by A Lonergan
One street after another and then another and I was almost home. Sweat poured down my face as the sun continued its journey into the sky. I leaned against a tree and ran my hands down my tear-streaked face. I hadn’t realized I had been crying. Even now, I hadn’t stopped. My chest shuddered with a sob. I had been so incredibly stupid. I had trusted a bad boy and look at what had happened to me. I couldn’t even remember the previous night. What if he had killed me? And Tracey… I had left Tracey with him. I looked back in the direction I came and felt my shoulders fall. No one was following me, I was almost home. Just a little more to go. I could make it.
Chapter 6
Rafe Crimson
“YOU DID WHAT?” Tracey exploded. She had picked up the half-empty syringe on the floor and threw it at me. “She will never trust you now.”
“I did what I had to do, don’t forget your place in this pack.” I would have been lying to say I didn’t feel guilty but what could I do? It had to happen. I couldn’t put it off any longer. Every minute that passed meant that she wouldn’t end up surviving the transformation if I didn’t do it when I did.
A growl erupted from her chest and I managed to step out of the way right before she lunged at me with her half transformed claws. “She only got half of the venom! She will die.”
I grabbed the little pink bag off of the bed and shoved it into Tracey’s hands. “Make sure she gets this.”
Tracey threw Jade’s purse at my head. “She won’t need any of these things now.”
I caught the bag easily. “Maybe I can return it to her.”
Tracey rolled her eyes. “Only if you plan on getting peppered with buckshot.”
I shrugged. “It won’t kill me.”
Chapter 7
Jade Rivers
When we had left my house the night before, I hadn’t thought everything out as much as I imagined did. Especially how I was going to get back into my house. Climbing up onto the little roof above the dining room window was going to be difficult even if my body didn’t feel like a noodle. I didn’t have my key, it was tucked into the bottom pocket of my purse but even if I did, my parents would see my mascara streaked face. On top of that, my outfit was crooked and my hair was a fright. I didn’t need them to worry any more than they already did.
It wasn’t like I couldn’t go out, I was an adult, but I didn’t want them to feel like they had to be here. I didn’t want them to worry about their adrenaline junky, danger loving child. So, I slumped my shoulders and took the long way to the woods that backed up to my house. The woods wouldn’t be as scary in the daytime, would they?
They weren’t. Light filtered through the branches and I didn’t have to use the little amount of battery left on my watch to light the way. I wrapped my arms around myself and came out of the darkened area right behind my house.
The wood on the fence dug into my hands as I launched myself over the side of it. I hugged the side of the yard and tried to keep my breathing controlled. All I wanted to do was take off running as fast as I could. I needed the safety of my bedroom, the safety of my bed. It felt like an eternity had passed when I finally made it to the dining room window. I stared up at the side of the building I would need to climb in order to get back inside.
Thankfully there was a hose rack screwed to this side of the house. Though it didn’t look very reliable. My boots slid around for a minute as I tried to get on top of it. My hands dug into the brick on the side of the house which didn’t offer much help. When my boots stopped sliding and I felt like I had good enough balance on the hose rack, I jumped as hard as I could. My fingers made purchase with the lip on the gutter and for a moment, all I could do was hang there. The pain hardly registered through my hands even though the metal was definitely biting through my skin. I had never excelled at P.E. but I could manage a pull-up and this time, all I needed was one. My arms trembled as I slowly pulled my body up and over onto the little roof. My hands were slick with sweat and perspiration slid down my brow. The real challenge would be jumping sideways to my open window.
I backtracked slightly on the tiny patch of shingles to give myself the best chance at a running start. My heart stopped as I went airborne. My chest and stomach slammed into the stucco. I let out a wheeze as my fingers barely connected with the inside of my window. My arms were screaming now and my boots didn’t have the right grip to help me up. They just slid down the stucco and the brick, like it was ice. My fingers inched toward the window sill and I was able to get the best grip I could manage to haul myself inside of my home. I flopped over the window sill and collapsed onto my bed. A strange smell tickled my nose. I prayed a wild animal hadn’t gotten in overnight and died somewhere in my room.
But as I laid there on the floor I realized that the scent wasn’t bad, in fact, it was incredible. It reminded me of pine trees and musk. With something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I gave up and closed my eyes but then it registered that the light was on and I had remembered turning it off before we left the night before.
My legs shook as I stood up and my purse in the middle of my bed made me pause. I curled my fingers into fists. Had Tracey made it back before I had? It wasn’t possible. She was clumsy and could hardly get out of the window to begin with. She would have died trying to get back up. There was a yellow sticky note waiting on top of it.
“Nice panties, try to not lose your bag next time. -R.”
Rafe had drugged me. Tried to kill me and now he had been in my bedroom. I plucked the note from the outside of my bag and shredded it over the little garbage tin beside my desk. He was taunting me. I turned around in a little circle as I surveyed my room. My entire body shook still and the thought of him being in my room wasn’t helping.
