Delivering Damon

nulla

n u l l a - z e r o

"You get your ass back here little girl! If you don't come back now, you'll regret ever running when I find you. Because trust me, I will find you."

I pushed myself harder, faster. I had to get away. They wouldn't take me back there... Not after what they did to them. I choked back a sob, desperate to stop and breathe for just a few moments. Stop thinking about it, you're getting distracted, I reminded myself. If I don't get away now, I don't think I'll ever get the chance to escape again.

After several minutes of running, I realized that I could no longer hear footsteps behind me. No panting, yelling, just... silence. I was finally alone. I slowed to a stop, suddenly aware of the fact that I no longer knew where I was.

I collapsed against a tree, choking on sobs and trying to gulp down another breath. With my head in my hands, I tried to stop my brain from thinking about the events leading up to my escape.

"Let her go! Don't you dare touch her!" She wailed as she watched this mysterious man run his grubby fingers through her little girl's strawberry blonde hair.

Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

"Mommy!"

I gasp, shooting upright in my bed. Turning to the clock on my side table, I let out a resigned sigh.

1:57

My hand goes to my hair, pulling it out of its messy bun and staring at the auburn mess of tangles, I let the tears stream freely down my face.

"Trust me, I will find you."

•••

"Dyl, if you aren't ready in ten minutes, I'm leaving and you're just going to have to walk."

With a loud groan, I roll over and fix my glare on my older brother, Rowan. I feel like absolute shit. Although, after crying my eyes out at 2:00 in the morning, I guess this was to be expected. "Leave me alone, Rowan. I'll take the bus if I have to, just... leave," I whisper the last word, my eyes drifting down to the hardwood flooring beneath my bed frame.

Pushing off of my doorframe, he enters my room, his presence suffocating me slightly. In a sad tone, he kneels in front of me and whispers, "The nightmare again?"

I just nod, too emotionally drained to say anything.

He sighs, running his fingers through his hair. "You want me to tell mom you aren't feeling good? I'm sure she'd let you stay home. Even though it is the first day of school, I'm sure she'd understand."

I'm instantly on my feet, pushing past Rowan and  heading to the bathroom. "Please don't," I plead, "I don't want her to worry any more than she already does. Knowing her, she'd probably want me to go back to the shrink. I really don't want to go back there, Row."

Sensing my discomfort, he stands up and retreats toward the door with his hands in the air, "Alright, alright, but just in case you get too overwhelmed, I'm writing my class schedule on the first page in your binder. Call me if you need to leave, alright? I don't care if we're only five minutes into first period, you call me. Okay?"

I give him a little nudge, "Thank you, and don't worry. I'll call if I need you. I love you Row." I hold up half a heart with my fingers and wait for him to complete it; something we've done since we were kids.

He raises his half and connects our fingers, "I love you too, sis. Now hurry up because I wasn't kidding about leaving you."

•••

"Alright," Rowan looks over at me from the driver's seat, "remember what I said?"

I nod, lifting my bag off the floor. "See you later, Row. Have a good first day."

Getting out of the car, I take my time because despite the confidence I'm pretending to have, I'm not mentally prepared to be back here.

James K. Polk High School.

Home of the Vikings, the school is actually the only high school in the area. The next one isn't for several miles and even at that, we don't really socialize with them seeing as we're rivals in practically every competitive environment from Shakespearean plays to football games.

Although I don't really keep up with the theatre side of things, I do know that last year, both football teams went to playoffs and we won. Apparently, this year is supposed to be a sort of "ultimate showdown" between our school and John Adams High School because we only managed one touchdown in the final quarter of a game that was tied at zero.

With a shake of my head and a puff of air for some much needed motivation, I head into the building.

•••

Walking up to my locker, I hear a screech from behind me. Turning around, I catch a blur of red before I'm enveloped in a bone crushing hug. "Dyl! I've missed you so much!"

With a huff, I detach myself from my overly excited best friend, Jessie. "I'd say I've missed you, too, Jess... Except we saw each other just two days ago and I don't think forty-eight hours is really an adequate amount of time passed for me to have missed you. But the notion is appreciated."

With a roll of her eyes, she flings her fiery red hair over her shoulder in annoyance and throws an arm around me. "Dyl, I love you, but can you tone it down with your professor-y type talk? I mean, I understand, but I really shouldn't have to work so hard to hold a conversation with you. Let's just speak plain old English, yeah?" She teases me, finally granting me access to my locker as she moves to lean on the one next to it.

As I put my bag in my locker, I hand my binder over to Jess, needing both hands to shove it through the narrow opening. I notice that it's awfully quiet, and Jess isn't really one for silence. Naturally, I look over my shoulder to see her staring at something inside my binder with a giddy smile on her face.

She points at something written on the front page, jumping a bit as she squeals. "Is this Rowan's schedule?! Does he really have chemistry with Holden for first?!" She exclaims, practically screaming with excitement.

Tapping my forehead against my locker door lightly, I sigh. I'd forgotten that Rowan wrote his schedule in there, and the fact that Jess would see it with just the lift of the front cover. "Yes, Jess, but that doesn't mean you can take a picture of it and stalk him to all of his classes... again. He only put it there in case of an emergency," I tell her, not wanting her to become my brother's stalker again this year, like she had been last year.

Being the hopeless romantic that she is, of course she was bound to fall in love with Rowan, her best friend's brother. Because how ridiculously cliché, yet totally (not) romantic is that?

"I can't believe it! My wish is finally coming true! You can keep his schedule, Dyl, because I have your brother for first period," she says in a singsong voice as she skips off down the hallway, a slightly humored Dylan trailing behind her.

"This year sure is going to be interesting," I mumble.