Chapter 12 - Hopeless

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I was struggling to get any sleep at all these days.  Three days had passed since Shauna’s disappearance and there had been no word from Josh Roper since last night when he came to tell us about the tyre tracks from the skid-mark outside Shauna’s house.  The wheels belonged to the truck of Gerrard Knox, the very same one that had dove into Damariscotta River.

Word came out later how someone had broken into the Police Station late the night before Matt disappeared and stole the wheels along with a pair of boots and an ash tray.  Someone was making it look like Ivy’s grandfather was behind the abductions.  Ivy couldn’t walk about town now without being badgered by the gossip predators of Damariscotta and Newcastle.

Eventually I began to doze in and out of sleep, it didn’t last long.  The disturbing dreams I started to have were interrupted by a tapping on the window.  I turned over to see a couple of stones hit it.  Matt!  Is he home?

No!  Seething with bitter disappointment I throw my window wide to scream down at one Tyler Hastings.

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

“I only just heard about Shauna.  I haven’t been paying much attention to the news lately.  Can I come up?”

“No you most certainly cannot.”

“Please, Reese.  Won’t you let me…”

“If you so much as climb an inch I will scream bloody murder till I’m blue in the face.”

“Well, turning blue won’t be hard for you considering you’re a cross-species.” He blurts.

I gasp with indignation.  “Good night, Tyler!”

After closing my window and curtains, I snuggle back down into bed doing my best to ignore Tyler’s hurtful retort.  Sleep continues to evade me for a while longer until Ivy bursts into my room an hour later.

“You got to deal with the douchebag outside my window.”

“What?”

“Tyler’s throwing stones.  I can’t sleep as it is, Reese.”

“Me neither.” I sigh.  “All right, I’ll deal with him… again.”

Ivy curls up in my bed as I make my way downstairs, picking up the baseball bat in the closet as I go.  The clock atop the fireplace tells me it’s nearly three in the morning and my irate mood grows.  Glowering at the figure beneath Ivy’s bedroom window, through the glass pane of our front door, I open it wide and holler out into the darkness.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Why won’t you talk to me?” he asks, crossing the distance between us.

“You know why.  You need to apologise to Shauna.”

“I might not have that chance now.”

“You can’t think like that.”

“That’s all I’ve been able to think about since I heard the news.  Look, I’m not proud of my recent behaviour.  Ever since my parents…”

“No.  Don’t you dare try to rub the blame off on them just because they split up.  You need to take full responsibility for this Tyler.”

“You don’t understand; Shauna threw herself at me.”

“Oh, so you have no control then?  You could’ve said no.”

“She needed me, Reese.  I wish I could take it all back but I can’t. I can’t even make things right with her.  I don’t know why I did what I did but… I’m sorry.”

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