5
It was about midnight when I received the call. I can remember that I was groggy, since I'd gone to sleep at ten. I picked up my phone, bringing it to my ear. “Hello?”
The voice on the end was female. “Hey, Valorie, I left you a little present outside.”
I didn't realize the tone of voice being used.
“What?” I mumbled before hearing complete silence. They must've hung up.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I groaned gently, not really wanting to be awake right now. I ran my fingers through my hair as a makeshift combing technique. It was not the time for presents.
Getting up out of bed, I quietly made my way over to my bedroom light and flipped it on. The light burned my eyes a bit, but it woke me up. Once I was oriented again, I started to make my way down the hall, making sure I didn't trip over anything. I made it to the front door and carefully opened it, trying not to make a lot of noise. I didn't want to be waking Mom up at this hour.
I stepped outside, shutting the door very quietly. There was a note on the front porch, so I bent down to pick it up.
“My brother says hi.”Huh?
Confused, I stood up, looking away from the note. Maybe less than a second later, I was ambushed by a group of girls. One of them I immediately recognized as Ray's older sister, who was supposed to be at college. One of them hit me hard in the chin and knocked me to the grass. The other girls started kicking me. I helplessly curled up into a ball, hoping it'd stop soon.
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I don't remember anything else except for waking up in the morning in my bed. I guess I had to have staggered in at some point. I moved my arms, feeling pain surge all over. I was bruised.
I hurt all over.
I was barely able to get myself out of bed and over to my dresser. I tried to remember what day it was, and it finally came to me that it was Sunday. Glancing over at the time displayed on my computer's screen saver, I realized it was about 10:30. Most people would be in church right now, and that included Naomi.
I decided to go ahead and get dressed. I threw on a black and white “baseball” shirt and a pair of jeans. I slipped my feet into my shoes, not bothering to change socks. I didn't really feel like bending over that much right now. Picking up my brush even felt like a hassle to me, but I did it anyway, brushing through my blond hair before just pulling it into a ponytail out of frustration. Exhaustion made me skip the makeup I'd usually put on.
I grabbed my phone off of my bed, not having any text messages or missed calls currently. I shoved it into my pocket and headed to the kitchen. A bag of chips felt like an acceptable “breakfast” for now. I'd come home for a better lunch.
As I headed out the door, Mom yelled at me from the living room to make sure I had my keys in case she wasn't here. I grabbed them from the peg by the door, even though I felt like it was unnecessary. She left the house less than I did.
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It took about twenty or so minutes to get to the railroad tracks. They weren't that far from where I lived.
The place brought back so many memories, bittersweet memories. I clutched the locket, thinking back to the last time I played on the tracks with Kasey. I sat down on the edge of the side by the tracks, very much tall enough now to make it out all by myself, unlike Kasey at that time. My feet almost touched the tracks, but I didn't feel like getting down in them.
I felt tears stinging in my eyes. Oh, Kasey. I sighed mentally. If only you were here now. You'd have made me stop being a chicken already and face my fears. I miss you so much. The tears started rolling once I thought of Kasey again.
I heard rustling, and then I felt someone tap me gently on the shoulder. Confused, I turned to see who was tapping on me. It was Haelie. I rubbed my tears away quickly.
“Hey,” she said gently, “are you alright, Valorie?” Haelie sat next to me.
I nodded.
“You don't look okay.”
I looked at the railroad tracks, feeling embarrassed that someone, especially a new girl, caught me crying like that. I mumbled an “I'm fine.”
I suppose I didn't notice that I'd accidentally rolled up one of my sleeves a bit, revealing some of the bruises on my arms from where Leah (Ray's sister) and her cronies beat me last night.
She took my wrist gently, looking at my arm. “You're all bruised up. What happened to you?” Haelie sounded really concerned when she asked about the bruises.
I felt extremely embarrassed and a little angry now, realizing fully that I'd actually been harmed. I hadn't really thought about it earlier. “It's a present from my ex-boyfriend's older sister and her friends,” I murmured.
She let go of my wrist. “It must hurt a lot to have that happen to you. Shouldn't you do something about it?”
“I can't.” I sighed. “The police love my ex's family too much. The whole town loves them too much to let any of them be convicted and sent to prison for anything.”
Haelie was silent for a moment, as if she was letting it sink in that I couldn't do anything about it. She let that drop. “Why did they do this to you, then?”
There was a very short debate going on in my head of whether or not I should tell her what happened with Ray. Part of me said, No, she's new. Don't let her get into this problem. There was a small piece of me, though, that said, You can trust her. Don't worry about it.
For some reason, my brain listened to the smaller piece of me and spilled the story to her, bit by bit.
I can't quite recall what happened after that, but that was the first time I'd ever let Haelie so close to me.
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Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to update! Enjoy this chapter! More to come this summer!