Jade Awakening

Haunting

I wasn't sure whether I should feel angry, scared, or sick. I should have known that my streak of uninterrupted joy would soon come to an end, but I wished that it hadn't made a complete one-eighty.

"Beat it, Ryder."

"And miss the chance to dance with you? Nah, I wouldn't dream of it," he said as he trailed his hands from the sides of my hips to my lower back.

Bile churned uneasily in my stomach. The fact that I couldn't see his face behind the wolf mask was even more off-putting. I imagined that if someone else were right where Ryder was standing, I would have already had my scissors in hand, threatening to castrate them if they don't go away in the next two seconds. But for some reason, with him, I felt frozen in my place.

"Besides," he whispered close to my ear. "How could I resist you when you're wearing an outfit like this? You're practically begging for my special attention."

"Like hell I am," I spat back before finding the volition to stomp hard on his toes.

When I went to walk far away, he grabbed onto my elbow and yanked me back. "Uh-uh-uh," he taunted. "I heard about what you did to Drew and Tommy the other night. Not cool to hurt my boys, sweetheart. Now, if you just give me a little dance, maybe I'll be nice and forgive you for embarrassing me with my friends; maybe we can even have a little fun like we had a couple months ago. But if you think you can walk away from me, you have another thing coming."

"You seem kinda obsessed with me, dude. Why not chase some girl in your own grade?"

I put on a brave face and pretended to be stronger than I was. One way or another, I was determined to get as far away from him as possible, but I had to figure out how without getting hurt in the process.

"Oh, trust me, I can get any girl I want. And I can get any girl to do what I want."

"Try again."

With little hesitation, I kneed him in his most cherished possession and tried to make a run for it once again. He buckled over in pain and let out a noise that made his wolf costume even more convincing. I wasted no time to return to where I had been with Beck and Robbie. I got about halfway there before a strong hand was back on my arm. Why could he not just leave me alone? His hands were on me so tight this time that I could hardly dream of wriggling free. I thought his fingers digging into my skin may leave bruises.

"Get off of me! Stop- STOP!"

"Stop causing a scene," he said sternly. "We're going to go on a little walk, and you're going to learn a lesson."

By my arm, he dragged me to follow behind him. No matter how hard I tried yanking myself back from him, I wasn't strong enough. His own arms were practically made of solid muscle. I had no idea where he intended to take me or what he intended to do, but in my mind I could only imagine the worst.

"Let go of me! Stop him!" I screamed as we passed by others, but Ryder would undermine everything I said with: "Don't worry, we're just rehearsing a scene!" or "Don't listen to her, she's crazy."

He managed to trick anyone who might have been concerned for me to not pay any mind – that all was well. Panic set in deeper and deeper as he pulled me entirely out of sight from the rest of the people attending the Boo Bash. He took me to a student parking lot and pinned me against a black Honda Civic.

"Let me go, you psycho! Get your filthy hands off of me!"

I was screaming the same thing over and over again, desperately hoping someone would take my screams seriously.