“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pained, and he shook his head. After kissing my forehead, he indicated my food and began eating himself. Ava joined us, her eyes watching me worriedly whenever I dared raise my gaze. My eyes fell back to my plate, and she sighed.
After dinner, Marcus drove me home while promising to take me to school in the morning. I gulped and prayed to the moon and stars that I didn’t have any classes with Kyler. I hoped I wouldn’t even see him at school.
As I lay in bed, gazing at my ceiling, a sense of unease overtook me, and I monitored my surroundings as best I could. I decided it must be my mind playing tricks on me seconds before an awful pain assailed me. It felt like someone clawed my insides, ripped them into ribbons, and left me to bleed out. I winced when the pain increased. It was focused on my lower stomach, my groin. The pain grew until I was sweating while pitiful whimpers escaped my lips. After my insides burned agonizingly for what felt like hours, the pain lessened.
I slowly uncurled from the ball I was in to soothe a pain I didn’t understand. I raised my tank top to discover my skin bore no marks of my assault. However, when I touched my stomach, tears of pain filled my eyes at the instant agony that radiated throughout my body. What did I do? What caused this?
Shaking my head, I lay with my head on my pillow and blinked the tears from my lashes. Wondering wouldn’t do me any good, it never had, so I decided on a time to get up and forced my mind to shut down. Nightmares plagued my dreams, although I didn’t wake. Nightmares and I were old friends.
In the morning, I woke when my inner clock told me it was time to get ready and yawned. A slow stretch made my back protest, but nothing too terrible. I hesitated before tentatively touching my stomach. A loud gasp tore from my mouth, and I rode the waves of pain with tears burning my eyes. Shaking my head once it subsided, I got out of bed and forced myself to head to the bathroom for a shower.
Once out, I glanced at the girl in the mirror with a soundless sigh. Ash-blonde hair fell to my mid-back in natural waves, while my bangs hid my light amethyst eyes. Between my near silver hair and light purple eyes, I drew attention. No matter how hard I tried to stay under the radar, I always stumbled into the wrong person. Sometimes literally. My reflection proclaimed they could deem me ethereal if people looked past my poor status. My features looked delicate, even my eyebrows appeared dainty. My cheekbones were high, I could describe my nose as aristocratic, and my lips were a plump, pale pink.
However, most days my face was dirty or covered in bruises. My fair appearance must anger the top dogs in the high school world because they enjoyed introducing it to their fists. I’ve lost count of how many broken ribs and noses I’ve suffered. Once, even my cheekbones were broken. That’s one of the worst things my fellow students did. I preferred a broken nose or ribs.
Dressing in my faded and ripped jeans, I pulled on a tight shirt, followed by my favorite baggy hoodie. After brushing my hair, I raised the hood and grabbed the backpack full of school supplies Ava insisted I have. Thankfully, it was not an unused bag, but it wasn’t on its last legs like my old one. Opening the drawer in the dresser beside my bed, I pulled out my emergency-only cell phone and checked my email.
I kept my phone encrypted so no one could hack into it, albeit I’ve hacked into a few things myself. After looking over my shoulder at every camera with suspicion, I learned basic hacking to ensure no one spied on me. It took a lot of work, but I created a program on my phone that blocked most cameras from seeing me. The only ones I had to worry about were those on cell phones, and the ones an average joe could buy in any store with electronics. However, if I had to worry about those, I had more significant problems. Three of them. I’m still recovering from the last time my shadows found me.
I should have a few more weeks to breathe before the game began anew. After they forced me into the hospital, they gave me time to heal before they searched for me again. And when they found me, well, I wished I hid better. I hoped I could stay here for at least a few months and build a nest egg before I had to run again. I doubted the next town would have a Marcus.
When I stepped outside after pulling on my combat boots, Marcus smiled, straightening from the wall outside my apartment. One thing I liked about this lovely place was its seclusion. I was in a separate building from the main one, which was several stories high. Mr. Sanchez used the other half of the cute house as his home, while the side facing the apartment complex was mine. Most of the day, it was in shadow, since my front door was in an alley. After spending my fair share of time in alleys, it was comforting.
The ride to school was quiet, comfortable, and I bit my lip while wondering if I should mention my odd pain to Marcus. He glanced at me, and I dropped my eyes while he made a questioning noise. I almost asked, but shook my head and he sighed. Once at my new school, Wolfram High School, home of the Timberwolves, Marcus ruffled my hair before sending me on my way with a warm smile. With a sigh, I got out
