Stay

Chapter 22

I push her away from me and I run out the door. I run into a tight chest, then a pair of arms wrap around me. I try to push out of his arms, but he just pulls me in closer. I begin to hit him, harder each time my fists hits his sternum. I eventually give up when I have tried out my body, and I just want to cry.

"Dakota, what's wrong?" A familiar voice asks me. I look up and notice that Peyton is the one that I was punch and trying to getaway from. He's looking at me with a confused look, but his heart beat is irregular. I start to cry and my knees go weak. I nearly fall onto the floor until Peyton catches me. He kneels down besides me ad holding me in his hands. We are inches apart, which makes me uncomfortable because I don't feel safe being Dakota anymore. I want to be Kimberly, Evelynn, or even Mariah, but not Dakota. I feel to threatened to be me. I wish I could just disappear and nobody would know where I would be.

"This girl I interviewed, she was here, with a knife, trying to kill me." I blurt out to him. He shakes his head no. He doesn't believe me. He thinks I'm just some crazy girl in his life and that I'm just asking for attention. I'm still shaking in my shoes, and I try to stop, but I just cant. I stand up and push Peyton away from me, but this time he moves away from me, as if he lost his balance for a split second.

I run upstairs into our bedroom and change into more comfortable clothing. The phone begins to ring, and I answer it thinking that Peyton walked outside to do who knows what.

I listen to the same females voice, and Peyton's. This time I listen to everything they are saying, and I don't feel even an ounce of guilt. I can't believe what I'm hearing, but it must be true.

'How could you scare her like that?" Peyton asks Serina. The line is silent for a secon duntil she sighs.

"Oh don't act like you love her now. I wasn't going to hurt her, yet." I hear a soft chuckle coming from her. I have to sit down on the bed because if I don't, I'll black out. I can feel my heart beat faster and I begin to hyperventilate. I cover my mouth and continue on to listen.

"Just, don't do it again. I'll meet you tomorrow. Just don't come back here for a while." The line goes dead and a string of beeping is all I hear. I drop the phone and I fall to the floor. I rip my clothes off and struggle to walk to the bathroom. I turn the shower on and let the water warm up. I jump in and I bawl my eyes out. I cry as loud as I can and as loud as I want to because nobody can hear me. I'm still trying to processe verything that had just happened, and I'm freaking out. How could he do this to me? How could he lead me on like that just so his creepy friend can kill me. Just why?

I turn the water on even hotter and let it hit my back and my neck. All this anxiety is giving me a kink in my neck and it hurts. Theres a faint knock at the door, but I don't answer. I can hear footprints in the bathroom, but I stay calm. The door of the shower flies open and there he is, staring at my naked body. It's not like he's never seen me naked before, but i feel the need to cover myself. I grab my breasts with my hand and arm while I cross my legs and cover my adominal area.

"What do you want?" I ask demand him to answer me. I'm more angery now than I ever have been at him. I frown at him, implying that he needs to leave, but he just stands there, looking at me. He hands me a towel but I decline.

"Can I join you?' He asks me back. I move my hands to my hips and shake my head.

"Does it look like I want you to join in. Leave." I close the shower door and wash my body and hair, over and over until I feel clean. When I get out of the shower, he's standing there staring at me holding out my bath towel. I immediately wrap myself in it and step out of the shower.

"What are you doing here?" I ask Nathaniel. He smiles at me in an evil way, causing my skin to grow goosebumps. He begins to pace in front of me as if he's thinking long and hard about something.

"Well, my friend bailed me out. Your new boyfriend had let me in. So here I am." He briefly explains. His hair is in a mess and he stinks like he hasn't showered in weeks.

I nearly see my life flash before my eyes when Nathaniel comes charging towards me. I cover myself, laying on the cold hard floors.

~*~

I wake up in the hospital bed with IVs in my wrist and arm. I sit up from laying down and stretch out a little bit. I analyze the room to notice that I'm alone, as usual.

Peyton, Nathaniel and Her, all working together. This is like a nightmare that I can't wake up from. There's a tray of food to the right of my bed, and a tv in front of me that's turned off. I search for the remote. Eventually I find it and surf the channels until I come across the news. I watch all the stories on a baby being born on the highway and a dog saves it's family from a burning building.  I'm amazed at how nice and sweet the world can be, but there are times where the world is nothing but cruel to the people who lives in it. 

A story about me comes on, and I watch closely, listening to every word the reporter is saying. After I blacked out,  I don't know what happened. I have no recollection of how I ended up in this room. I search my body for any cuts and stab wounds, but nothing. 

I see a nurse standing outside my room and I call her in. Her hair is up in a nice ponytail with a braide. Her scrubs are light blue with Tigger on them. I admire her outfit until she asks if everything is alright.

"Yes, I am okay. I'm just wondering how I ended up here and what happened." I explain to her. She nods her head then walks away, but I'm confused. A male doctor about 40 years old walks in, holding a folder that's open. He starts looking through all of my information then threw it down on the edge of my bed. He sits down next to it and grabs my hand.

"Dakota, let me explain."