Book 1: Valentina

Chapter 9

"He's coming to kill me." I stated to Maggie as she told me the important news.

Apparently, there was a breach at the prison where my mom's boyfriend was held and he escaped. Everything was falling into place and then a truck falls out of the sky, I am unknowingly standing in the crash zone and I'm going to get crushed.

"No, no. He's in Atlanta and the officer said that they'll find him. He won't get anywhere near you." She tried to reassure me.

"He's coming to finish the plan, Maggie. He's coming to kill me. I'm going to die." I mumbled peeling fingernail polis from my thumb.

"Artura, don't say that." She said patting my thigh.

I didn't say anything after that, I just sat there, staring at my legs until Maggie placed my dinner in front of me, I couldn't eat it. I moved the peas around on the plate and pushed it away.

"I'm sorry Maggie, I'm not very hungry tonight." I sighed.

"It's fine dear, just leave it there and I'll wrap it up for you." She said turning her attention back towards the news.

With that I stood and walked up to my room, my shower didn't take long because I really wanted to lie down. Dressing in an over sized tee and cotton shorts, I made my way to my nightstand and connected my phone to my Bluetooth speaker, allowing Alt-J's album "This is Yours" to fill every corner of my room.

She only ever walks to count her steps,
Eighteen strides and she stops to abide
By the law that she herself has set -
That eighteen steps is one complete set,

And before the next nine right and nine left
She looks up at the blue
And whispers to all of the above:

'Don't let me drown, don't breath alone,
No kicks no pangs no broken bones.
Never let me sink, always feel at home,
No sticks no shanks and no stones.
Never leave it too late, always enjoy the taste
Of the great grey world of hearts.'

I kept interlude 1 on repeat until I fell asleep that night, it was the only thing that kept me composed. Trust me if you knew that there was a guy who escaped out if prison obviously on his way to kill you, you'd want to cry and cower. Possibly hide for the rest of your life, but I didn't want to chose either. I couldn't.

As the last note sounded from my alarm I rose out of my bed, tossing the covers to the side to begin getting dressed for school. After all of the necessary stuff, I threw on a grey hoodie, black skinny jeans and combat boots. Carelessly tossing my hair in a bun, I grabbed my backpack and headed out.

Getting to first period I just sat there, staring at the whiteboard. I was the first person to class, I should've waited for Nate but I couldn't just stand around,  sooner or later Nate came. We were the only two people in class, the bell wouldn't ring for another fifteen minutes.

"Where were you, little- What's wrong?" He asked

I looked up at him and saw that he looked concerned, I sat up straight and shook my head. I couldn't tell him, it'd be better if he didn't know. No one here could know.

"No. You can't do that to me." He said.

"What?" I asked looking at him as he sat beside me.

"You can't pry into my life and make me tell you everything about my family conflicts and shut me out when I try to be a friend and return the favor. Hell, I didn't want to tell you anything g about me but I trusted you, even if I've only known you for like a month." He said sounding hurt.