The Girl Next Door

6

Song of the Chapter: Everybody Talks by Neon Trees

*Amanda*

Honestly, moving here felt like the right thing to do. Being closer to them helps, it gets my mind off of the fear building inside of me.

 At times I can't even breathe, I am suffocated by the haunting memories that fill my mind. Whether awake or asleep, I still see him. His eyes are tainted and no longer pure, his smile turns demonic, and his voice wraps around me like knives. I still feel a ghost of a touch slowly tracing across my face and down my throat. I feel stained and fragmented. I like to humor the thought of what-ifs, ya know. what if I wasn't known as 'Amanda Faye, the broken' or 'Amanda Faye, such a shame what happened to her.' Instead, I'd be normal and marry the boy who won me over with his dazzling smile and take your breath way looks. I'd just be another teenage girl in high school with a care-free attitude.

Thinking of all this makes me what to scream, in my what-if scenarios why do I picture him there. He should be locked up or hunted down, yet I saw him as my 'til death do us' partner in these made-up tales of fiction. There is no going back no matter how much I wish I'd wake up back in my old room with my old life.

The day has just gone by so fast, I am excited to hang out with Liam and Louis. I want to make up the time we lost and fill it with new memories.  My thoughts are wiped away with the sound of the 7th-period bell. It's time to paint!

I walk down the halls desperately trying to find my class trying to make sure I'm not late. Thoughts are flickering back and forth as I finally find my class and take a random seat.

"Hello everyone! Today I want to go draw anything you want. I want you to show me your true emotions! Don't be discouraged!" Miss. Anderson smiled as she went on about how art is beautiful. I stopped listening to her when someone sat next to me.

"Hey, I guess we are alone in this class," Harry smirked

"Oh yippee!" I honestly could care less, whatever facade he puts on isn't working for me. I don't want another boy to trick me ever again. I am not the same foolish naive little girl I was before.

"Are you being sarcastic?" He laughs as he starts to paint.

"Oh, you caught that?" I started to draw too.  He's just like the rest of the boys, hormone-driven. If he doesn't get what he wants he's going to revolt. 

I face my canvas and my thoughts swell back up as if there is no escape from them. Feelings start to arise as I simply focus on my work. A cycle of never-ending torment beings again as I vison a girl cut off from reality.

Before I realize it, the first part of my sketch was drawn out.

"Wow, you seriously seem to have some talent!" Miss. Anderson admired my drawing. She stands there in thought as if the painting is telling her every dark secret I have. I close my eyes and breath through the feelings of sorrow and pain.

"Amanda this looks amazing," Harry praised my drawing too. I glare at him for a quick second. Why is he still talking to me? I rather he just leave me alone. 

"Thanks," I didn't know how to respond.

"Can we put this into our art show? It would be a lovely addition!" She asked and I simply nodded. I just stared at the artwork thinking that this was what I felt; trapped and fucked up. He had me trapped in a cage and the only thing that kept me sane was the good memories of Louis, Liam, and my parents that I held on to.

"You look at the world with such sad eyes" Harry snapped me out of my thoughts, "I'd love to take you out sometime and make you forget about the sad things." He smiles.

"No thanks, I rather not." I started to walk away when Harry spoke up again. 

"I won't give up."

I frown, "Are you sure you want such an arrant broken girl like me?"

He doesn't know me, but then again would he want to know a girl who is just an empty shell of a girl?