Stranger to Me

~Twenty-Nine~

Holden's P.O.V.

I had blown it. But to be honest, I'm not sure what I did.

"Wait!" I called after her. She turned around, but only briefly. Just long enough for me to ask her: "Was it something I said?"

She shook her head violently and continued running away. I couldn't just stand there. I wasn't the town's fastest 100m runner for nothing. My feet picked up and I was beside her in seconds. Thankfully, she stopped long enough to look at me with her beautiful dark eyes. Her hair was strewn over her face, and there were tears staining it too, but that just enhanced her appearance in my opinion. She wasn't like those fake girls at school who spent hours on their make-up and hair.

"I'm sorry,"I breathed. "What did I do?"

"You're lying!" she blurted out. I was taken aback, but before I could say anything, she plopped down on the nearest lawn, dissolving into sobs.

Immediately, I sat down next to her and cautiously put my arm around her. When she didn't pull away, I picked up my other hand and gently pushed the hair out of her face.

"I'm absolutely not lying," I assured her.

"How do I know that?" she accused, her eyes aflame. "You think I haven't dealt with enough heartbreak?!"

"No, liste-"

"When I was 9, my mother was murdered. She had a co-worker who tried to get with her, but she harshly rejected him. He intended to enact revenge. I came home from school one day to find her lying in the kitchen soaked in blood."

My mouth kind of just hung open. But she wasn't done.

"Two months ago, my dad moved us here - to a basement house with pretty much nothing there. He moved us there, then left on a business trip the very next day. I haven't seen him since."

I just wanted to give her a hug right then and there, but she didn't let me. She turned and ran. And this time, I didn't follow her.