RED DRAGON

Killed In The Long Run

Abigail

"You don't have any idea who it might be?" Olly asks me as he studies the text thread I received. The night feels never-ending even with the sun starting to peak through the blinds and windows- helping me realize how hectic this night has been. I pace back and fourth down the living room as I pick at the skin around my nails, drawing blood on almost every finger. Olly notices my nervous pacing and walks over to me, grabbing my arm and gives it a light squeeze. "Abbey, sit down. You're going to have a panic attack if you keep pacing like this," he suggests and I listen.

Thoughts race through my head as I try to come out through ever possible outcome of what the texts can mean, and they all lead to someone wanting to hurt me- just like daddy said. I continue to pick at the skin around my nails, and Olly notices again. He places his hand on the top of my thigh and swipes his thumb back and fourth trying to help soothe me. "You okay?"

I shake my head, shooting up from the couch and snap at him,"Someone wants to hurt me, Oliver- of course I'm not okay!"

He looks up at me before shutting his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, "You're right. You're right, that was a dumb question. Look-" he says and sits me down on the couch again before continuing. "Ethan's gonna grab you a new phone, we can't ask any chances with this one."

"With who's money?" Ethan interjects, and Miles chuckles silently to himself from across the room.

Oliver exhales deeply after hearing Ethan's comment before locking his eyes with mine. "What phone do you want?" He asks.

A small piece of me thinks he's joking when asking that question but I also don't want to ruin any chances of me getting the phone I desire- so I answer, "The thirteen."

He cocks his head to the side, "iPhone?" I nod, confirming his question.

Olly nods his head, licks his thumb and counts the bills softly to himself before handing over enough money for the phone and Ethan takes it from his hands. "Get her the fucking phone."

Ethan shoots his hand up to his forehead, saluting him. "Yes, sir!" And starts to walk towards the door with Miles following behind.

"I want the pink one,"  I whisper to Olly and he snaps his fingers at Ethan, immediately catching his attention. "Get her the pink one," he orders and Ethan smirks before shutting the door behind him.

"You really have no shame when someone offers to buy you something," he inquires.

"So what am I allowed to do on the new phone?" I ask, ready for his set of rules.

"You can only give your number to Zara, Miles, Ethan, your father, and me. You can only have Netflix to keep yourself entertained and no social media under any circumstances."

"Wait, can I least have instagram?" I try to compromise and he shakes his head, "Oliver, please? I promise I'll keep my account private and I'll remove anyone I don't know from following me."

"If you do that you'd only have Zara, Miles, Ethan, and me following you. You really don't have any friends, and we don't need to be updated on your life every second when we're with you everyday."

"Hey! That was uncalled for," I whine and he shoots his hands up in defensive.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying, there's really no point on having an instagram."

"It's just to keep me sane, I promise I'll keep it private!" I compromise again and he looks at me lazily.

He sighs deeply as he pinches the bridge if his nose before responding, "You can have instagram on your phone, but! You need to make a new account and abandon the old one- and you can only add extremely close friends and keep your page private. I don't want this person finding you on anything."