His Greatest Redemption [REUPLOADED]

58

Samantha

My eyes were rimmed with tears. "How did I forget you?" I asked through a broken whisper, my head spinning a mile a minute. I remembered. I had blocked so much of my fourteenth birthday out of my head as some sort of defense mechanism that I truly disregarded everything that had happened before my world collapsed.

I remembered the boy who sat beside me that night. His dark, cold green eyes that penetrated my skin from the moment he sat down. He had intimidated me, and not much scared me, not even then. I spoke to him. He spoke back. And moments after he left, cops swarmed the theater, and I had to go home early.

Past

I cursed under my breath as I walked further and further away from the cinema. My heart was racing in my chest, and and the sound of the police sirens lessened as my distance from the theater increased. All I could think about was that boy. Or man. Whatever he was. I could only see the top half of his face. Dark, thick lashes. Green eyes that reminded me of angry, stormy nights. Eyes that shook me to my core.

Eyes that made me feel like he was tearing me open to see what I was made of. Eyes that were looking through me.

He really was running from the police. And he ruined my birthday, that dumb idiot. All day today I'd been anticipating when nightfall would hit, just so that I could sneak out and run to the movie theater and wish myself a happy fucking birthday. I even bought myself a donut and blew out fake candles.

But my night didn't go as planned.

I couldn't stay there with the cops everywhere. I didn't know exactly what my papà did, but I knew it was bad and definitely not legal. He killed people. That was enough for me. And one day I feared I'd be next.

Terror crippled me at the thought of getting caught tonight.

I didn't want to die.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I carefully scanned the streets as I got closer to my prison. I fisted my hoodie and heart pounded painfully, causing my limbs to suddenly feel heavy and my eyes to sting. I blinked long and hard, choking back my fear once I approached the gate. Pushing it open, I winced as it groaned loudl.

Shit.

I moved through my grass and rounded the wide house until I was in the backyard, safe and sound.

I quickly climbed up the tree that stood tall outside my bedroom window, making sure to be as swift as possible. With perfectly thought out movements, I locked my legs around the tree branch I was straddling and leaned over, quietly shoving my window up and stepping onto the ledge, moving my curtain out of my way as my feet softly landed on the floor of my bedroom.

I drew in a sharp breath as I closed the window behind me, thanking god.

I went through the same motions every night. The fear. The adrenaline. The excitement.