Deadly In Love

Chapter 11: True Fear

I wiped my face and took a few minutes to calm down, then went to my homeroom. In the halls, although I knew it wasn't true, I felt as if everybody was watching me. I kept my head down as I quickly walked into the room and sat down.

I was shaking almost all day, and even more out of reality than I had been the previous few days. I would randomly start staring at something and start making up scenarios in my head, but this time not about Banner. They were about getting tragically killed, sometimes being stabbed, sometimes strangled, but they were all gruesome, and ate away at me all day.

Finally, the end of the day came. I walked up to my front door, and as I turned to take the key out of my backpack, I looked around. I felt as if I was being watched. Nobody was there. I shrugged it off, assuming that I was just being paranoid. I pulled out the key, pushed it into the keyhole, and twisted it. I opened the door, took the key out, stepped inside, and closed it.

I did my homework, ate dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching TV. Around 8, my phone lit up with a notification and I picked it up off of the end table next to the couch. It was Banner.

Banner: Hey babe, I miss u, can we go on a walk together?

You: Sure, do u wanna come here or should I go there?

Banner: I'll go over there. I'll take my bike, so I should be there in around mins.

You: k, great

I turned my phone off and went to brush my hair. The blanket on the couch had made it static, and it was messy. I sat down on the chair in the living room, the room right next to the front door. In around 5 minutes, the doorbell rang. 

I hurried over to the door, grabbing my shoes off of the floor next to it. I pulled the door open to see Banner standing there, smiling when he saw me. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and put my shoes on.

I looked up at him and gasped. He had a large bruise on his cheekbone. I slowly looked up and down his body, and he had a few scratches and bruises on his arms and legs.

“What happened? Are you ok? Come in, I'll get you ice.” I said, carefully dodging the  bruises on his forearm as I grabbed it and pulled him inside. He stumbled into the house.

“I'm fine. I just tripped while getting off my bike.” He said, clearly lying. 

“You got all those bruises all over your body from falling off a bike? Yeah right. What actually happened?” I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall. He began to back up, so I closed the door. He sighed.

“I just got into a fight with my brother. Come on, let's go.” He said. I stared at the bruise on his cheek. I held my hand up, signaling him not to move, and hurried into the kitchen. I grabbed an ice pack from the fridge. I ran back over to him and put it on the bruise. He winced. I held it there until he grabbed it, then grabbed his other hand and turned him around. I pulled the door open and we walked outside.

We walked down the street for around a minute, then I broke the silence. “What were you and your brother fighting about?” I asked. His grip on my hand became tighter.

“He wants to be let out of the house, and he wants to go to school. We can't do that. I told him that and he punched me. Then he started kicking my legs until I said yes, and grabbed my arms so I couldn't walk away. That's why my legs and arms have bruises on them. He held on tight.” Banner said. I pulled him in and turned around to hug him. He squeezed me, holding my waist. He had to slightly bend down to reach. Then he slid his hands down to my legs and picked me up.

“What are you doing?” I said, my face inches from his. I was about to say something else but he kissed me.

“I'm carrying you.” He said. I rolled my eyes.

“Why are you carrying me?” I asked.

“Because I can. You're really light. And cute.” He said. He started walking and I grabbed his shoulders so I wouldn't fall. I smiled and started laughing. A few people walking by stared at us, and one old couple pointed at us.

“Aw, so cute, they're just like us when we were young.” The woman said. I giggled and thought about Banner and I growing old together.

“That's going to be us someday.” Banner said. I blushed and kissed his cheek.

“Banner.” I said. “Can you put me down? I want to tell you something.” He nodded and put me down.

“What?” He said. I wanted to tell him about the notes. I can't tell him about the notes, they might be a prank. And he's already fighting with his brother. I decided to just tell him something else. Something else that I had been wanting to tell him. I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“I love you.” I said. Banner stopped walking and turned to me. I turned to him. He smiled his widest smile, a bigger smile than ever before. He blushed, his freckles almost disappearing in the red that overcame his cheeks.

“I love you too.” He said. He kissed me, pulling me by the arms up onto my toes so he could reach. We just stood there for a few seconds, our lips interlocked. I dropped onto my flat feet. Our lips detached. I grabbed his hand and we continued walking. 

I thought about the first time I had seen him, in my homeroom on the first day of school. I was immediately starstruck by his beautiful face.

“It was love at first sight.” I said. He turned his head to me.

“What?”

“I liked you the second I saw you. I went to Cassie in another class and asked who you were. I thought we could never end up together because of your popularity.” I said. He smiled and shook his head.

“Of course we could. Who cares about popularity anyways?” He said.

“Clearly you. I mean, you're one of the most popular kids in our school. And plus, we’re in high school, who doesn’t care about popularity,” I replied. He shrugged.

“And for the record, I liked you right away too. I asked my friends who you were, but nobody knew. You were just the mystery homeroom girl. And art class,” He said. I smiled. I had always thought he only decided to date me once he found out I liked him. Like “Oh, I guess she’s good enough.”

We walked around the block, talking about who knows what. We got back to my house and I went inside. My mom handed me a magazine and an envelope that had come in the mail for me. I walked to my bedroom and sat down on my bed, putting the magazine in the drawer of my dresser. I opened the envelope. It was a handwritten letter. It only took me a few seconds to figure out who wrote it. Brian. It was the same handwriting as the other notes had been.

Already beginning to shake, I began to read the note. It said The warnings don't seem to be working. Don't make me strike. If you don't leave my brother, you're DEAD. I'm not playing around. Leave. Him.

I shook, holding back tears, as I slipped the note into the envelope and placed it on the bed next to me. I stared at the envelope, the threatening words replaying in my head. What could he really do? I don't want to find out, I thought. Maybe I should just break up with Banner. No, I couldn't do that. I'll just tell Banner. I'll tell him when he walks me back from school. I took a deep breath, my shuddering jaw making it uneven and shaky. It was the first time I had ever felt true fear.