Was he still here? How did he know which house had been mine? Had he gone through the front door?
I flew across the room and fumbled with my zipper on my purse. I fumbled with the few contents in it before my fingers wrapped around my cellphone. The screen flashed a battery symbol before it went dark. No. I plugged it into the charger and waited for it to boot up. I put my watch on its charger next. If my parents needed me they could still reach me on that. Then I realized something else.
The extra panties I had packed the night before, just in case, were missing too.
Chapter 8
Rafe Crimson
Scaling the side of Jade’s home had been easy enough. Toying with her was fun. I watched from the woods as she freaked out over her missing panties and swirled them on my finger. Watching her squirm was worth it. Though it had been more entertaining to watch her struggling to get up the side of her house. The joys of being human. I didn’t feel bad, nor did I feel envious of her humanity.
For the most part, humans disgusted me. Though they had their perks. They were great lays and even better playthings. I frowned. But this was different. Jade’s mortality was hanging by a thread and I was possibly the one that put the nail right in her coffin.
It made me feel in a way I hadn’t felt before. It made me sad and that was the one thing I never was. I shoved her lace unmentionables into my pocket and walked through the center of the woods back to my home. A souvenir of sorts. A parting gift. After all, I had gone through all the trouble to get her things back to her.
Chapter 9
Jade Rivers
No matter how many times I had watched the surveillance footage, I couldn’t see Rafe on any of them. He had managed to evade all of the cameras and get into my room before I made it home. How had I missed him? Was I that exhausted? Had it really taken me that long to get home? A few miles didn’t seem like a lot in my head, but in reality… It was a bit different. My brain had been so foggy.
I had waited for the effects of whatever drug Rafe had given me to kick in but they never did. My feet dragged as I made it into my bathroom and locked the door behind me. I couldn’t bring myself to look in the mirror. I was too afraid of the broken girl I would see there. A sob worked its way up my throat again and I gri
tted my teeth. I wouldn’t let him win. I wouldn’t let any of them win. I peeled my clothes off of my body and shoved them into the garbage can. I never wanted to remember this day and the clothes, honestly, deserved to be burned but this was the best I could do. The hot water did little to make me feel clean. Even after scrubbing my body raw, I still felt dirty. I still felt wrong and unclean. I wrapped a towel around myself and tried to keep the tears away. They would do nothing for me. I slid my curtains closed and my hands shook as I pulled pajamas on.
Text messages pinged through on my phone but the only ones I answered were from my parents. Their flight was delayed because of bad weather and they would be a few more days. I didn’t know if I was relieved or terrified. I no longer wanted to be alone. Tracey was the sender of the other texts, but I didn’t care. I deleted them immediately without reading them. She had warned me about running, but it didn’t matter, she was still in on it somehow.
So, I stayed like that. Wrapped up in my covers like they would protect me from the big bad boy I had gotten myself tangled up with. The only time I left the bed was when I had started to sweat and then nausea rolled through me. Maybe the effects of the drugs were finally starting to kick in.
After throwing up a few times, I felt better and made myself go down to the kitchen to eat. I hadn’t gone to the store earlier in the week and now I was growing to regret it. My stomach growled.
My phone buzzed with another text. Tracey- “Can we talk?”
I rolled my eyes and tossed the phone onto the counter. What could I possibly have to say to her?
Then it popped into my head. I had a few choice words for her. She wasn’t going to get away with what had happened to me.
Me- “Lose my number, my address, and every memory you have of me.”
Tracey- “It’s not what you think. I can explain. How are you feeling?”
I didn’t bother with that. How could it not be what I thought? I had been drugged, then Rafe had tried to hurt me further or drug me further, then he had been in my bedroom. I didn’t even want to think about the panties he jacked. I typed out a quick text to my parents, letting them know I was feeling a tad sick but would be better in a few days. Hopefully by the time they got back home.
I dug through my freezer and came across a couple of steaks. My family wasn’t big on red meat. I had practically been vegetarian my entire life but now my mouth was salivating at thought of rare steaks. I licked my lips as I tossed them into the sink and turned the water on to defrost them.
My stomach clenched and nausea rolled through me again. I managed to rush to the half-bath in the hallway by the kitchen in time. My socks slid on the tiled floors as I skidded to a stop in front of the door. I ripped it open just as vomit expelled from my stomach. I don’t know how I even made it to the toilet. My body sagged against the wall and I prayed this was it.
On quaking legs, I stumbled from the bathroom and back to the kitchen. I placed both of my hands on either side of the sink and splashed my clammy face with the cold water.
Ding.
Another text.
Tracey- “Are you feeling okay? I’m really worried about you. If you get sick please let me come take care of you.”
Me- “How can I possibly trust you now?”
