Chapter Fourteen
Annabelle
“Annabelle, you are going to be late!” My uncle yelled up to me. Panicking, I put on the first pair of clothes that I could find and rushed downstairs to eat breakfast.
“Late for what?” I asked, stopping now to looking at the clock and see that I still had a half an hour to get ready.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” my uncle said as he started walking towards the front door.
When we got outside, there was a royal blue punch bug sitting in the drive way. To be honest, I was a little surprised. Why did I need to see this car?
“It’s for you,” he said, tossing me the keys. “I know it’s kind of bad timing and all with what happened yesterday evening, but welcome!” He said, a goofy smile on his face.
“Thank you!” I jumped in the car and put the keys in, letting it run for a few seconds before shifting it in gear.
“Annabelle,” he called out as he approached the car. I rolled my window down, hoping that this would be quick. “About last night—”
“Uncle, do we really have to talk about this?” I whined. All I wanted to do was drive my new car to school and brag too Linzie.
He pursed his lips, stroking his mustache with his fingers. “Annabelle, I’m doing this to protect you. Those drugs, they weren’t yours, they were his, but you wouldn’t admit that to me. Do you see what he is already doing to you?” He took a few deep breathes before continuing. “He does drugs, Annabelle. Do you really want to be hanging around that? He’s not good for you.”
I couldn’t even make eye contact with him right now. His eyes were just so full of hatred. “And don’t give me any of that stupid ‘I love him’ shit. I don’t buy it. You’re here because—”
“Uncle I know why I’m here. And I know that what I feel with him, is much better than what feel without him. He makes me feel better! I don’t have to do drugs and be like him to have feelings for him. He’s not a bad person, he’s just stuck in a bad situation! But all you cops don’t get that because it’s your job to clean up the streets and make sure everyone is safe. Well what about him? He’s the one that gets the shaft, Uncle! Ryan got stuck with a tough life! Who are you to say that he isn’t good for me? He’s not a bad person, Uncle.”
I got out of the car, making it a point to slam the door behind me. “You can keep your car,” I said, “I don’t need it.” All I could do was shake my head. I had expected so much more of my Uncle. Of all of the people that I would have thought of that would make me cry, my uncle surely wasn’t one of them.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked me as I started walked down the driveway.
“To school, Uncle. You’re a cop, I thought you would have known it’s the law.” I replied back carelessly.
“You’re going to be late!” He yelled to me, trying to get me to stop. He was right, I was going to be late, but now, I gave up caring. I was shutting myself off. Giving up at life was easier than trying and getting hurt repeatedly. People started to expect less of you. Everything just slowly starts to fall apart…
How could he? How could he do that to me? The questions bothered me, breaking me out of my train of thought. I was probably half way to school now; I was just going to make it on time.
Why would he say that to me? Why would he even bring it up? I was just starting to heal!
I couldn’t focus at all. It was just by chance that I got into the right class. I just picked a random class and hoped for the best.
“Someone’s late!” Linzie whispered teasingly as the bell rang when I sat down.
“I just made it,” I huffed.
“I never thought that I would see the day!” Linzie continued, going on and on. Let her have her fun. It wasn’t her fault that I was in such an awful mood.
The day dragged. Classes seemed to be worse each period. When lunch finally came around, I sat with Linzie, listening to her talk, while I just pretended like I was listening.
By the end of the day, I had had enough. I just wanted to go home. But of course, my uncle wasn’t there to pick me up. Was he really going to be late?
“Annabelle!” I heard my name being called as I started walking away from the school. Turning around, I saw Ryan running after me. “Hey,” he said, trying to sound smoother, but he was out of breath.
“Hi,” I said, continuing to walk home.
“What, you finally decided to get rebellious and walk home? Better not tell that uncle of yours.” Ryan teased. Now really wasn’t the time.
“I don’t think he would really give a shit anyways.” Tears were fighting to fall from my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them.
He stopped, shocked at my response. “Annabelle,” he said. Why did he have to say my name? It made it so much harder to just walk away. “What’s wrong?”
“You were right, Ryan. You aren’t good for me! So why do you have to make it so difficult? Can’t you just let me walk away from you? I have no ride home, Ryan. My uncle isn’t picking me up.” I wasn’t sure if that was true, but at this point, I wouldn’t have doubted it.
“Annabelle, wait,” his hand gently grabbed my shoulder.
“Leave me alone!” But in truth, that was the exact opposite of what I wanted.
The tears were filling my eyes and I didn’t know what to do, so I ran. I darted off into the woods, dodging the trees and trying not to fall. I couldn’t tell where I was going, but when I turned around and saw that he wasn’t behind me, I propped myself up against a tree and released the unwanted tears.
An arm wrapped around my shoulder, frightening me half to death. “Shh,” Ryan comforted, pulling me into him as I started to shake as I cried. He placed his lips to my forehead gently.
“I’ve tried, Annabelle. But I can’t fight this…” His voice was quiet. I knew what he meant. He wasn’t talking about drugs, he was talking about us. I couldn’t fight it either.
“Let me take you home.” He said, scooping me up in his arms. I could tell that I was too much for him, but he said nothing.
He took me back to his car, placing me in the passenger seat, and shutting the door. I hadn’t noticed that I was still shaking until Ryan put a hand on my thigh. “It’s ok,” he whispered to me, but we both knew that that was the biggest lie.
When he pulled up in our driveway, he scooped me up in his arms and took me to the front door. My lips were trembling and I buried my face into Ryan’s shoulder.
“Annabelle? Oh…what the hell did you do to her?!” My uncle’s voice started to escalade as he continued.
“Ryan didn’t do anything wrong.” I defended. I could feel his arms tighten around me, but he set me on my feet against my will.
“Get in the house,” my uncle said and I nodded, ducking my head into the house.
“She ran out into the woods,” Ryan started, “I followed after her, and brought her home. No games.” His voice was honest and sincere.
After a long pause, my uncle said, “Thank you,” and shook Ryan’s hand. A truce was all that I needed.
Uncle came back into the house and nodded his head, confirming my suspicion. A smile formed on my face and ran out the door, catching Ryan just as he was about to get in his car. I pressed my lips to his, kissing him quickly.
His smile was a very small one. You had to know him to realize that it was there. But it was there. “You’re just full of surprises,” he said smirking.
Walking back into the house, my uncle was in the kitchen preparing dinner. “I’m sorry that I was late coming to pick you up. Your mother needed me.”
“Why would she need you?” I asked, sitting down at the table.
“Well, it’s not me she needs, it’s you.” Great. “We have to take a little trip back home.”