UPDATE!
I didn’t proof read so yeah, I’ll get through that later.
Enjoy. :)
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I’m freaking out.
I feel like my heart is about to burst from my chest. The guilt I am feeling right now is eating it's way down to my core.
I feel like the heavens are about to curse me.
What have I done!!
I couldn’t sit still or stand in one spot. My mind is swirling with different ideas, none of them I could understand.
I think I’m dying. Can someone die from freaking out? Because it feels a hell like it.
Or maybe I’m about to lose my mind. How can an insane person know that he’s insane? Crap! Maybe I’m insane right now. No wonder I kissed Anthony. It’s like he has an invisible pull towards me that makes me want to be close with him at all times. Yep, I’m definitely crazy right now.
Damn them! How am I supposed to get back to my family now if I’m insane.
Stupid stupid Cass! I told you not to let them affect you. This is your entire fault!
But his lips were so soft. His arms were so strong. His chest, so warm I could melt into it. I was so comfortable in his embrace, it’s nearly absurd to think that what I was doing was wrong. And then his moans… my god I couldn’t believe I made him do that. It just showed that I pleased him.
A smile suddenly broke into my face. I could feel the tingling sensation on my lips again. Damn he’s so hot!
What?! No. NO! STOP thinking about it. Stop smiling!
Shit! I need to get out of here. Right now. I don’t care what the consequence is. I just need to get away from here before I completely lose sense of myself.
But how? I don’t have any friends here, or any connections that could help me. If only I could get hold of a phone, I can make a quick call to Dexter and surely, he’ll be able to find me soon. But I know that idea is impossible. One thing I noticed about this family is that their zealous about the impossibility of my escape. Even attempting it, for sure, wouldn’t be easy. Damn them!
I suddenly found myself in the dining hall. I didn’t even notice I was heading this way. Boy, was I really out of myself, right now.
It’s true, I have no friends around here, but that doesn’t mean I hate all of them. Just like me, most of the people here are innocent and mere victims of Anthony’s acts. Maybe they have compassion enough to help me. Mrs. Jones, perhaps. She’s such a sweet lady. She had been kind to me lately. Maybe I can trust her. Maybe she can help me. It’s worth a try.
I ran towards the kitchen door, feeling confident about my plan. I found Mrs. Jones alone by the counter, preparing our food for dinner.
“Mrs. Jones!” I cried out. “You need to help me. Please you need to help me.”
She set down the vegetable she was washing and turned around to face me. “What’s wrong, dear?” she asked, surprised at my freaked out state.
I closed the gap between us and said, “I need to get out from here. Quick, help me plan an escape!”
“What, why?”
Why? She’s seriously asking me that?! Come on. “I need to escape, Mrs. Jones. I can’t stay here any longer.”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Should I tell her? Will it be prudent? I studied her for a moment. Hell, no! “Something terrible. Oh god!” I walked around the kitchen, feeling the peak of my freaking out. “I’m going out of my mind. If I stay here longer, oh god, please, Mrs. Jones. Help me. Please!”
“Cassandra, you’re blabbering. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Upstairs… in a small room… Shit!... He… made me. We… It was wrong!”
“What?” Mrs. Jones asked in confusion. The lines on her forehead, turning deeper and deeper.
The memory made me think of Emma. I suddenly found that I didn’t make much thought about her. I was focusing too much of my situation that I didn’t even think what could she feel if she finds out. I mean, she saw me get out of the room, a while ago. Surely, she would ask Anthony questions. Will he tell her? Will he confess? Oh crap, maybe he’ll even say it was me who was seducing him. Double crap!
“She’s gonna kill me,” I muttered. I could feel the blood draining from my face. “Oh no, she’s going to kill me. I’m going to die!”
“Who? Who’s going to kill you?”
“Emma,” I replied. “She’ll be furious. If she find out what happened. Crap! And my family will disown me. Dexter will dump me. I’ll be alone for the rest of my life. Mrs. Jones, I can’t let that happen.”
“Goodness, child. You’re having a panic attack!” she commented with wide eyes.
Tears began to fill my eyes. I’ve never felt this trap in here before. Right now, I couldn’t find any way out. I’m turning desperate.
I sank in the nearest stool beside me and leaned my head on my hands. I felt Mrs. Jones walk towards me and then she laid her hand on my head.
