier,”
Realising Mack was standing inches away from me I blushed and turned away. Caitlin was still talking but I had no clue as to what she was saying as she was talking to fast.
“Okay Caitlin I'm hanging up now,”
“Ring me when you get home,” she said loudly down the cell as I hit the end call button. “Caitlin, wanting to know if I got home safe. She worries. A lot.”
“Yeah she seems like that type, but that's good though having a friend looking out for you.” I nodded and looked sideways at him he had a faint amused smile playing on his lips. “What?” I asked.
“What did she say about me, she thinks I'm going to kidnap you or something? I heard the word gun a few times,”
“Lets just say, I think she will be surprised if I actually turn up at school tomorrow,” “That bad huh?”
He laughed handing me the energy drink. I took a sip, it tasted like I expected. I wasn't keen on it myself, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, Micah drank the stuff non stop, maybe he was addicted to it.
We started walking back in the direction of his bike.
I smiled at him realising that's all I had done all night was smile, but I couldn't help it, it was how he made me feel. I climbed on behind him.
