Gone || ✔

XVIII

The next day when I awake, I see mom and dad standing in the doorway. Behind them I can see Jamison looking ashamed and when our eyes meet, he immediately shifts his eyes away from mine. Just like he did back in school. In their hands, they both hold letters. A lot of letters. My pulse starts to race and sweat beads start to form on my head, although it's freezing in here. I gulp and I tense up. 

"Would you like to explain about these letters to us?" Mom asks sternly, giving me the you-know-you're-not-going-to-win-this-battle look. I hate that look with a great amount of passion. I exhale a long breath and loosen up a bit. "Mom, I-" I choke up. Something is holding me back from telling her that my lunatic of a father is sending me threats that he's going to kill me any day now. She gives me the you-better-tell-me-now look. I sigh, look away and close my eyes. 

I feel like Jamison accidentally spilled out that we're getting letters from Kyle. I feel like I'm being stabbed in the gut and I suddenly feel sick. I understand why he would tell them. He's afraid for me. I would be too if I was him. 

"I," I pause for a second, keeping my head down. I hope and pray Kyle's not going to figure out that I told him. But who knows? He's Kyle. He's capable of anything. Like my death. I take a deep breath. "Well, um, I'm uh, getting letters from...." the words burn as they escape. It hurts to finish, but I do anyways. "Kyle." I breathe out. I look up to see the expression on mom's face. Her face flushes with anger, hurt, fear, and sadness. "Mom, please don't freak out." I try to comfort her, but she does anyways.

"I thought I told that asshole to stay away and to never talk to you!" She yells, tearing up the letters in her hands. Angry tears fall down her face like pouring rain. I don't like seeing her like this. She yells a lot of swear words in her sentence. Most of them I didn't even know they were even words. Dad tries to calm her down, and she does, but she walks out. Dad follows after her and Jamison gives me an apologetic look. 

"I'm sorry, Lainna." he says when he gets to me. He sits on my bed and I sit up. We look at each other. "I-I just was scared. For you and for us. I don't know what the letter you read said but-" I cut him off by kissing him. After awhile we pull away and he weakly smiles at me. "I'll try my best to keep you safe." he says. 

"Uh, about that...we really have to watch out for each other. The reason why I was so shaky and crying last night was because he threatened to hurt you. Here." I say, getting up and digging the letter out from the trash, showing it to him. He gives me a cautious look and reads it. His eyes goes wide and he hugs me, relaxing me a little. I look out the window and immediately become tense. I see his face in my window. I cry out and he immediately runs away. I start to shake and cry again. Jamison looks panicked at me. 

"I-I saw him! Kyle! He was looking through my window! Stalking us!" I say, crying hard. Jamison looks at the window, then back at me. Kyle knows, making my risk of dying even more likely. 

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shout out goes to my sister Dakota Matthews. thank you for helping me through this book and encouraging me to keep rolling with it. love you, sis.💜

~ashley.😈