Pink lemonade

Chapter 9

Cassie POV

I ran.

I didn’t know where I was going. At this point I didn’t really care.

All I knew was that I needed to be somewhere by myself. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere isolated from everything else.

I heard the padding of my footsteps echo through the hallways as I blindly turned corner after corner. I needed to get away as far as I could.

Making sure that no one was behind me, I finally stumbled into an empty classroom.

I found myself gasping for breath, the atmosphere suffocating me. I needed to think of other things, anything but this.

I shut my eyes taking in gulps of air. No, I couldn’t stop it.  It was all coming back to me.

Images of the pale white walls. The eye’s that seemed so peacefully asleep, the knowledge of knowing that everything around it were anything but peaceful. The flashing lights. The eyes filled with disgust. The isolation. The hatred fuelled by lies.

By now I was grasping on the edge of a desk supporting my body from crumbling from the memories. I felt faint. Hopeless. Defeated. As the memories curled around like smoke, making shapes I didn’t want to recognise. Pushing me further and further into the darkness.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder as it swiftly turned me around while supporting my weak body. My eyes slowly glanced up, widening to see Brandon looking worriedly back at me.

“Cas, are you alright?” His tone was laced with confusion as he continued to support my now limp body.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to. The answer was obvious.

But I nodded anyway.

“I’m sorry. Alexa is impulsive and does things purposely to hurt people. Please don’t take it too deeply. That’s what she is wanting from it, and you’re giving it to her.”

Deep down I knew that. I knew that Alexa only did this to rile me up and purposely show me up in front of the whole school. To her, this was all but revenge.

But to me, this action reminded me of something more. Something that had scarred me and caused me to suffer for almost two years of my life.

He could tell that there was something more to my reaction as he frowned.

There was a moment of hesitation before he continued, “Cas, I need to know what’s going on. I want to help you.” His eyes stared into mine, as if trying to pry into my thoughts and make sense of everything that was me.

“There’s nothing you can do, Brandon.” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

Brandon frowned, “You’re not being yourself Cas. Are you sick?”

Yes, I’m sick. I thought to myself. Sick of these memories. Sick of the way people act around me. But most importantly, sick of myself and how these things get to me more than it should.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll be back to normal in no time.” I replied giving him a some what reasuring smile that I hoped seemed genuine enough.

He didn’t buy it. “Cas, tell me what’s wrong. I can help you.” He said as he rested both of his hands on my shoulders forcing me to look at him.

I pushed him away, turning my head to the side. “No you can’t. You see Brandon, people have tried so hard to fix me but the results are always the same. There’s no way you can help with what I have been through for the past two years, because you’ll never understand.”