Mind Games

Chapter 7: Annabella

It's been five weeks since the break in. It's been five weeks without her brother went missing. It's been five weeks since her step-mother started to hit her. Never had Amanda ever laid a hand on her before. She may have been a drunk for as long as she has known her, but she would never go as far as to get abusive, until now.

Everyone at school pitied her. She hated it. Annabella didn't want the pity, she didn't want to be looked at differently, she didn't want special treatment, she just wanted Jonas back. It was killing her. Every night was the same fight with Amanda on repeat. She lied down on her bed after school one day thinking about how the fights started when she came home from the hospital and how much they have escalated since then.

They had just gotten back to the apartment after spending another night at the hospital. Neither one of them said a word to each other since they got in the car and started to drive. Amanda played the part of a concerned and loving step-mother, mainly just to get out of there faster, but somehow found the time to flirt with Dr. Shepherd.

Not even a minute after their arrival, Annnabella feels a strong force push her forward causing her to fall to the ground almost hitting the edge of the table. She falls on the hard wooden floor with a loud thud looking back to see giving her a death glare.

"Your fault!" she screamed. "This is all your fault, you little bitch!"

"How the hell is this my fault? What did I do?" she screamed back.

"You are the reason he ran away! It's because you're a stupid little bitch that he couldn't wait any longer to get away from you! Well I hope you're happy that he's gone, cause now you have to deal with his mothers wrath!"

"Hey!" Annabella yelled getting herself back up and in Amanda's face. "First of all, he was taken! He wouldn't run away! He wouldn't leave me behind! Second, I am not a stupid little bitch! I have done nothing but try to be nice to you for my fathers and Jonas' sake! And third, if there was the chance that Jonas did run away, it wouldn't be because of me, it would be because he would be ashamed to call a drunken loser like yourself his mother!" Her brave comment received a hard slap across the face having her almost fall back on the floor. 

"I am not a drunken loser! If I was really a drunken loser, then you wouldn't have food in the fridge, or clothes in your closet, or a place to come back to everyday! I may be no mother of the year, but I do care for Jonas and I tried to care for you, but you didn't give me a chance! Don't you dare say you tried to be nice to me, you never even made an effort! So you have no right to call me that!" Slivers of tears started to fall down her face and she never moved her body position. "Now get out of my sight, now!" Annabella didn't move, nor looked up at that woman. She didn't know if her not moving was either her trying to be brave and stand her ground, or if she was too scared to move. "Now! Get out of my sight NOW!" She decided not to test her anymore and stormed to her slamming the door.

She slid against the door letting the tears run down her face. She whimpered softly to herself thinking that even though she didn't want to admit it, Amanda was right. She never liked her and never really tired to get to know her. Maybe she was making more of an effort to be a decant mother than Annabella was giving her credit for. Maybe somewhere deep down, she really did care. 

Just outside her room, she thought she could hear something. Nothing truly alarming like someone breaking in again, something for along the lines of... crying. She pressed her head against the door trying to hear it better. It was definitely someone crying. But there was no one here except her and Amanda. Then what she just thought to herself caught her own attention. Amanda was crying. She must have been more torn up about this than she thought.

Wanting to go out there and comfort her, she thought best to stay away from her for now, let her cool down before showing her face again.

"Why did I do that?" she thought to herself. Not caring anymore, she just went to bed, and cried herself to sleep until the next morning.

"Annabella." A voice called, softly shaking her. "Annabella." She jolted awake. Looking up to see her best friend, , looking at her. 

She gave a small smile when she saw him. He lived just above her. He never had to get permission to come in. If they wanted to hang out, they would just climb up or down the fire escape and climb through the window and just chill until someone notice that they were there. 

"Hey." he said quietly also giving her a small smile.

"Hey."

"I wanted to see what you were up to and saw you asleep. Not to sound creepy or anything, but I waited a little over an hour for you to wake up and when you didn't I took the liberty to wake up myself. Sorry."

​ "Don't be. I needed to get up anyway." she chuckled. He did the same.

They sat there quietly for a little until Max said something. "What were you dreaming so hard about? I thought if I didn't wake you up then you would have started to cry." She didn't say anything. He sigh. "Please tell my what you were thinking about." He pleaded. He saw her hand resting on the bed and decided to gently place his on top of hers.

She sighed, looking up trying not to cry. "Maybe I've been to mean to Amanda. What if she really did try to be nice to me and care for me, and I didn't even give her the time of day." Annabella had no problem admitting she was wrong when she was wrong, but this was hard because she didn't know the right answer.

"Annabella, you didn't do anything wrong. You tried to like her and she wouldn't like you back. Please don't blame yourself for something she couldn't do."

"But I still could have tried harder. I just want to make things right and I want my brother back." She cried. She was in full tears now and had no intention of stopping.

Max pulled her in to a bear hug and held her close and tight. She didn't want him to let go. She wanted to stay like this for a little while longer.

"Please don't cry, you have nothing to cry over. You'll see Jonas soon, I promise."

"You think so?"

"I just promised, so I know so."

"Please don't make a promise you can't keep."

"But those are the best kind." They both started to laugh at the cheesy line from "The Amazing Spider man". 

Max left later that night and Annabella fell asleep shortly after that. She didn't have a real dream. Everything was dark, she saw nothing but heard so many voices. She couldn't figure out who the voices were, but they seemed to know who she was. Everything they were saying sounded like it was directed at her.

"Welcome."

"This is my game..."

"Run!"

"It's very nice to meet you."

"I'm sorry for this."

"I want you..."

"You will fall in love with me."

"I know how special you are..."

She woke up, she didn't want to listen anymore. It scared her. Did that mean something, or was it just another stupid dream? She brought her knees to her chest and buried her head in her knees. Some of the things that were said were sweet, while others seemed threatening. Why couldn't something good happen to me yet? she thought to herself. Why can't all of this, whatever it was, end already?

She lied back down to try and go to sleep again, considering it was still the middle of the night. Right before she went back to sleep, she heard one final voice. It was more threatening than all the other things said. This was the reason she ended up not going back to sleep at night.

"I'm coming for you..."