Jade Awakening

Beggin' on Your Knees

I watch him walk away for only a moment before I turn to walk toward my own home. I felt a longing for this evening to never end. Hanging out with Cat, Robbie, Andre, and Beck was the most fun I had experienced all year, the movie Beck and I watched is now easily my favorite movie of all time, and even just strolling with him afterwards was perfectly delightful. I yearned to walk for another hour to just talk with him and get to know each other.

Once I let the reality that the conclusion of the night was drawing near set in, I pivoted on my heel and started on my way home. The sky was pitch black, but the street lights gave everything an orange hue for a few blocks. There were still a fair amount of people walking around the streets – possibly on their way to nightclubs or bars. Although, as I trekked on, the number of strangers on the street dwindled and the street lights became scarce.

With the street and sidewalk becoming more vacant and dark, my nerves began to set in. I suddenly felt like I should walk faster and keep my eyes and ears alert. I held my arms close to my body and made haste. I began second guessing my decision to walk by myself rather than having Beck escort me home.

My house would barely be a five minute walk from where I was, so I reasoned that the likelihood of someone mugging or murdering me before I reached home would be slim. I let that be enough to walk without worry. Several feet ahead of me, though, I did see two people walking in the opposite direction that I was. I avoided eye contact with them and hoped that they were just casual pedestrians who would also keep to themselves.

As the space between us was closing, I noticed that they were boys about my age. They certainly sounded like obnoxious teenagers looking for trouble on a Friday evening. I heard the shorter, rounder one tell the taller, skinnier one that they should throw toilet paper on people's houses. To which the taller, skinnier one said that they should spray paint their lawns instead. I couldn't comprehend why anyone would want to do such things when they could get in trouble – although I suppose the thrill of trying not to be caught was part of the fun.

Just as we were about to pass each other, the shorter, rounder one stopped in his tracks and said to his friend, "Hey, looky what we have here."

"Guess it's our lucky day!"

I hazarded a look, hoping they weren't referring to me. But the two of them were all grins looking at me, and not the friendly kind. I quickly averted my eyes and kept walking forward, hoping they would go on their way as well.

"Hey, Jade, where ya going!"

How does he know my name?

"Don't go, give us some company will ya?" The other one said as I felt one of his hands grip tightly on my elbow. He pulled me back with more force than what I could counter with so I nearly fell backward.

"Let go of me!" I demanded.

I tried wringing myself free of the taller one's grasp, but he had a firm hold that was unrelenting. I was suddenly aware just how isolated I was – no other people were in sight and even if there were, there weren't enough lights to allow them to see that I was being held against my will. I kept telling them to let me go, but they seemed to be determined to have me for themselves.

"Shh shh shh," the shorter one coddled, "We'll let you go alright. But first, how about a little treat?"

Bile stirred in my belly and panic set in. The last time I was offered a "treat" was with Ryder and that turned out to be a snack I wished to have skipped. I wondered why me? Of all the places and times, why did I have to be right here right now with these boys? And how do they know my name?

I noticed, then, that on the jacket of the taller boy were the letters "HA," for Hollywood Arts. It dawned on me then that they must have recognized me from Ryder's tweet on The Slap that once had a compromising image of me.