Letters From A Ninja

Chapter 3

I walked back to my house, the boy I saw at the train tracks still running through my head. When I got there, I saw that my dad had locked both doors and my window was too high up to climb into. I reached for my phone, but it turned out to be dead. What a great day, I thought to myself. It appeared that I had no choice but to walk to Archer's house.

Yes, because that's just the thing I'd wanted to do all day. In order to get to Archer's, I had to walk through the worst part of town there was. I'd end up walking a mile, without a phone, just to be walked on by my boyfriend when I got there.

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Getting to his house took about twenty minutes, mainly because I'd speed walked a lot of it. The humidity was pressing heavily down on me. All that was on my mind was a cold drink of water. Assuming that he would at least provide me with that, I walked into his room. That's when I realized that despite my assumptions, the day could get worse.

Yes, Archer was there in his room. And so was Mallory, the aforementioned girl that every guy talked about. Before I stormed out, I made sure that he saw the disgusted glare I shot towards both of them. Tears of frustration ran down my face for what seemed like the hundredth time today. I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and knocked everything off of a shelf next to his front door. "I hate you," I screamed as I walked out the door.

No matter what my dad said or thought, I was not looking back.

I guess the reason for my putting up with Archer's shit all along had been that even though he did all these terrible things, he at least seemed to care about me. Now I saw completely otherwise, and I knew I had to get out.

Considering I was locked out of my house, and the one person who would possibly let me stay was laid up in bed with some other girl, I had no idea where I was going to go.

The only thing my mind went to was the tracks. So I ran all the way there, running all the things I should've said and done to Archer through my head. My biggest regret of this dreadful day was probably walking out and letting him have no consequences for what he was doing to me. But for all I knew, that could change within seconds, because everything kept getting worse.

Finally arriving at the tracks, I honestly didn't have a clue what to do. There was nowhere for me to sleep, and no one around. Something that always took my mind off of the bad things that happened was dancing. I'd never been on a team or anything, and no one knew that I danced. I didn't have any music, or any audience. What I did have at the moment was rage, and confusion. So I let all of that out. It wasn't that I could explain. I didn't know how you could put anger into motion through dancing, but I did.

But for once, that didn't take my emotions away. I tried to fight back my thoughts and tears, but every time I jumped and spun, no matter what I did, it all seemed to fall on my chest. I couldn't find it in me to continue, and finally when I admitted to myself that there was no way out of the situation I was in, I broke down.

I'd cried numerous times today, but only briefly. This time, it was the type of crying that brought you to your knees, and I felt utterly hopeless and alone.

Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from the weeds behind me, and through the blur in my eyes, I saw a figure all dressed in black. It looked like a ninja, so I automatically assumed it was Archer or one of his friends. "Leave me alone," I said weakly.

"Relax, I'm just here to help. What's wrong?"

Because of the soothing voice coming from this stranger, it made it obvious that it was no one my sadistic boyfriend hung out with. "That's a long story."

"I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't want to hear it." He moved a little closer to me, I guess waiting for an okay to touch me. I just looked at him, hoping he'd get the message that I really didn't care what he did. He wrapped his arms around me gently and looked back at me. His whole body was covered because of the ninja gear, but the one thing that I could see was his eyes. They were beautiful. He had a far off look, as though something was puzzling him. The deep blue in his eyes along with the expression on his face was more than enough to make me want to know him better. He began smiling.

"What?"

"I saw you dancing."

My face immediately turned red and I hoped he wouldn't notice through the darkness. "Oh..."

"You were great."

"Not really."

"The only thing that would've made it better is if you weren't dancing alone."

I laughed at that.

"So, are you going to tell me what went on?"

I thought about my answer to that for a long time. Who else did I have to open up to? It was not very often that I could tell people what was going on, or that I had the opportunity to. So I told him everything that had been going on, especially in the last week.

He remained silent throughout everything I said, and stayed patient when I had to pause. He kept that same thoughtful look on his face the entire time.

When I was finished, he was shaking his head, looking annoyed and maybe a little disgusted. "What?" I asked.

"That's bullshit. All of it. You don't deserve to be treated like that. You're boyfriend sounds like a real jerk."

All I could do was nod, because words couldn't express how much I needed to hear those words. Finally someone besides me confirmed it, and I could accept that there was a possibility that I didn't deserve any of this.

"Well, any time you need me, I'm here. Do you want my number? You can just call if anything happens."

"My phone is dead."

He asked for my number, so I gave it to him. He promised to text that morning so I'd know what his was. I got up, getting ready to go somewhere, even though I didn't know where. He grabbed my arm out of nowhere.

"Wait, wait. Didn't you say you were locked out?"

I nodded.

"Well you're definitely not going back to that douche bag's house. Come on, you can come with me." He grabbed my hand. We walked a few feet and then he stopped.

"I'm not sure if you knew what I meant earlier when I said it'd only be better if you weren't dancing alone. That last move you did, the spin. Watch. Do it again." He took both of my hands and I spun, putting my leg up. He held it and my hand at my side as I spun around. When I finished the spin, he dramatically dropped me, then caught me before I hit the ground.

I couldn't help but notice how strong he was as he smiled down at me. The way he looked at me, I couldn't quite grasp it. There was desire in his expression, but not a lusty one. A far away longing that you only saw in people who knew what it was like to feel empty.

"See?" he said.