Manic

Chapter 28.

I ran to the guest room that served as my own room for the remainder of the week.

Yelling and fighting still reached me from downstairs. I throw myself on the bed and slam a pillow over my ears, trying to block out the noise. But it's no use. The sounds still reach me.

Tears are falling in a steady stream down my face, and I can't stop them.

"He's right, you know." Reid says to me. "You're nothing special. You're nothing to Rivers but another one of his conquests."

I push the pillow against my ears, harder this time, trying to block Reid's voice from my mind. But of course, my efforts are futile.

"You can try to ignore it, but that won't make it any less true." Reid says.

"You can't hide from reality, no matter how hard you try." Danny agrees with him.

"Shut up." I mumble.

"You're nothing. You're no one." Danny says.

"You aren't special. Listen to Arden. Rivers doesn't care about you. You're a freak." Reid says.

"Shut up!" I say, louder this time.

"You better leave while you still can." Danny says.

"Before Rivers decides to drop you and start over with someone else." Reid says.

"Make someone else feel special." Danny adds.

"Make someone else feel loved." Reid says.

"Shut. Up." I say.

"Listen to us, Elijah!" Danny says.

"We have your best interests at heart." Reid agrees.

Danny and Reid go back and forth, reminding me that I'm not good enough. That I'll never be good enough. The screaming from down stairs gets louder. So much is going on, I guess I just snapped.

"SHUT UP!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

Silence.

The screaming from down stairs comes to a stop. The voices in my mind are gone. Footsteps come up the stairs. My heart beating in my chest is the only audible sound around me as I stand from the bed and lock the door.

Knocking comes from the other side. "Elijah? Are you okay?" It's Rivers.

I squeeze my eyes shut. What do I do? What do I do?

I panic. I run to the other side of the room where a window sits on the wall. I pull it open and look down where a ledge leads across the wall. I take a deep breath, and climb out the window. I scramble across the ledge until it ends at a balcony. I grab onto the railing and let myself hang for a few seconds before letting go.

My feet slam against the ground, and I collapse to my side, gritting my teeth and trying not to cry out from the pain in my left ankle. I stand up, favoring my right side and turn around. Behind me, Arden stands in the window, watching me with a cruel smile on his face. He turns around and retreats to the couch where he sits down and pulls out his phone.

I run. Through the backyard and past the white picket fence. I run down the hill, limping as I go, but so full of adrenaline that my body ignores the pain in my ankle as I continue to run towards the road.

As I reach the gravel road, I can hear my name being called from a distance. I don't turn back. I run along the road, hobbling and grimacing in pain as my body finally registers my ankle.

"Is it broken?" Reid asks.

I ignore him and continue along the road. I hear a car, and turn around to see a red minivan coming towards me. I stop and wave my arms like a mad man. It was pure luck that the van pulled over.

At least, I thought it was luck. I had no idea what was in store for me once setting foot in that van.

"Thank you," I say, biting back my tears. I couldn't allow myself to cry in front of a complete stranger.

"Where to, kid?" The man says to me.

"The airport." I say. I didn't have any cash on me, how I planned to get home was a mystery as far as I was concerned. But I knew that's where I had to go.

"Woah, that's pretty far from here." The man says.

"Please, take me as close to the airport as you can." I beg.

"Okay, kid." the man says, and puts the car back in drive. He sets off down the dirt road, back the way that I had driven on my first day of arriving in New York.

"What's your name?" the man asks me. Now I allow myself to look at him. I was already out of breath from the running, but as soon as I saw his face, my breath left me completely.

He turns to me and smiles. I have to remind myself to breathe so that I don't pass out. This can't be happening. Not now. Why me?