Tired of the Bruises

Chapter 5

            Caroline. Out of all people it could have been, it had to be her. This is just amazing. The nice girl that I just met had to be in the backseat of that specific black and silver Ford Fusion.

            I try to clear my mind of the thoughts of her and her dreadful father (just like mine, even though she might not think so. We kind of have that in common in my mind.). As you can most likely tell, it does not work very well. I cannot get the burning image of his scary, tilted grin out of the corner of my mind. I just cannot. I probably never will, either.

            I am in the middle of Utah, and boy, is it scorching hot here. At an empty parking lot about ten minutes ago, I changed my outfit into a pair of light wash jean shorts and a shirt that says “You’re so fake, Barbie’s jealous” across the front in big, black, block lettering.

            I quickly decide that I am starving. Pulling over to the side of the road, I grab two packs of the fruit snacks and a Nature Valley granola bar and pig out. I still have a couple sips left of my drink when I met Caroline, so I gulp some of that down with my food.

            After I eat, I get out of my car to stretch my legs out a little bit. I am beginning to feel very cautious of my surroundings, but I guess you could say that that is a good thing in some cases. Speedily, I jump back into my car once I hear the noise of another vehicle getting closer to me. I zoom off, going way past the speed limit of only fifty miles per hour. There better be no police on this street. I cannot afford a speeding ticket or any other detours (human or not) on my way to California.

            Luckily, there were absolutely no cops on that road and I make it out of Utah and make it a little bit of the way through into Nevada. I believe that I am getting really close to my aunt’s house. My GPS sitting in my unoccupied cup holder says that I am a little over four hours away from there. I should get there tomorrow. However, for now, I need to take a rest. I barely get my seat leaned back before my phone rings. I sigh and sit up to see who the caller is.

            Caroline. Caroline. Caroline. Why must you call me when I figure out that your dear father is coming after me? Why, Caroline, why?

            My heart beats a little faster and I grab my cell phone with a shaky hand.

            “Hello?” I say into the speaker of the phone, hoping that I do not sound a little too happy for her to be calling me at almost 9:30 at night.

            “Hey! I was calling to see where you were to see if we could go out for dinner or anything tonight,” she sounds very chipper so to speak.

            “I am in Nevada and I just ate, sorry. Maybe next time, though. Nevertheless, we can definitely hang out once we get to the soccer camp though,” I say, not sure, if I actually want to hang out with her, or if I am just saying that to make her hopeful.

            “No problem! We really need to become close friends because I will not know anybody else there and you probably will not either. I will let you go now so you can do whatever, so I will talk to you later. Bye!” She really likes to talk. Ramble is more like it.

            “Okay. Bye,” I say back, hoping I can actually get some sleep now.

I set my phone back into its spot in the cup holder once I hang up with Caroline the Confusing. I do not know whether to stay away from her or to hang out with her since her father has absolutely nothing to do with her. I will make that decision for later. Now, I just need to catch some z’s. With that, I quickly doze off.

I wake up to the sound of cars zooming past my own vehicle that is pulled over on the side of a road. My forehead and brow is beaded with sweat and it is rolling down my cheeks. I lift my shirt up to wipe it off. My heart is still beating fast because of my dream.

I was running. Caroline, her father, and my father were all chasing after me with baseball bats in their grimy hands. They kept chanting, “You need more bruises, you need more bruises, you need more bruises” repeatedly until my head felt like it was going to burst from their voices, hurting my brain. I know that it was just I dream, but it felt so real to me. It felt like all of these people were really chasing me.

Oh, and one more thing;

I am tired of the bruises.

See what I did there? I added to the cast: Anna Kendrick as Ashley (her friend) and Debby Ryan as Caroline. Vote, Comment and follow! Thank you so much for all of the reads!