“I did something terrible,” I murmured in a hallow voice.
“What is it?” she asked gently.
“I—“
The back door suddenly burst open, cutting off the sentence I was about to say. There, by the entrance was a plump, red headed girl who showed a lot of resemblance with Mrs. Jones, only younger. She must be at least three or more years younger than me.
“Mama! Have you heard? Abby is coming home today!” she said, bustling inside excitedly.
The shock of Mrs. Jones and me from her sudden entrance took us a second longer to comprehend what she told us. It was enough time for her to realize that Mrs. Jones was not alone in the kitchen. Her dark eyes met mine, widening in surprise at my presence. I can only imagine what she could see. Me, clinging desperately in the counter, with unshed tears in my eyes and Mrs. Jones, comforting me to the best that she can without any knowledge of what really happened.
“Oh…” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… Um, mama?” Her eyes moved from mine to her mother’s in question.
Mrs. Jones stirred beside me. “Cassandra, this is Jane, my daughter,” she introduced.
Jane gave me a small smile, still unsure.
“She’s close to Anthony’s sister. They are best friends, I should say. As I’m aware of, she is coming home from camp today.”
Half of what she said was incoherent in my ears. I focused on the intruder instead. As I gazed upon her longer, I realized that I’ve seen her before, back in the farm, when I was still working. She was the girl who kept following me and smiling at me when she had a chance. I never got to know her name because she was always in a fair distance away from me, just spying and looking.
“Hi,” I greeted politely. “You work in the farm right?”
Her smile grew bigger, happy that I remember her. “Yep. We haven’t seen you in a while back there.”
I gave her a forced smile.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It’s just that, I’m curious about you. It’s not every day we get to work with a New Yorker.” She laughed a little.
“It’s alright. How was the farm, anyway?”
“Same old, same old,” Jane said with a wave of a hand. “I think Alice misses you.”
I let out a giggle. Alice was my pet goat. I think I made a good impression with her on our first meeting. “Yeah, I kind of miss touching her boobs. I hope she doesn’t give you much trouble like how she was with me.”
“No worries. She is being taken care of. When you get back, she’ll be happy to see you again, for sure.”
I let out a long sigh. Her statement should be, ‘If I get back…’ I don’t plan on working back in the farm as a prisoner again. I want to get out of here!
“What’s wrong?”
Will she help me if I ask her?
“I heard your voice on the backyard but I didn’t think you were talking to my mother. What’s up? Did something happen?” Jane continued, looking concern now.
“Mrs. Jones and I are devising a plan for my escape,” I replied. Not entirely true but I’m getting her to do it, no matter what.
“Really?!” Jane let out in surprise. She looked at her mother in confirmation.
“No!” Mrs. Jones said hastily. “We are not doing such a thing.”
Damn loyalty! “But Mrs. Jones, you’re the only one who can help me. I don’t have anyone else to go to. Please you need to help me.”
“Goodness, Cass. You can’t expect me to help you in doing that.”
“But, don’t you feel sorry for me? I’m being held here against my will!”
Mrs. Jones turned silent. She stared at me for a while, studying me with those pitiful eyes. Yes, she does feel sorry for me. I’m sure not only her, but a handful of the workers too. Everything that goes on in this house regarding me is no secret from any of them.
She continued to stare at me with her dark eyes. For a moment, she reminded me of my Aunt Bessie, my mother’s older sister. Like my mother, she always regards me with utmost care. She was one of the people who used to spoil me when I was young, giving me loads of toys and dolls to play with. When my mother was not around, she would always be there for me. It was such a tragedy when she died from cancer five years ago. I remember crying for days, grieving for her death.
I hope Mrs. Jones would find it in her heart to see that I don’t deserve being held here. That everything this family did was unjust. That this family must pay for the cruelty they have caused us. That my family was the victim, not the other way around.
“Wait,” Jane spoke, breaking my reverie. “Cass, why the sudden urge to escape? Did Anthony do something wrong?”
I smiled inwardly. My distress made Jane jump into conclusion that Anthony was the person who done me wrong, not me. So that meant, he’s really an ass, even to the workers. He must be a huge trouble maker in this house.
“Yes,” I replied. “Everything about my situation is Anthony’s fault, and day by day, he’s making it worse. Seriously, I’m about to go crazy, or maybe I have gone crazy already. Please you need to help me. Any of you, please.”
