"Mom, I'm going to the library!"
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" she yelled back over the sound of the vacuum cleaner. I swear, she was always vacuuming. But she was like that, I guess. Her life always had to be completely orderly. But I still couldn't think with it running.
"I'M GOING TO THE LIBRARY!" I shouted back
"HAVE FUN!" Yeah ok, I thought. I sighed and slung my bag over my shoulder before heading out.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Monroe." I smiled to the librarian.
"Oh, good afternoon, Charlotte! What are you looking for today?"
"Just going to read for a little. Mom's vacuuming."
"How was school?"
"Oh, you know... Same bullshit..." I laughed, but it was bitter. With her age, I knew she didn't like when I cursed, but there was no other way to put it. She grimaced.
"It's your last year, Charlotte. Try and make the most of it, honey. You should look back on it fondly." I wanted to scoff at this, but Ms. Monroe was really quite old, so I figured that she must be wiser than I. Then again, she probably had a different high school experience.
"I'm trying my best." I grumbled, wandering off. I sat down on the floor in the historical fiction section and browsed my options. "Ooh, Little Women." I'd been dying to read this. I barely noticed another person walk in, leaving the bells by the front door jingling and I still didn't bother to look up. It was rather odd, though. No one ever came to this particular, run down library except for Marg and I, and Marg was on vacation in the Maldives. I set my book down and tiptoed back to the front desk. "Who just came in here?" I asked, glancing around.
"I don't know, dear. I barely saw him. He kept his head down and his hood up." she muttered.
"It's not polite to talk about others that way," a deep voice suddenly started, making both of us nearly jump out of our skin. Ms. Monroe looked up, terrified. I took a step in front of her, ready to act as a shield to the poor old lady. He stood there for a moment, not breaking eye contact with me. "Maybe think about that next time." He broke the intense connection and walked with heavy footsteps out of the building.
"I didn't know he was right there." she confessed once he had gone.
"Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. On the bright side, he'll probably never come back here." I smiled, reassuringly. But I felt just as bad as she did.
"Well, I don't know what I'll do if there's gang activity around my library..." she shook her head and disappeared into the back room again. Gang activity... wasn't it kind of rude for her to assume that based on nothing but a person's looks..?
I finished the book, said goodbye to Ms.Monroe and headed home. I should have waited to finish the book until tomorrow. I've always had an annoying fear of the dark. Loud clicks of footsteps echoed behind me. A shadow appeared against the brick wall but no one was visible in the low light cast from the street light. I held my phone in my hand, hoping to remind rapists or murderers that I had means of calling the police. I kept walking, nearly slamming right into a group of guys, talking. A few were leaning against a brick wall, others were sat around on the curb. My heart began to race. Silently, I tried to turn around. Maybe I could get away without them noticing. As if they wouldn't notice someone who physically ran into them.
"Well, hey there." one of them started. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. But of course, I was certainly terrified. I knew I wouldn't get away. This was no attempt to just scare me. I didn't say anything, and continued on my way, or at least tried to. "Hey, I'm talking to you. Are you- Are you not gonna answer me? Cliff, I don't think she's gonna answer me? Who does she think she is?"
"Lookin' gooooood." another voice called. I turned to look at them. One let out a large puff of smoke, slowly in my direction before tipping his head and winking.
"She's a pretty one, isn't she?"
"Hey Anchor, should we-"
"I don't think that's a good-" the boy whom he had been talking to responded. My heart beat a mile a minute. A hand slammed down on my shoulder and spun me around, making me lose my balance. Slowly, the one that had just been talking pushed me up against a wall. He pulled the bandana away from his mouth, letting it hang loosely at his neck now. He smirked, biting at his bottom lip. I tried pushing the boy off, but he quickly brought me to the ground. My knees smacked the concrete, immediately busting open. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. They all looked so young. They couldn't be much older than me.
"Let me go!" I wailed, kicking my legs, trying to escape, but they too were soon held together by the hands of another. This one had... blue hair... I screamed, only to have a hand slammed down on my throat. I gagged and bit his hand, but it did nothing to help.
"Stop moving." the blonde one snapped. I was about to refuse this command when my eyes caught a switchblade in his hand. Fear ran through my body like shock waves. This was going to be a lot worse than I originally thought. "Now, what's your name?" he asked. I refused by turning my head away from him to avoid eye contact. "I asked you a question." he growled. I shrugged. "Ok, have it your way." I heard the 4 inch blade click open and cringed. I tried to pull away from his grip but they were both stronger than I was. Nothing was going to help. I felt the blade bite into my upper thigh and fought the urge to scream. I groaned and bit my lip to keep myself quiet. I knew that would only make it worse. I immediately tasted blood on my teeth from biting down too hard.
"Numbers." A deep voice boomed. Both the boy on top of me and the boy holding my legs froze in place and paled. They let me go.
"Styles?" his voice shook, as if he were terrified while he stared at the tall, dark clothed figure looming in front of us all. I wondered what control this one had. He seemed massive to the blonde boy that stood behind me. It almost seemed as if he were cowering behind me. He seemed pathetic now after what had just occurred.
"Let her go. Now." he said in a calm, yet firm voice. It was the boy from the library. He stood almost a foot over all of the others.
"But I was-"
"I SAID NOW." Styles roared, immediately silencing the rest of them.
"Sorry." Numbers mumbled.
"I know you are." Styles said. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"What do you mean? She's just-" the taller one shot him a glare that could have been lethal. The rest of the group slowly disappeared. This left only "Styles" and I. He held out his hand to help me up as if he really believed that I would accept his help. As far as I was aware, he was the leader of those animals. I pushed myself off the ground, stumbling slightly. Styles grabbed my waist to steady me, but all I could do was stare at him in horror. He seemed to be glaring back with his dark green eyes.
"You're welcome." he grunted, this time definitely glaring at me. HIs eyes were as dark. He narrowed them, waiting for me to react, but I didn't. I was still too paralyzed with fear to answer. If it weren't for him, this would have never happened in the first place. I rolled my eyes and he looked taken aback but quickly glared back at me.
He ran his tongue over his bottom lip before nodding curtly once and stalking away, probably to rejoin his posse. And this time, I did run home. I didn't care how it looked anymore. Anything to get away from them.
"Honey, you're late. What took so long?"
"Oh, I just had to finish Little Women, Mom. It was amazing. Lost all track of time..." I said, running up the stairs. I pulled my skinny jeans off and stared at the cut on my thigh. I couldn't put my pajama shorts on now, so I slid into sweatpants instead. I grimaced at my jeans. I wouldn't be able to wear these again until the cut was gone.
"Yay, you're here!" my little sister, Piper said when I got to the table. I smiled at her and ruffled her hair.
"You should have come home sooner. It's late." my mother scolded. "You look very pale, sweetheart. Are you alright?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm fine. You know I'm just afraid of the dark."
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Author's note:
Thank you SO much for reading. I love you!
~Peyt xx