Never Let You Go (Catching Feelings Sequel)

Paranoia, The Destroyer

Imani's POV:

After days of not knowing where the hell we were, I finally got excited when I saw a familiar city. There were big, tall buildings, large stores, and a big building that held many restaurants. We even drove on a cobble stone road at one point.

I smiled. We were in Center City. It would only take a couple of minutes for the bus to pull into the terminal. Earlier on, my mother had called me, asking where I was. I stuck to my plan and told her the flight was delayed. She actually believed me.

When we pulled into the terminal, I grabbed my stuff and headed out of the bus. A tepid breeze grazed my cheek. I didn't understand why it was so warm and humid at night. I felt as if my hair was gonna fall flat any second. I shook my head. I hadn't thought out all of my plan. I looked around frantically. I thought carefully, yet quickly. I decided I would take a SEPTA bus home.

I was scared as hell, mainly because I was in a big city and I didn't know anybody there. And, I was riding the bus home alone. Since it was night, someone could pounce on me at any second. I didn't what happened a few days before to happen again. But I had no choice.

I whipped out my phone and checked the website for any close stations. There was on blocks away. The next bus would arrive in an hour or so and it would take me straight home. I stomped my foot hard on the cement sidewalk impatiently like a little kid.

My stomach grumbled. I moaned. I hadn't had any good, solid food in days. I walked up the street to the Reading Terminal Market and grabbed something to-go from an Amish stand.

I cringed slightly when I passed Bassetts Ice Cream. Looking at people holding onto waffle cones reminded me of what happened before the... incident. We were so happy. He was so sweet. He was kinda like my hero when I was down and lonely. Then everything changed. He... I shook the thoughts away and walked out of Redding Terminal before it got too out of control.

I ate my food at the bus station almost cried. I missed the taste of Philly. Cali food was good, but not better than the stuff here. I was so glad to be back. I threw my leftovers away when the bus arrived. I still had enough money to pay for transportation. On my way home, I thought everything would be easy from now on. I have a SEPTA stop right outside my house.

Wait...

I can't get off there. My mom would suspect something. But I don't know if there's any other stops near my house. 'Imani, shut the fuck up,' I told myself. 'You're worrying too much. Just get off somewhere a few blocks away.' I let out a breath and relaxed in my seat. I was getting too stressed out and paranoid.

July 11th, 2012

Imani's POV:

Everything went according to plan. My mom hugged me so tight, I thought my insides would squeeze out. She questioned me a lot. I breezed through them easily. My face was chill, but my heart was screaming. When my mother was done interrogating me, I went upstairs to my room. I gave myself a pat on the back.

That moment, I felt like I needed to win an Academy Award. For the past few days, I had been acting like everything was good and Gucci, when everything was really shit. It was hard. There were times when I felt I was going to break from all of the pressure to lie and remembering my lies. But I'm glad I stuck through.

No one hit my jack up at all. None of my friends decided to see how I was doing. The person I was hoping to get at least a text from was Jaden. But, nothing.

Today, I was getting ready to leave for Punta Cana. Me and my sister pulled an all-nighter because we would have to wake up early this morning at around 4 AM. After we took our showers, we went downstairs and drank a 5 Hour Energy she bought at a store. We never tried before, so after our first swig, we found it disgusting. She threw it out.