An American Nightmare

𝟶𝟾|𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸𝚗

Chapter Six

Breaking In

Alilaleigh

If I told myself this morning that I would be sitting in the basement of an amphitheater with two of my professors, I would have laughed. Although, it feels natural to be sitting here with them. I don't feel awkward or left out of conversations. In some messed up way, it feels right.

"So, you really don't know who we are?" Ricky asked pointing a soggy fry towards me. "I assumed you would go home and do some research."

"Uh no. My top priority was getting home without getting caught." I pushed around pieces of fruit with my fork, keeping my gaze at the table.

"Right. I'm assuming your dad likes you home at a certain time." Ricky said shoving the fry in his mouth.

"Yeah. That and he absolutely hates my friends." I grabbed my phone from my pocket feeling it vibrate like crazy. My eyes widened as I read over the messages, I completely forgot about my friends. "Shit...I have to go. My friends are looking for me."

"Ricky and I will walk you back." Spencer and Ricky stood at the same time I did. "We'll be back." He added as he motioned for me to walk ahead of him. I walked ahead of them in silence feeling like I had bodyguards. I felt protected, like I was someone important and their job was to protect me. I like that.

When we finally reached the bathrooms, my eyes landed on Mike who was pacing back and forth. The moment his eyes landed on me, they narrowed. I've never seen him this angry before. He stomped over to me and grabbed my wrist, hard enough to leave a bruise, causing me to wince. "Where the hell have you been, Alilaleigh?"

"I was just eating."

Spencer

Murder.

That was the only thought consuming my brain now. The fear that rolled off Alilaleigh as we neared her friends, fueled my fire. The wince and the aggressive behavior from her boyfriend made it worse. I could feel the hand Ricky placed on my shoulder as he tried to remind me where we were. My eyes burned from the lack of blinking as I stared at the piece of shit blonde in front of me. How dare he put his hands on her like that. How dare he scare her.

This is it. This is how I flip her switch. Of course, he doesn't know it yet, but he'll be locked in my basement very soon. Soon thereafter he'll be nothing but a little blip in sweet Alilaleigh's past.

Ricky's voice invaded my thoughts. "We'll see you guys later." He grabbed ahold of my wrist and tugged until I was walking with him. "Dude get ahold of yourself, we are at a fucking park, surrounded by thousands of people."

"Did you see the way he fucking touched her?" I growled narrowing my eyes on him. "I should have killed his ass and made everyone watch."

"I'm not really in the mood to clean up a dead body, so why don't we focus on the show tonight. We need to act normal for a few more hours and then you can lose it."

Alilaleigh

The rest of the night was filled with a suffocating amount of tension between our group. We all sat in silence as band after band performed on stage, almost like we were afraid to move. Afraid to make a wrong move, I should say.

The last band was about to perform, but I don't think any of us really cared. I have yet to see Spencer's band, so maybe they've already played later in the day? What if I missed their performance? Why am I so worried about missing them?

The lights dimmed again, like they did four times before. Thank God it was the last band, I'm ready to crawl into my bed and never move again.

~

I couldn't believe my eyes more specifically my ears, as I sat listening to Spencer's band. Ice Nine Kills. They were amazing. I could tell the boys liked them as well, by the way they were nodding their heads to the music. Well, all of them except for Mike. He hasn't fully been here since earlier.

Soon enough we were on our way back home, stopping for McDonald's on the way back. It took an extra hour to get home, but I didn't care as much. I had A/C, a cheeseburger in one hand, and French fries in the other.

I was the first dropped off and nobody said a word. Great, I hope things go back to normal tomorrow, I'm not sure how much longer I can handle this. My parents knew what time I was going to be home, so I didn't bother with trying to sneak inside. Taking the stairs two at a time up to my room, I shut my door and sat down at my desk.

I was so exhausted from walking around all day in the heat. That I didn't even notice there was someone else in my room until it was too late. Their hands were already covering my mouth before I had any time to react.

What the fuck is happening? How did they get passed the security alarms? More specifically, what did they want with me?

"Don't scream." What the...Spencer?

"Or move, cause you know that's also important to say." Ricky?

"Shut the fuck up, Ricky." He paused. "Now, are you going to scream?" I shook my head no. He hesitated before slowly removing his hand. I was whipped around in the spinning chair and was being caged in by two arms before I could take a full breath. Spencer stared down at me, emotionless. I glanced behind him to see Ricky leaned against my closet door, he gave me a smile and a quick wave.

"Sorry about this, I don't really have much say when it comes to Spencer. He doesn't really like to listen." Ricky said making me squeeze me eyes shut, allowing the tears that were stuck to fall.

"What do you want?" I mumbled keeping my eyes shut.

"Open your eyes Alilaleigh. I'm not going to hurt you, trust me that's the last thing I want to do." Spencer was so close; I could feel his breath on my face. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see him still in the same stance he was before. Trapping me between him and the desk. Once his eyes scanned my face one last time, he moved. Pushing himself off the desk, satisfied with whatever he saw. He stepped backwards a couple steps.

"If you want money, you can have it." I said watching as he strolled around the room picking up picture frames and little trinkets inspecting them.

"I don't want your money." He glanced at me as he sat a picture frame down. "I want you."

"What?" I breathed, my eyes going wide. Did I hear him correctly?

"You see, you're the only reason I'm in this shitty town right now. Ricky here." He paused motioning towards Ricky. "Thought you were a perfect match for me. After my wife and partner was murder by an ignorant cop. I was on the hunt for a replacement." Spencer picked up the picture of Mike and I that I had stuck in my mirror. "Of course, the morons at the San Antonio police department, finally caught on to what we were doing." I gasped as he ripped the picture in half and turned towards me. "It's your lucky day, well night actually."

"Spence don't go too hard on her." Ricky said moving towards me. "If you scare her, she's never going to agree."

"Go wait in the car." Spencer snapped. "I got this." I heard Ricky mumbling to himself before he walked out of my room.