Never Let Me Go

Chapter 2: Next To You

CHAPTER 2: NEXT TO YOU

A month had already passed after the incident. I can't even distinguish if I should even think of it as a happy memory or a miserable one. My parents always manage to ruin my day. Even when I've accomplished something, they'd bring me down.

About two years ago, I got into writing. I won a contest at school for the poem I wrote about my life. How it sucked so bad basically. I knew I would get into trouble if my parents knew what I wrote about but when they did find out, that's not what bothered them. I brought home the trophy that afternoon. I can't believe I even got excited to show them at the time.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

"Keep it down, will ya?!" My dad scolded me.

"Sorry. Sorry. But look!" I raised the trophy to show them.

"What's that?" My mom asked.

"This is the trophy I won for best poem! It's so cool, isn't it?"

*PUNCH*

I fell to the ground and held my face.

"You disrespectful brat! You think just because you win something that you're better than us?!" My dad started to yell at me.

"This trophy? This is nothing!" He broke it in half with his bare hands.

"That's not what I was trying to sa-..."

*SLAP*

"Don't talk back to me! Don't treat me like I am stupid! Come here!" He grabbed my ankles and dragged me up the stairs. I kept screaming. But that never helped.

I didn't go to school the next day. I had bumps and bruises all over my body. Too much to cover up. Ever since that day, I've kept a record of all the things they do to me hoping one day, i'll be able to show it to someone who can help me.

It's a non-school day today so I sat out on the steps on our front porch with my notebook and pen. Being outside made it more comfortable for me to write. I didn't just write down the horrible things that happen to me. I also wrote down some made up stories. Stories I wish to be true. To be honest, any story that's better than the one I have right now.

"Action!" A man across the street called out. I watched to see what all the ruckus was about. There were cameras all over the place. People were running around and putting everything in place. Something like this barely happened in our little neighborhood. I wanted to get a closer look but I wasn't allowed to leave the house. I just kept observing what they were doing to get an idea of what was going on. Then, I saw him. Justin Bieber. He was being instructed on what to do while people were putting make up on him. I guess I was looking for too long, so, staring basically, because he eventually caught my gaze. I swear, it looked like he still remembered me from a month ago. I lost my cool. I looked down and pretended to write stuff down in my notebook. I rubbed the temples on my forehead and tried to think of something to write. I know! So I don't think about him catching me staring, i'll write it down in my notebook so I can just forget about it now.

As I was writing, I listened to what they were doing across the street. It sounded like they were making a music video for his song "Next To You". I know he already had a video for this song with Chris Brown so I just assumed that this was Justin's own version. One with just him. It sounded a bit more acoustic and i absolutely adore his acoustic version of his songs. I kept smiling at my notebook then I realized I had been writing every single thing I was thinking about into my notebook. It was jumbled and honestly, I kind of creeped myself out.

"Made a mistake?"

I looked up to see Justin Bieber standing in front of me.

"Um... Oh! No. No." As I said the second no, I focused on my notebook again.