Tracey- “I’m the only one you have ever trusted to go out with you and let you get completely turnt. Yes, I admit I know Rafe, but he’s more of a family friend than anything else. I saw him give you a drink and kept my eyes on both of you all night. I tried to keep him away from you. You have to understand that I would never condone what happened last night.”
Me- “Then help me press charges.”
I didn’t want to press charges. I didn’t know why but the whole situation had been weird. But I needed to know what she would say to that. Especially since they were family friends.
Tracey- “You can try but family’s like Rafe’s have old money. I don’t think it’ll turn out the way you want it to. The police in this town are corrupt. Have you told your parents yet?”
There it was. The reason I ultimately couldn’t go to the police. In the grand scheme of things, it would only make my life harder and I would possibly have to change schools. This would all end in an explosion. An explosion I wasn’t ready for. An explosion I would never be ready for.
I turned the sink off and processed the texts Tracey had sent. Could she really be innocent in all of this? She did tell me to run. She had probably been the reason that things hadn’t escalated after he drugged me.
The steaks sizzled and popped as I placed them in a skillet on the gas stovetop. My stomach rumbled again as I flipped the meat. I had never cooked a steak before, but I did love a cooking show on Youtube. I had thankfully picked up a few tips.
I typed out a text to Tracey. “I will think about forgiving you. I’m feeling fine.”
Tracey- “If things get bad, just please, let me help you. This is serious and I don’t want you to go through this alone. You know how my grandma is with her witchy concoctions. She’s been begging me to bring you one.”
I didn’t say anything back. My steaks were finished. I didn’t know how I knew but I did. If they continued to cook they would be nasty and the thought of well-done meat turned my stomach again.
The first taste of the meat about sent me over the edge. The nausea that had been swimming around my body was gone with that first bite. I tore through both steaks in a manner that would have given my mother a heart attack. I usually had manners but something else took over. Something animalistic inside of me tore through the food at a breakneck pace. Through the haze of shame and bitterness from the night before and the sickness that had been plaguing me, I didn’t seem to care about any of it anymore.
Chapter 10
Jade Rivers
Days had passed and I still wasn’t getting any better. The only thing that made me feel remotely fine was meat. But the only problem with that was every single smell set me off. I had walked into the grocery store and had to run right out. The trash can at the front of the store was now full of my vomit. I didn’t know what the smell was that had turned my stomach so badly, but it was overwhelming. Like baby powder.
So when I attempted my second trip, I had made sure to wrap a scarf around the bottom half of my face. Maybe it would keep people away so I wouldn’t get them sick too. It barely masked the smell of the people milling in and out of the building, but it allowed me to get to the meat department without throwing up again.
The first scent of meat was scary. I had almost torn the fabric from my face and shoved the hamburger meat down my throat right there. Raw. By the grace of all things holy, I got through checkout and back home without any more strange incidents. Was this what mad cow was like? Was I dying? How on earth was I feeling this way? Was it the drugs Rafe had injected me with? Even though it had been days since?
I slammed the meat into a pot on the stove and stared at my phone. Oh, how I wished I had his number. All I wanted to do was give him a piece of my mind and possibly punch him in the face. No, I definitely was going to punch him in the face. All I had to do was go to another party. All I wanted to know was why and what he had injected into me? That was it and then maybe I could punch him in the throat.
But could I actually do that now? Did I have the guts to subject myself to a party again? The thought of a party no longer ignited my soul. The thought of a party didn’t seem so fun anymore. Whatever high I got from going out was gone now. Rafe had ruined that. Rafe had ruined me. But I wasn’t going to let him get away with it. He had taken my fun and now I was going to take his. I just needed to figure out what it was. Drugging girls? I would show him how fun it wasn’t to be the victim. I wasn’t going to let him do this to someone else.
For the first time in days, I felt something like hope. Revenge would do that to you. I smiled as I stirred the browning meat, then I realized there was hardly any pink left and I ripped the pot from the stove. Something was definitely wrong with me.
Raw meat should have horrified me. It would have any other day before. But… the smell was entirely too heavenly.
The only problem was stepping a foot outside of my house and expecting to not get sick. Every single smell set me on edge. So much so that I doubted my period that I had a few weeks before. Every symptom I looked up led me right to pregnancy, but there was no way that was plausible.
School was no longer an option and I was thanking my lucky stars that Tracey was still trying to be my friend. She made sure to email me each of my assignments and if she didn’t have a class with me, she found a friend that did. Even though I was still somewhat frustrated with her, I couldn’t help but feel grateful even if it was probably her fault that I was sick in the first place.
I really couldn’t win. This was all a disaster. My phone vibrated and I expected to see a text but instead, it was a phone call from my mom.
“Hello?”
“Hey, honey! How are you feeling?” Her voice blasted through the speakers. I winced and dropped my phone in surprise. The volume on my phone wasn’t even turned up all the way and the speaker option wasn’t turned on either.
This time I didn’t press the phone to my ear and held it a healthy distance from my face. “I’m getting better.”
