Abscond

Taken

Sleep tonight wasn't the dreamless haven that I wished for. Without Charlie I couldn't keep my mind off that man I kept seeing through the window. After today, I realized I had seen him before several times, from a short distance. Behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store, on a bench across the street, waiting at an intersection. But he was always looking at me...it gave me the creeps. Something about his eyes, or the way he leaned forward slightly, like a predator, or the way he would glance around him after staring at me, trying to seem casual about it. Or maybe it was just a coincidence. But regardless, he creeped me out. However, I had no reason to accuse him, no proof that he was following me, or even really being suspicious. So I tried to put it off and get some sleep. I kept having dreams - nightmares, really - and around 5:30, I gave up. I stumbled to the bathroom and washed my face, trying to take as much time as possible on all of my tasks to stay preoccupied. Even when the house was spotlessly clean, it was only 6:55. I couldn't find any other means to waste time, so I left for school, walking slowly, trying to focus on not tripping or being run over. Unfortunately, I lived close to school and made the trip within ten minutes. As I rounded the corner and the school came into view, I stopped dead in my tracks. At first I thought it was another nightmare, that I hadn't woken up yet - but I had, and he was standing there, waiting for a chance to cross the street. I didn't bother walking the next half a block to the crosswalk as I normally would, but I just crossed to the school and walked over the plot of dirt between the parking lot and the road. I sighed with relief as I spotted the blue truck in the near-empty lot. I ran up and knocked on the driver's side window, slightly frantic, and he snapped out of his reverie, yanking his earbuds out. I stepped back and Charlie yanked open the door, searching my eyes, his worry and confusion obvious.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I - I'm just...scared. I don't know. I saw th-that man again. Across the street. He gives me the creeps - I...I don't know..."
He closed his eyes and crashed me to his chest. "I've got you now. Don't-don't even think about it. It's probably just a coincidence anyways." He pulled me into the truck and stroked my long, platinum blonde hair. I left my cheek on his shoulder, when I realized it was soaked - I had been quietly crying and hadn't even noticed. I sniffed and rubbed at my eyes, trying to dry them quickly.
"I'm sorry Charlie...you're all wet now..."
He smiled and caught a tear with his forefinger. "Oh, don't worry about it. It's not like I wasn't going to get wet anyways," he gestured out to the buckets dropping outside. "Here," he offered, opening the door and lifting me out under his now open umbrella. He led me through the double doors of the main foyer and I walked to the corner by the restrooms. He said that he would wait in the secretary's office, and I hurried out of the hall. I rinsed my face a few times, patting it dry with the coarse paper towels. Thankfully, I didn't ever wear much makeup, and I never wore mascara and rarely eyeliner. If I had, I'd have looked like a raccoon. I examined my face as the blotches faded, and I could see the deep purple circles under my eyes, the evidence of my long, restless night.
I rinsed and dried my face one more time, and walked to the office, where Charlie sat in an old, red fabric chair in a corner. We automatically began walking towards our lockers.
"So why were you here so early?" He wondered.
I shrugged and said, "I couldn't sleep."
We were at his locker by now.
He furrowed his brow and traced the circles under my eyes. I took his hand and turned the subject around, as if I was deflecting it with a mirror. "What about you?"
He shrugged casually and explained, " I suppose I couldn't sleep very well either, and I was too bored just lounging around at home."
We walked to my locker and to class, to which we were still fairly early. We sat in the back, in our usual seats, and started on tonight's homework.
When the tardy bell rang, Mr. Roberts cleared his throat, his exasperated signal for those who were still up to scurry into their seats.
"Here is your worksheet for the day," he said this for those who were just coming in; Charlie and I had already grabbed ours from the stack, "Get to work," he added, and wriggled back behind his seat, ignoring us for the rest of the period. Charlie and I worked together, teasing each other when we caught their mistake. The class was practically screaming around us, but somehow we were able to focus, and we finished the assignment with a few minutes to spare.
I packed my papers in my folder and waited patiently for the last sixty seconds or so. The bell rang and I hopped to my feet, scrambling towards the door. Charlie was right behind me, only much more smoothly, and he wished me good luck on the English test I had next period.
I thanked him quickly and dashed to my locker, snatching my English notebook, switching out my math folder for my English one. After that I figured I could just walk the rest of the way, seeing that the hallway was still crammed with students. The test went by like a breeze; I was always overly anxious until I got tests like these over with, even though they always fell below my expectations as far as difficulty level.
I walked to home economics with Angela, and we worked on our sewing projects together. From there I ran down two flights of stairs and down a long hallway to the girl's locker room. I changed into the baggy basketball shorts and t-shirt that were the school's PE uniform, slipped my hair into a low ponytail, and jogged out to the gym. Angela poked me as she walked by, and Kaylee yelled from across the gym, whom I rolled my eyes and waved at. Charlie came out and I walked over to him. I groaned as the PE teacher walked out with a cart of tennis rackets, bearing a large jacket. We were going outside. Charlie's lips twisted into a crooked smile as he patted my head.
Out of the entire school, I had no doubt that I was the least coordinated. I could barely catch a ball without falling in my attempt to grab it, I couldn't do a simple cartwheel; I couldn't even walk ten steps without finding one thing or another to trip over. There was no other way to put it; I wasn't just unathletic, I was overall uncoordinated. Thankfully, since even before we started dating a year ago, he'd taken pity on me and made sure to get the ball or whatever if it came anywhere in my vicinity.
The teacher wasted some time explaining the rules since it was a new unit. Once we got to the court Charlie noticed I was cold, gave me his sweatshirt, and basically jumped in front of me if the ball came close for the last ten minutes or so.
We both headed off to lunch from there. I couldn't help laughing at the way his eyes lit up and he grinned when I handed him a large bowl of last night's leftovers.
"Aw, yes! Thanks Jess," he ran off to get a fork.
We ate pretty much in silence, then caught each other up on what we'd done in the two classes we hadn't had together. I would have a pop quiz in history, which was thankfully easy. We went to science, I took my history quiz, easy as he promised, and we met back up in Spanish. For the last few minutes, Mrs. Jiménez let us pack up and talk.
"Sorry I can't drive you home today," Charlie said for about the third time today.
"It's fine, Charlie."
"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow around noon, right?"
"Yeah, I'll see you then." That's right, tomorrow's Saturday. Hallelujah...
I was slow to pack my backpack, as I was on most Fridays, because I never wanted to forget any work to be due the next Monday. Today was no exception, and I was one of the last ones to leave the school. By the time I turned the first corner towards home, I could only see one other high schooler, far down the road from where I was. All I remember from there was a rough punch knocking the side of my head, and being hauled down the pavement as I sank into blackness.