Stranded

Chapter Eighteen

*It's not over yet...*

Chapter Eighteen: 

“Okay Adri, we’re ready,” Stephan said in his sophisticated English accent. He sat down on Jade’s pink bed.

Right now, me, Trevor, Jade, Matt, and Stephan are sitting in Jade’s room with the door closed because the smell of death is overwhelming us down there. We took the time to start telling each other our dark stories of the past. Jade was still sniffling, trying very hard not to cry, considering the love of her life just got killed a few hours ago, and these stories are upsetting her.

So far, only Matt has told us his story. He already told me his story, so I already knew.

“I think Jade should go. Her story is probably the shortest,” I breathed, my heart beating in my chest like a drumbeat. I wasn’t prepared to retell my story. It’s one of the only things that truly frightened me. Not even those aliens out there scare me.

“O-okay,” She sniffed, grabbing a tissue. She wiped away her boogers and her tears. She took a deep, shaky breath before speaking.

“I’ve always felt...alone. My family was never really home. But when they were home, they kind of ignored me. Or they just talked about how perfect I have to be. Or they gave me whatever I wanted, even if I didn’t want it. I only want them to say no. But they always say yes. I knew I had the looks and stuff, so I pretended to be a dumb blonde. I was all flirty, all sl*tty, all these things to try to fit the role of a perfect child, or just the popular girl. I wanted to be a perfect cheerleader with no problems to the public eye. I actually became a…sl*t…just to feel…not alone, you know? Like someone actually wanted to be with me. I knew they only wanted me for my body, but it was way better than being constantly ignored,” She spoke, her voice wavering. Tears welled up in her eyes that she quickly wiped away. Stephan patted her head soothingly. Don’t ask me why he just pet her like a dog. I don’t even know why.

I nodded, trying to seem as if I understood and that I’ll always be there for her.

“I spent all of my school years like that. Then, I took cooking classes. That was the only place where I felt like I could be myself. There was only about ten kids in the class, and we all got along. They all accepted me. Of course, we never talked outside of class. Too many questions would be asked. Ms. James was nice. Me and her always joked around, and she said that I was the best out of all her classes. She was my only true friend. She knew my problems. I told my parents and sister about my cooking—I even brought home stuff I cooked for them to try. But they refused to even look at it and told me I should be working to be a model.” She spat the word ‘model’ bitterly. Clearly, she didn’t want to be one.

“Of course, I just nodded my head and walked away because I wanted to please them. I built up a wall. I was rude to everyone I talked to. Even Ms. James and my classmates. They figured out it was just protection, so they didn’t really care. I was glad that everyone cowered away when I walked by. I wanted to be known as the rude b*tch. I didn’t want to get close to anyone just to have them abandon me in the end. So, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was rude to you Adri. I’m sorry I was rude to you Matt. I’m sorry that I was rude to Stephan, Trevor, and—” She paused, tears welling up in her eyes. It looked like it pained her to say the next name. “—I’m really sorry for being rude to Joe. That was over the top.”

“It’s okay, Jade. It was only protection. But now you know, I’ll never leave you. I promise. We all promise, right guys?” I said. They all agreed almost immediately. But she didn’t look happy. In fact, she looked sadder and a little bit angry.

“That’s what Justin said. And you know what he did? He took a bullet for me! He left me when he knew I couldn’t possibly take care of a ch—just to save my worthless life! He shouldn’t have done that! What if you get killed?! What if Stephan gets killed? What if Matt gets killed?! What if Trevor gets killed?! What if you all get killed, huh?! I’ll be left alone! You would have broken your promise!” She screamed loudly and broke down wailing. I was instantly by her side, rubbing her back. I wonder what she was going to say before she rephrased her sentence?