Save Me

Chapter 1

I'm walking through a cold, dark forest. There's mist floating on the ground like pillows of soft clouds. I feel someone's eyes on me and can't help but stop in my tracks and look around. I can feel my heart beating a million miles a minute and I don't know what I am doing here. I keep walking, telling myself it's just my imagination and that no one is watching me. I hear twig crack and turn around and see bright yellow eyes, full of hunger, staring back at me. I scream and start to run. I can hear its footsteps behind me and I start to run faster. I trip over a tree root and land on the cold, hard ground. I turn around and come face to face with those scary yellow eyes. I hear growling and notice fangs in the stranger's mouth. It grabs for my neck and I try to yell out for it to stop, but no words come out. He goes for my neck--

I sit up in my bed and scream. My brother runs into my room, and I just stare at him with a look of horror written on my face. "Bridgette, what happened?" He goes to grab onto my hand and I flinch and pull away. He sits down next to me, "ssh, Bridg. It's just me; Sam, your brother". I come to the realization of who it is sitting next to me and I jump into his arms and immediately start crying. "Shh, Bridg. It's alright, you're safe, I've got you". After a while of crying, he lays me back into bed and tucks me in. He pushes back my hair and pets it, and I soon fall asleep to the soft lull of him humming a lullaby.

I wake up to my alarm going off, and I groan as I turn it off. I look at the clock, 6:00 AM. I get out of bed and slog to the bathroom and cringe as I see myself in the mirror. My eyes are all red and puffy and my face is pale; it looks like I haven't slept in days, which I haven't. The reason for my insomnia is those creepy dreams. I try to think happy thoughts, but they just don't seem to go away. I don't know the cause and I don't want to find out right now. I have enough on my plate as is. I sigh as I strip down and hop into the shower. I stand there and let the warm water hit my skin and relax my muscles. After my shower, I get dressed and head downstairs. I notice that I'm the only one up and decide to make some breakfast. When I'm finished making breakfast, I hear Sam coming the down the stairs. "Good morning, Bridg," "Good morning, Sam," I nonchalantly respond back. He sits down at the table and I set breakfast in front of him. "Aren't you gonna eat?" He asks me, his voice full of concern. "No, I'll just take something to go... I'm not too hungry" I respond back. He sighs "Alright".

I start my trudge to school. I have no car since I'm a sophomore. It's not like I could afford one anyways. As I'm walking, I think to myself about my dream last night, what it was about, and perhaps the cause. I thought back to the night, I try to shake off the memories that come flooding back into my mind but I just can't seem to block them out.

I was only 7 years old and Sam was 9. We were in the car with my parents having a good time laughing and singing songs we knew on the radio. It was about seven at night, we were driving back home from dinner. One minute we're driving and having a great time, and the next minute I see a bright light flash and find our car flipped over in a ditch. I look over at Sam and notice he's okay, just minor cuts and then I see my parents. I scream and tears start to cascade down my face and I start yelling for my mommy and daddy to come back to me as the paramedics wheel them away on stretchers. That was the last moment I ever had with my parents, the memory that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

As I walk into school I immediately put my head down, trying to make sure that I bring the least amount of attention to myself as possible. No one in my school likes me, I don't know what I did to deserve this. As soon as I moved here everyone was so mean, and had such a hatred towards me. As I'm walking through the school, I can hear people sniggering at me and all of the sudden I'm pushed up against a locker. "Hey short stuff, how's my little anorexic today?" Kenny's hot breath hits my face, and I scrunch my face up looking down so he won't see my face. Cigarette smoke. He pushes me a little harder up against the locker, cause pain to shoot up my spine, and tears begin to form. Don't cry. You will not cry. Not here, not now. Kenny pushed me harder against the locker and I whimpered "I am talking to you, answer me". He said through gritted teeth. The bell rang and he threw me to the ground. "I'm not done with you". He said angerly as he walked off to class. I was tempted to run to the bathroom and just cry, but I had to be strong. I couldn't let anyone see the weak side of me, so I walked off to class with my head facing the ground.

I let out a sigh of relief as the last bell of the day goes off, and I scurry out of my classroom hoping to get out of the school in one piece. Boy, was I wrong. "Hey, short stuff. Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you, remember?" I cringed. Kenny. After he's done with me, I weakly get up, wincing with every step. Once I get home I notice that Sam is sitting on the couch watching TV. "Hey Bri-- Oh my God, what happened to you?!" He asks, his voice full of concern. I give him a weak smile, "I...um, fell". "You fell..?" He replies with doubt in his voice. "Yeah, I'm um, going to go do my um homework in my room now". I hear him sigh as I walk off. I run up the stairs and close the door behind me and slide down onto the floor. Letting the tears cascade down my face, I look up at the ceiling with eyes looking like pools and sigh. Wondering why it had to be me, why I was given this horrible life. I crawl over to my bed and cry myself to sleep.

My alarm jolts me awake, and I sigh and get up. Wincing with every step. I go into the bathroom and strip, I look at myself in the mirror and notice all the bruises flowing down my stomach and sides. I touch one near my ribs, which I assume is the worst of the bunch, and wince. I try not to cry out in pain and let the tears freely fall. Be strong, for Mom and Dad. I sigh and hop into the shower. I let the warm water relax me and once I'm done I walk into my room to get dressed; Already dreading the day to come.