CAMRYN'S POV
I sit on the floor in my room, pleasantly listening to music while doodling random stuff like flowers or buildings. A knock on my door was heard but I ignored it knowing it was most likely Ben having one of his "Dad talks". " Camryn, I need to talk to you" Ben says from the other side of the door.
I look up from my sketchbook before turning off my music. I stood up and take a step towards the door but instead made an excuse to not fight with him. " I don't feel well." I yelled trying to make him leave.
" Can I come in" He ignores me as I groan. I walked over to the door and opened it. Now I was sadly face to face with Ben as I turned around. I sat back down on the floor as I kept drawing. " Is it about school?" I say in a boring tone.
" Yes. It's about school" He confirms walking near me. I sighed and walked and sat on my bed. I looked at him up and down before I responded. " If you want to give me the parent drill, cause it's gonna make you feel better huh?" I say
" Why would it make me better?" He asks sitting at the end of my bed. " Because I know it's really important to you to be a good father" I shrugged. " only if i've been a good father. And i've been a lousy father lately. I owe you an apology." He says looking at me.
" Is this some type of headshrinker trick to make me feel sorry for you?" I laughed not believing a word he says. " I can't imagine what this year has been like for you. Moving and starting a new school, and all the craziness that happened to us here. Hey, remember last year when you announced you were going to Harvard?" He smiles.
" I only said that to make you happy" I muttered. " I knew that. I also knew that you were smart, and you can go anywhere you want for college" He says as he gets up and comes closer to me. He placed a hand on my knee as I tensed up. " Come on, camryn. What are you doing? This isn't like you" Ben tells me.
The tears rose back to my face as I tried not to let them fall. I can't let him see my cry I can't. " I can't go back " I stated. " Okay. Okay, honey, okay. We'll find you a new school" I roll my eyes. " No, they're all the same" I yell out of frustration.
" Honey, you have to meet me halfway. We'll find you a new school, but you have to start going tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll end up in juvenile court. Deal?" He sighs. I looked up at him and let out a shaky breath. " Deal" I nod.
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I fix my long black sweatshirt while standing in front of my mirror. I fix my hair and my outfit a few times making sure I look somewhat decent. I let out a sigh before walking out of my room. I head down the stairs as my boots hit the stairs roughly.
With my messenger in hand I head for the door until a hand covers my mouth. They pulled me backwards so I couldn't see their face. I started punching and kicking but the dude was way stronger than I was. They force me against a wall keeping their hand over my mouth.
I looked up and saw that my so called kidnapper was tate. I kicked and squirmed against him as he came closer to me. " Shh, Shh, Shh! Just listen to me, Listen" he whispers. I calmed down as I looked at him. I gave him an " Explain now" look as he smiles.
" Don't be mad. I love you. Spend the day with me? We can play Scrabble, if you want. I'll even let you win." He explains. He slowly takes his hand off my mouth as I look at him catching my breath. " I can't. I promised Ben" I told him as his smile fades.
"So, go tomorrow. It's not like they're gonna miss you for one more day" he tells me. He kisses me softly as I sigh. He pulls away but stays close to my face. " Come on, camryn please" He begs. I groan as I lean my head on the wall.
" Fine. Just this once okay" I muttered. He smiled like a kid in a candy store as he grabbed my hand.
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I sit across from Tate's once filled now empty chair. I had a chess piece in hand waiting for him to return for us to continue playing. Just my luck, he climbs up the ladder joining me in the gloomy attic. " Where have you been? I just took your rook. Checkmate in 13 moves" I smiled.
He stands up fully in the attic as his shoulders drop and stare at the floor. My smile fades as I tilt my head. " What's wrong Tate?" I ask him. " He wants to separate us. He's gonna send you away" He explains looking at me.
" What are you talking about" I questioned as I placed the chess piece down. " I just heard him talking on the phone with a boarding school. Asking about financial packages" I scoffed as I looked at the ground. I knew this would happen. What was I thinking! Of course once mom leaves I'm next.
" Makes sense. He sent mom away. I don't know why I thought I was safe. I just assumed I was one of his little girls. What a fantasy. God i'm so stupid and naive sometimes. Of course he's gonna send me away too. Then he can have a perfect life with Violet" I say my voice cracking a bit.
He walks over and squats down beside me, looking into my eyes. " there's nothing stupid about you. And I won't let him send you away" He tells me. Both of us were crying at this point. I mean we were almost separated before and it didn't end well. Who knows what will happen now.
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Tate climbs back into the attic after he went to confront ben. " What did you do to him?" I ask knowing he probably scared the shit out of him. " I just convinced him to leave us alone for an hour or so," He sighs walking behind me. " Tate, what did you do to him" I ask again yet this time I was more annoyed than nervous.
" I didn't do anything bad! Just scared him a little. He'll be fine. But we're running out of time" He yells standing in front of me. " You're being very weird. Time for what?" I ask a bit on edge. " I figured out a way to keep them from sending you away" He says.
" You mean, like run away?" I ask furrowing my brows. " Kind of. Yeah. I love you, Camryn, and I want you to be happy and free. If we take these, we can stay here. We can play with Beauregard. We can play games, watch videos. We can be together forever. " He explains raising up a bag of pills.
" You want us to commit suicide?" I gasped. " yeah. And I don't think there's enough in here to really, you know... so I think if we use these..." He nods pulling out a box of razor blades. " where did you get those pills? " I ask calmly trying my best not to explode in that very moment.
" Your dad has a lot of samples" He shrugs. " Did you hurt ben Tate" I ask. " No, I told you! I just knocked him out so I could buy us some time. Listen to me Camryn. We can't get all chickenshit about this. We're running out of options!" he yells.
I flinched at his outburst as I looked down trying not to get scared when he screamed. I think about the topic at hand as nodded. " Yeah. Okay, I get it. It's the only way we can be together" I concluded. He grabs my face and kisses me roughly before pulling back and looking at me.
" Like Romeo and Juliet. I know how to do it so it won't hurt " he explains. " Can we do it in the bathtub" I whisper quietly. " Why?" He asked me. " 'Cause it's warm and nice. And I can light some candles I guess" I mutter.
He huffs as he looks away from me, thinking about my suggestion. " Okay. But we have to go now" He says finally. " I'll...I'll go run a bath" I nod before walking towards the ladder. I need to get out of here fast.
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1510 words
