A Year of Her Life

Lucky 13

I couldn’t believe that he would continue knowing I was standing right there.  He looked up at me again then he smiled.  He smiled…at me.  He knew exactly what he was doing.  He knew that I was still standing there.

I turned away from him and began to run.  Tears stung my eyes.  I gave up fighting against them and they began to fall freely.  I just couldn’t believe what I had seen.  But, I had seen it.  I believe if I hadn’t run I would have seen all of IT. 

I almost expected that one of them would call out for me or that they would run after me.  That didn’t happen and I continued to run.

I ran,

And ran,

Faster,

And harder until I couldn’t run any more.  I had no idea where I was.  I sat down to catch my breath.  I thought to myself, ‘man, I gotta lose some weight’ but I was unable to chuckle. 

I was shaking and I was still unable to control my tears.  I looked around, but I didn’t recognize anything.  I sat for a while, then I began to walk.  I knew I had to figure out where I was and get home before my mom got there. 

I briefly wondered if she was worried about me, or if she would make up a story so that Dad would be mad at me by the time I got back to the house.

I thought back at what I had seen.  Why would they be so open with what they were doing?  I felt that my whole world was falling apart.  I didn’t know what to do next. 

Should I tell Georgia…or my dad?  Questions floated around in my head as I wondered aimlessly down the road that I had never been on before.  Should I even feel safe around Chris now? 

Maybe I should just stay away from him from now on.

That was the answer. 

I’d just stay away from Chris and my mom.  I would just ignore the problem.  That always seemed to work.  Right?  

That helped me to calm down.  My tears slowed and then faded all together.  I had made up my mind and it would be okay now.  I just had to figure out where I was and how to get home.

I heard a motor coming up behind me, but it didn’t sound like a car.  I turned around to see a small dirt bike type bike coming up.  I began to walk faster. 

What was I thinking!  I should not be out here all by myself.  My tears began to fall again and my hands began to shake.  The bike passed me and I saw the boy look at me as he passed.

The bike stopped just ahead of me.  The boy sat straight up, but didn’t turn around.  My legs threatened to give out.  I stopped and contemplated running in the other direction. 

Quickly, I wondered why I should bother.  If the boy wanted to hurt me all he would have to do is chase me.  I’m not sure, at this point, that I would even run away.

The boy, who was wearing a black and green helmet and black leather jacket, got off his bike.  He turned to face me. 

“Hey,” I said bravely.

“Hey,” he replied as he reached to take off his helmet.

“Oh my goodness, Johnny, you scared me to death.  I had no idea who you were,” I said all in one breath as I began to breathe again.

“Are you okay?  You look like you’ve been crying.  Where’s Georgia?”

I was unable to answer before I started crying again.  Why did people do that; cry after they were out of a dangerous situation?  All danger had passed because Johnny’s parents owned the house beside ours at the lake.  He was perfectly safe to be around, but I start crying.