“And how do you expect us to help you?” Mrs. Jones asked.
My hope swelled on my chest. They’re going to help me! “First, we need a bad ass plan. I’m going to need to know the nooks and crannies here, the workers who live nearby and the possible friends of this family around. At all cost, I need to avoid them.”
“That’s impossible. The Ford land is surrounded by their workers. There’s no way getting through them without being seen.”
“Surely, there must be a route away from them. What about by the lake? I didn’t see much houses when we went there.”
“The direction of the lake is opposite to the direction you want to get at. That will only take you further.”
“I don’t care. I just—“
“Wow, hold up!” Jane shouted, cutting me off mid-sentence. “Mama, we’re really going to help her?”
“Of course!” I said.
“No!” Mrs. Jones said sternly.
“What? But you said so already,” I whined. “You were already answering my questions.”
“No, I’m just showing you the impossibility of your escape.”
“Come on, you guys. Give yourself a credit here. We can do this!” I said in encouragement.
“Cassandra…” She was interrupted when Emma’s voice came calling out from the dining hall. She was making her way towards the kitchen.
Crap! I can’t face her yet. I need to hide. I ran to the opposite side of the island, away from the door and squatted. “Don’t tell her, I’m here. We’re not done devising a plan yet.”
“This is ridiculous,” Mrs. Jones said as she waved her arms in the air.
Jane tried to suppress a giggle. Seriously, I don’t see anything ridiculous about this. I can do this, if only they cooperate with me.
The door connecting to the dining hall burst open. I squatted further down by the island, trying to be inconspicuous as much as I could.
“Mrs. Jones,” I heard Emma called out by the door.
“Good afternoon, Emma,” Mrs. Jones greeted.
“Hi, Emma,” Jane said with a smile.
“Hi, Jane,” Emma greeted back but not as enthusiastic as Jane. “Listen, I’m looking for Cassandra. I can’t find her anywhere. Have you seen her?”
Mrs. Jones moved to my side and looked at me casually. I shook my head and signaled her to be quiet. The clipped tone Emma was using was never a good sign to be around her. Anthony must have told her.
I feel a knot forming in the pit of my stomach. I think I’m in big trouble.
“Well?” Emma pried on.
I shook my head furiously at Mrs. Jones as her eyes drifted back at me then to Emma alternately.
“She’s right here,” she said, pointing my hide out.
WHAT! Damn, and I thought I could trust her. Traitor! TRAITOR!
I looked at her murderously as I heard Emma made her way towards me. Scratch the memory of my late Aunt Bessie on her. She is nothing like my beloved aunt. My aunt would never betray me by feeding me to the wolves.
Traitor!
As I hear Emma’s footsteps getting nearer and nearer, my heart pounded faster and faster. The panic that I felt moments ago came crashing back, signalling my body to be on high alert. I have a feeling this would get nasty.
It may not have been obvious, but Emma scares the crap out of me. I’m still not sure what she’s capable of doing to me and I pray I will never get to experience that.
When she finally reached me, she scorned at me and said, “What the hell have you been doing down there? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Get up!”
Ok, I couldn’t hold it any longer. The panic I’ve been holding up could not be contained anymore. The dark glare she was giving me was the last push in throwing me off the cliff. I know, I’m about to make a fool out of myself but if this is the way to save my ass, then I’m all out in embarrassing myself.
“I didn’t do it!” I blurted out in haste as I stood up. “I swear, I didn’t do it. It was Anthony’s fault!”
“What?”
“The thing that happened… it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t enjoy it, I swear!” Liar, liar, pants on fire. I did enjoy it very much. Shut up, conscience! “Please don’t kill me, please. Think of my mother. This would be the death of her. Please. Don’t hurt me. I didn’t like it. It was disgusting, I swear!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I know you’re Anthony’s girlfriend. I saw you sneaking in his bedroom a while back. I didn’t spy on you, I swear. It was an accident! I went in the kitchen to have dinner and then I accidentally saw you in the hallway heading towards him.”
Emma’s eyes widened and widened as I spoke further. Her rage was building up by the second and she was scaring me more and more.
But I couldn’t stop. Once I start, I couldn’t stop blabbering anymore. “It’s fine. I mean couples do that. Yeah. Whatever.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Emma screeched.
