The Beast Across The Lake

Chapter 20

                                    

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Isabella

It had begun to slightly trickle, as my luck would have it, the night was also accompanied by winds that seemed to grow stronger and louder by the minute. I had no idea where I was or where I was headed. My head was pounding and my vision was blurry. I was more drunk than I had ever been in my entire life. To my left, I used the moist brick wall of the alleyway to balance myself so I would not fall.

He's been cheating on me for months. My own best friend...

The puzzle was fitting quite nicely, during the summer I had been too occupied working over fifty hours a week to pay the bills on time. I had hardly any time for Kyla nor Holden.
He told me he was at this cottage for most of it though. He was lying.

I remembered the time I had lied to Holden and told him that it was Kyla that drove me to work when it had been Caleb that fixed my car. Holden had caught me in a lie but never mentioned it.
Now I know why, he didn't want to bring it up because he didn't want to admit that Kyla was with him. Of course she'd told me that she was, but she mentioned it was for the art project. Come to think of it, they don't seem to have gotten very far in the project.
They were busy doing other things this whole time.
Holden had been so mad at me this past month, for merely being partners with Caleb which was completely out of my control. Yet behind my back, my boyfriend and best friend had no trouble sleeping at night after betraying me over and over again.

He needed time. That's what Holden had said when he found out that Caleb kissed me.
What's a kiss compared to everything that they've done to me?
I felt my chest tighten and uncontrolled shrieks that transformed into sobs were coming out of my mouth from deep within my chest. I rested my back against the wall and slid down so that I was seated on the wet gravel. I cried into my own knees and the skies sobbed with me. It rained harder and harder until the sounds of my crying were deafened by the thundering rainfall. I was soaked minutes later but I couldn't look up from my knees. I felt pain and betrayal like I had never before.
How could I possibly continue to live as if all is okay?
The two people I loved most had struck me with the sharpest dagger.
I had no father to run to, my mother on top of all of this was constantly on the verge of a meltdown.
I thought of Caleb, and suddenly pictured his none stop punches at Holden's face on the football field.
I wish he hadn't stopped, I thought.

Eventually, I pulled myself back up and stumbled down further into the endless alleyway. I had hoped that it would lead to some sort of clearing where I could maybe find a way to get back home. I tripped over something that sounded like a can and fell into a puddle. I could feel a sliver of pain from my knees where the stone had scraped the skin off enough to make it bleed.

If I was sober, this would hurt a lot more.

I struggled to stand up, using the walls again to balance myself. I took my phone out from my purse but it was dead.
I turned to go back the way that I had entered as a slight uneasy feeling began to drape over me. I was amongst the pitch black now, not even the light from the moon bid much clarity. I could see the shadow of figures ahead and felt my stomach drop in panic. I could hear their footsteps now as they drew nearner. I had nowhere to hide, I just hoped that they were decent strangers.
I kept strutting forward as if their presence did not faze me, they were just meters away now, three men in their mid twenties, bearded and dressed in sleeveless shirts that displayed fully tattooed arms. Under one of the only existing lamps, I could make sight of the design. It looked like Caleb's tattoos.