Trust Me

Full of Secrets

I couldn’t figure out this boy. He was firstly suspicious of me and now he seemed to be caring. Jake seemed like any other teenage boy that I had met, but there seemed to be more underneath the surface, another side to him. He reminded me of myself, in a funny sort of way.

As Jake rummaged around the first aid kit, I stared at him curiously. What seemed to be different with him? Why did I feel like I could trust him when I knew I couldn’t trust anyone?

“I found the Band-Aids,” Jake exclaimed. He stuck some of the Band-Aids on my pale arms. “Wow, you have a pretty nasty scar on your wrist,” Jake said. “Looks like you burnt it ages ago,”

“It was a cigarette,” I admitted. “But it wasn’t mine, I don’t smoke,” After I blurted out the information, I felt like physically slapping myself. How could I have let something like that slip out? I was usually a born liar and the master of keeping to myself. Why did I feel so relaxed around that boy?

“Whose cigarette was it?” Jake asked curiously. He examined my scar even more closely. I felt like an animal being inspected in a cage. It was too much for me, I was about to snap, any moment now.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said angrily. “Just leave it,” If I said too much, then I would be found and I never wanted to go back to where I was, I wouldn’t.

“Okay, okay,” Jake laughed. “You don’t need to get so mad,” His relaxed face held a hint of suspicion in it. I think he was trying to figure me out. “You wanna go for a swim?” he asked.

“No,” I said firmly. I wasn’t going to risk it out there. There would be police searching for me, holding up photos to tourists asking if they’d seen me. I had to play on the safe side. It was too easy to make that mistake and I’d already gone down that path before. I knew that this was my last chance before I was caught for good.

“Okay,” he shrugged. “Suit yourself,” Jake headed out among the tourists onto the beach. I pulled the beach towel from the window and I watched as Jake dived into the water. Oh how I wanted to go out onto the beach. The sun was taunting me with its bright rays that light up the whole beach. The crystal blue water almost seemed to be seducing me, I could nearly feel the coolness of the water against my skin. But I had to remember, no risks. I just had to resist it.

I managed to get a few hours sleep but when I woke up, Jake wasn’t there. It had been a while and I was worried. Not about him, I never worried about anyone but myself. But what was he doing? I could just imagine him talking to some police officers about his mysterious visitor in his beach box. I could vividly imagine a knock at the door. I was scaring myself now.

A few minutes later, Jake entered the beach box.

“The water was amazing out there,” he exclaimed excitedly. “It was so nice and cool, and there were little fish swimming around my feet,” It sounded amazing and I wished that I could have been out there too.

“Then some cops came and checked around the beach. There must’ve been about four of them. Don’t know what they were doing,” he said. My chest tightened and I looked out at the blue sky that seemed to have a hint of a storm.

“The cops just kinda ruined the moment so I’m back here,” he said. “Do you want to play cards?”

“Okay,” I agreed reluctantly. It would make me focus on something else for a change. So we sat down and played snap. I couldn’t concentrate on the game; my mind was on the police and getting caught. I was out of ideas for getting away. Running wasn’t an option anymore. I had to keep hidden but the police were right on my path.

“Snap!” Jake said triumphantly. “Juliette, are you even listening?” he asked suspiciously.

“What?” I stammered.

“You don’t seem to be focused on the game,” he said. “I’ve won every round now and you keep on staring off into the distance. Is there something wrong? Do you want to talk about it?” If only I could talk about it to him. My troubles felt like an old, rusty anchor pulling me down into the ocean. Sooner or later, I would drown.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said angrily. “Not now, not ever. I’m entitled to have my own privacy and I don’t need you butting in!” I threw down my cards and stormed over to where I slept last night.

I could hear Jake saying, “She’s got even bigger problems than me,” But what problems could an average teenage boy have? Jake had no idea what kind of trouble I was in. His problems were nothing on the scale of mine, that’s for sure.

It was early evening when I felt ravenous and tired from my anger. The sun was beginning to set as I felt a rumble in my stomach. Being angry wasn’t what I was normally used to but I needed him to respect my privacy. So far, I wasn’t going very well with the whole ‘trust me’ thing.  He just seemed even more worried about me being dangerous.

“Can you please go buy me something to eat?” I asked Jake. He looked at me.

“Why don’t you go buy some food, yourself? Why are you so scared of going out, Juliette?” he asked. I winced. Why was he asking so many questions?

“Does it matter?” I replied coldly. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Yes, of course it matters. I could be looking after a teenage murderess in my beach house or international cat burglar,” Jake answered.

“Well, I’m not either of those, so you don’t need to worry,” I retorted.

“Then, who are you?” Jake exclaimed exasperatedly.

“I can’t tell you,” I said quietly.

“Why?” he asked. “Are you too ashamed to tell me? Or is it that if you told me, you’d have to kill me? I don’t understand, Juliette, why can’t you answer me?”

“Because I can’t be found, I’ve already said that,”

“Come on Juliette, you can trust me. It can’t be that bad,”

“You have no idea,” Tears started to drip down my face. I couldn’t tell him but I wanted to.

“Crap, now I’ve made you cry,” he said. Jake took my hand. “Maybe one day you will be able to tell me,” I attempted a smile at his sweet comment but I seriously doubted it.

All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed loudly. I immediately turned towards the noise. I could feel every nerve in my body was telling me that I should run but I was frozen in fear.