With Me | Chris Sturniolo

21

All night and all morning I felt like I was floating on cloud nine. Chris had ways of making me feel excited and nervous all at once. He won four thousand dollars for me. Still high off it, I walk through the house after saying goodbye to Callie.

"Sabrina" my mother called from the kitchen, not sounding too happy.

I stopped and rolled my eyes at her tone.

"Come in here"

I sighed and walked into the kitchen where she was standing with her arms crossed, and a stern look on her face.

"You got in late. Where were you all night?"

"Out"

She let out a breath, clearly frustrated. "What time did you get home?"

"Not sure"

"Why are you being difficult? You need to be more responsible" she lectured.

I clenched my hand into a fist. "This is the first time you've been home in so long" I snapped at her, tired of her act. "You spend more time at work than with me. You normally don't know if I'm home or not, you just happen to be home today. So spare me the act"

"This isn't about me being concerned about where you are. We can't have you slipping up! I may not be around a lot, but I notice. Things like you kissing that guy-"

"You spied on me?!" I can't believe her!

"I'm your Mom, it's not spying if you're my child- especially when you have a lot at stake. Don't think I haven't noticed your car isn't here. Where is it? And did you sleep here Thursday night?"

I stared at her. I slept at Callie's house, but she wasn't here, so I didn't think she'd notice.

She continued. "I met someone, and I don't want to have to move again. You know that Martin's looking for you, and here you are going around doing whatever you want, whenever you want!"

"Well, that's hypocritical! You can have a boyfriend, but I can't?"

"No you can't! What do you even know about him? He's not the one you can trust with your life, Sabrina. I am. You shouldn't be getting close to people"

"But, you-"

"Who's the adult here? I can do whatever I want because I know what we need"

My world was shattering. "Maybe you should move in with your new boyfriend and forget about me! Out of sight, out of mind, right?"

She took a deep breath. "I called Agent Blake"

The guy assigned to my case. The one who handles our questions, identities and moves.

"And?"

"I told him I want to be relocated"

Everything froze. My heart stopped racing as the blood drained from my face.

"But- you can't do that!" They can't relocate us, not now. "You just said you had a boyfriend! You're willing to leave him?"

"Keeping us safe is more important. Plus, I can just take jobs on flights to see him"

She was detached from the whole conversation, like she wasn't just dropping a bomb on my life.

"Mom, I'll be careful. We don't have to leave"

"Agent Blake thinks it's for the best too. We need to keep you safe from Martin"

"They they should catch him instead of making us move!" I snapped her at

She sighed. "It's not that simple. We need to go before people get hurt, or worse. It's a matter of time before he shows up. We can be ahead of him this time. They say after New Year's-"

I can't deal with this anymore. Her or this conversation. Not letting her finish, I turn on my heel and walked away from her.

I slam my bedroom door closed like that would make me feel better, but her words ate at me. Is she right? Am I slipping up? Will I hurt my friends if I don't leave?

I have a big crush on Chris. He's starting to mean so much to me, more than anyone ever has. Even last night, I was thinking about the L word, and I never thought of saying it to a guy before. Chris deserves better than me.

Opening my closet door, I pull out the shoebox again and look through all the stories and articles, from my dad's accident to the little girl dying. I look at the death threats and evidence showing that Martin had always found a way to torment me. I looked at my fake ID's and my real one, and think about how I had to keep moving away from people I met in each place.

I keep it in a shoebox as a reminder. To remind me that Martin will never give up hunting me down. That I can't mess up or get close to other people because I'll have to leave them

I've never had friends mean as much to me as these ones do. They've been there for me, they support me and defend me. They make me laugh, in general, just happy. They shouldn't be open with someone who's done nothing but lie to them.

Is my Mom right? Is staying selfish? Should I do the responsible thing and leave before Martin finds me? I can leave my friends before I get too attached to them, more than I already am. The truth was clear on the newspaper articles. I can't stay here. But I can't leave either.