The List

IV: Beatings

Evelyn's POV

The next day, I stayed in, since I actually had gotten a cold. My nose was stuffed up, I was sneezing like crazy, and I was utterly confused about what Ryler had said. After about an hour of pondering, my head started hurting. I went to the kitchen to find some Advil, but we were all out. I groaned. I threw on my Uggs and my coat and began to walk to the Wal-Greens that around the corner. When I got there, I grabbed some headache and cold stuff and left after I bought them. But as I was walking home, I bumped into some guys.

"Oh, sorry" I said, and then sneezed. The guys laughed.

"Bless you, Evelyn" One hissed. I froze. Had I done something wrong? Were these the guys Ryler were talking about? I turned around and ran.

"Get her!" The same one yelled. I ran harder and faster. I didn't bother turning my head, because I was already on my front porch. I fumbled with the keys, but managed to get the door open. I closed it just in time. I ran to the backdoor and locked it, as well as all the windows. The guys banged on the doors and windows. After about ten minutes, they stopped. I ran behind the couch and closed my eyes. I knew they were outside. I prayed for them to go away and for this to be over. Then, I heard clanging on the window. I peeked my head out from behind the couch. They were throwing rocks at the window. I smirked. They couldn't break those windows even if they had a crowbar. I heard a crash and I saw the one who blessed me had a crowbar. Okay, maybe they could break the windows with a crowbar. As he leaped through the window, I was scrambling up the stairs to my room, but the guy had grabbed me by the hair and was pulling me to my feet. I struggled against him, until he brought a broken piece of glass up to my neck. I froze.

"She's a nice one. One the best that Ryler's gotten" One said, grabbing my chin. I turned away from him, careful to make sure not to cut myself on the piece of glass. The one who held the glass against my skin chuckled. He dropped the glass and turned me towards him. He had short brown hair and had dark brown eyes, if they were any darker, they'd be black.

"Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn. You can't hide from us. I think you know that wherever you run, we will always find you. Barricading yourself in your house doesn't help either" He said, dragging me out the window. I hissed in pain as the broken glass cut the skin on my legs.

"Oh, are you hurt? You might want to get used to it" He whispered in my ear. I shivered at his closeness. This was a habit of mine. Whenever anyone gets to close, I shiver, and most of my friends know this, so when they see me shiver they know to step away. Anyways, the guy smiled and threw me to the ground. As I got onto my knees, he kicked me in the gut. I fell to the ground. The entire group of boys, which was about eight to ten boys, began to kick me repeatedly. I cried out once or twice, but never actually screamed. The lead boy was not happy about that. He still had the piece of broken glass in his hand, so he grabbed mine and quickly ran the blade down my hand. I screamed in pain as the blood spilled out. They grabbed me. I began to scream for Ryler, my dad, my neighbors, my mom even.

"You're dead mommy can't help you Evelyn. Neither can Ryler. He's probably going to join her soon enough" The guy said, grinning evilly. My eyes hardened. I balled my bleeding hand, and faster than I had time to think about it, I had punched the lead directly in the jaw. I shook my hand out, since it even rattled my bones and I ran. Straight for the hospital. I knew he was there. I figured they probably got him when he went to grab his car. I looked back and saw three guys get into their cars. All three of them. I looked back at the lead guy, who had an evil look of fury in his eyes. I pushed my legs harder, running as fast as I could. I blocked out everything, as my track and field teacher taught us during a segment we learned in P.E. a few weeks ago. I began to add a rhythm to my running, to keep my pace. I counted my steps up to six, and then started again at one. I began to go from one to six in a very short time. I blocked out the pain, the sound of the cars next to me, everything. I only focused on my pace, my breathing and counting. Soon enough, I reached a landmark that I saw when Ryler and I were walking home. I smiled to myself. We were almost there. I looked back at the guys. They had slowed down, some of them even stopped, but the lead guy was still on my tail. I ran even harder, reaching the hospital in a matter of minutes. I saw Ryler lying on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. I skidded to stop and kneeled down next to him. I listened for his breath. It was slow and wheezy. It began to slow down. I listened to his heartbeat next. It was very slow and scary. I began to do CPR.