Love Song (LGBTQ+) (COMPLETED)

49. Shiver (Interlude 12)

After leaving the bathroom with Cody that late afternoon, the night became a blur as flashing lights changed color with the bass of the bouncing music while my world spun around like a record on repeat. Time had become nothing more than a thing to me, nothing more than mere history as I buried myself in the drugs and alcohol that were so easily, so readily abundant at that party. I was truly trying to bury myself that night - bury myself six feet deep.

Drunkenly, I stumbled forward behind a drug-induced haze in the night's darkness. Cody seemed to have disappeared after I lost him in the crowd and I never ran back into Erin, leaving me alone to stare at the screen of my phone in the middle of Messina Park. While the clock rolled past two in the morning, the world only seemed to get darker and darker as light by light seemed to go out around me, reminding me just how alone I was at that moment. How alone I had always been. How alone I always would be.

A freezing gust tore through the sky, sending shivers down my spine as the cold wind pricked my bare skin like thousands of thumbtacks being blown at me. The skimpy clothes that Erin lent me only served to do two things at that moment, make me even colder and let the wind expose anything that wasn't already being shown. Even if I looked good in them, like she said, what point was there when I was freezing and alone in the dark?

Stopping, I turned to my left and made a one-eighty. In front of me lied a short, steep hill that led down to a large gated pond only a few short feet ahead of me. The pond itself was a recent addition that met a bit of conflict from some of the citizens, claiming that they were ruining the history of the park that was named after one of the men who saved Ely near the days of its birth, Cristoph Messina.

Turning on the screen of my phone, I persevered through the slow blurring of my vision. Finding Nathan's name on the contacts list, I tapped on it and let it ring quietly. Even if it was Nathan, would he have answered the phone at two in the morning? Did I actually expect him to answer the phone this early in the morning? I honestly would've had to question the sanity of someone who was willing to answer the phone for me someone like me that early. It was for that reason that I didn't blame him when it finally went to his voicemail. I had, rightfully, been ignored.

As uncertainty hit my veins, my gut told me to try calling one more time. I couldn't place or pinpoint the reason why I felt the need to call again, I just felt like I had to. Hitting his name one more time, a smaller gust of wind blew as I brought the phone to my ear. Letting the phone ring into my eardrum, another shiver fell down my spine. But it wasn't because of the frosty weather or the ringing of the phone. That shiver was caused by the sound of footsteps coming from behind.

"It's the dirty slut. My, just look at how she's dressed."

Without even needing to turn around, the voice that collided with my ears was more than enough to tell me who it was. It was the girl who tried beat me into the ground in front of my locker. It was the girl who stripped me of my clothes and threw me into the very same pool I had been raped in the night before, all while almost letting me drown to my death before pulling me out by my hair. The girl who had just spoken was Courtney Hale, and she wasn't alone. It wasn't just her and her two blonde clones.

With Courtney, outside of her typical two lackeys, were two other guys and a girls I hadn't known or seen before. The only things I knew were that their presence had sobered me up quicker than any cold shower ever could have and that I wasn't liking the feeling I was getting from Courtney. As much as I could've played tough with her or anyone else, I was scared. Even if I was able to pretend that what she'd done hadn't effected me in any way, that was very much a lie. If anyone at all scared me, it was Courtney. The sound of even her voice was a nightmare in and of itself. Those four strangers only made it worse.