“No, hear me out. Anthony is not the person you think he is. If he told you anything, I promise, he was lying. I wouldn’t do that if I had control of myself.”
“I said shut up!” Emma screamed in fury.
I clamped my mouth shut because Emma had stepped closer to me, putting her face on mine with only few inches of distance. All I could see was her blazing eyes.
I came to realize that we were not alone in the kitchen. Everything I just said were now revealed to Mrs. Jones and Jane. Crap! I guess their secret relationship was not a secret anymore. No wonder, she’s livid at me.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she screeched. “Didn’t you know that Anthony and I are not dating anymore?”
“But I saw—“
“I SAID WE’RE NOT DATING ANYMORE!” she yelled on my face. I squirmed away from her.
Great, now she’s surely going to kill me.
They’re not dating? Was she telling the truth? Was that why Anthony kiss me? He wasn’t cheating after all. But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would he want to kiss me then?
I looked around the kitchen and saw Mrs. Jones and Jane standing on the opposite side of the island with surprise and confusion etched on their faces. I begged them with a look to help me but none of them dared to step up for me. I understand them. I wouldn’t want to be in a way of Emma’s wrath too.
“What were you talking about? What did Anthony do to you?” she asked.
My eyes snapped back at her. “Wha… he… he didn’t tell you?”
“What? What was he supposed to tell me?” she asked urgently.
Great. I definitely made a fool out of myself. Stupid stupid! Why can’t I just shut my mouth when I panic?
“I don’t… It was…” I said incoherently. Now what?
“What did he do, Cassandra?” Emma said darkly.
Having no idea what to say, I just shook my head.
Emma grabbed my shoulders to keep me from walking away and shook me hard. “What did he do? Tell me. TELL ME!”
“Ow, let me go. That hurts.” I yelped in pain.
“Did he try something on you? Huh?”
I studied her for a moment. Her rage doesn’t seem to fit that behavior she should be showing if she’s really not dating Anthony. Whatever I was not telling her, she’s freaking out about it. Surely, this is an act of jealousy. Right? If she’s jealous then something was going on between them!
I need to get away from her. Fast. If Anthony did not tell her then I’m not going to tell her too. Let them settle their own problem.
“I said let go!” I pushed her away hard. Her grasp slipped for a moment. I took that chance and bolted away from her. I passed through the dining hall with her hot on my heels. I’m definitely scared for my life right now so no matter how absurd it was, I plan on looking for Anthony and let her drill him instead, just to spare myself from her wrath.
“Cassandra, come back here!” Emma yelled behind me.
When I reached the entrance hall, I was glad to find Anthony standing there. Forgetting all the possible awkwardness that would surely come later on, I headed in his direction. He looked surprise to see me running.
But as I tried to reach for him, I heard a voice call out for me in the opposite direction. “Cassandra!”
My head snapped in the direction of the voice to find that it was from Lance, standing by the entrance door that was ajar. He was not alone. My pace slowed down. I hear Emma stop in her tracks.
I gazed upon the newcomer standing by Lance. She looked young, aging about fourteen, more or less, with dark wavy hair and tanned skin. She has an athletic built, more angular than the other teenagers I’ve met. I assumed it was due to his sporty character. But the most striking feature she has is the striking blue eyes, the same shade as to Anthony’s. I’m guessing this must be Abby, her sister.
“Hey, Cass!” Lance said with a smile. He walked towards me when I stopped walking. He slung his arm around me and pulled me to his side. I didn’t get to react fast and pry myself away from him because I was still hangover from my escape from Emma. “Cass,” Lance continued. “Let me introduce you to Abby. Abby, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about.”
Abby scanned her eyes on me. She studied me close before breaking into a smile. I find that she had a lovely smile. She had the type of smile that was contagious, that you couldn’t help but smile with them when they give it to you.
My admiration towards her face was cut short when Lance spoke again. “Isn’t my girlfriend really pretty?”
My head snapped in her direction. What did he just call me? But I didn’t have time to question his motive. Before I knew it, he had leaned his face towards me and his lips were already touching mine.
You have got to be kidding me?!
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Love it? Hate it? So so? Not my favorite chap too, coz this one is rushed. Sorry if it’s a little gibberish. I just thought I'd post one before the holiday because things will be busier then. I might not have time to update anymore. Don't worry, I’m working on a better chap next time.
Vote and comment. :)
HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY EVERYONE! :)