Anna Midnight

Chapter 12: New Wounds To Heal

 

A few days later, I had gone into Jake's room and asked to talk to him. He let me in and I had hoped that he would tell me why he had been fighting with Chase and Kale. Instead, all he seems to talk about is his stupid girlfriend. So, I try to get up and leave, but he tries to keep me there so we can talk.

“Anna, don’t leave this room. I’m not done talking to you,” Jake said. By this time, he was practically yelling. “Yeah, you are, because I’m done talking to you,” I yelled back, hatefully. Jake grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him, to the point we weren’t two feet away from each other. “Why do you insist on not being around when I’m around?” he asked. “Because you’re always around Mikayla and I can’t stand her,” I replied. “What’s wrong with her?” He let loose of my arm “Wake up call, Jake. She’s freaking annoying. She has to boast about every little thing that she does with you.” I turned and tried to walk away, but he grabbed my arm again. “Oh, I didn’t realize-” “Exactly,” I said cutting him off.

                I tried to leave as he began to ask a question. “What if I were to leave her? Would that make you be around me more?” I froze in my tracks. “Why would you do that? You must like her enough to keep her around.” I turned half way around and stopped to wait for the answer. The answer never came. I left. I went straight out of his room and down the hall to mine. As I walked down the hall, I could hear him yelling and hitting stuff.

                Later on that evening, Bree came and knocked on my door. “Door’s unlocked,” I announced. Bree walked with a smile that slowly faded as I turned around from my desk. “God, you look awful,” She said. “Oh, probably. I’ve been fighting myself with this darn book for about an hour,” I commented. She walked over and sat on my bed. “We need to have a night out. Neither of us has left this place for ourselves in a while. Plus, we need a Girls’ Night Out.” “I’d love to Bree, but I’m a little tired—” “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” She said, cutting me off. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in twenty minutes.” With that, she left.

                I got ready and headed down to the kitchen. No sign of Bree. I kind of got the munchies after a few minutes, so I started digging in the fridge. I heard someone walk in and set something made of glass, down on the island. I didn’t bother poking my head out of the fridge to see who it was. Big mistake. I finally decide to snack on some strawberries since I didn’t know where Bree intended on taking us. I back up from the fridge to shut the door. I stop to notice that I had backed in to a very warm wall of flesh. At that same moment, I start to smell the fresh scent of alcohol.

                I turned around to see that I had backed into Jake. Since when did he start drinking? I look over to the island to see a nearly empty bottle of Smirnoff. “Jake, what are you doing?” I ask, but he doesn’t answer. Instead, he hastily backs me into the cabinets. I hit one of the hinges and let out a soft yell as I squeeze my eyes shut with the pain shooting down my spine. He looks at my expression and then pins my hands above my head, against the top cabinet doors. “Maybe now you’ll change your mind,” He says as coldly as he could. “What the hell are you talking about?!” I ask almost yelling. He put a smirk on his face, closed his eyes and starts to lean his head towards me. “Damn it, Jake. Get off of me!” He backs up a little and releases some of the pressure he’s putting on my arms. “Let go of me!” I say again, as I feel blood dripping down my back.

                “Anna?” I could hear Bree calling my name as she comes down the stairs. As soon as she sees that Jake has pinned me against the cabinets, she calls to Kale. I try to make a grab for Jake’s wrists, but to no avail. He started laughing with a sinister tone and leans in again, this time almost getting his mouth to my neck. Before he gets within a couple of inches away, I wrap my leg around his knee, pull, and he goes down. What I didn’t expect was me going down, too. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Bree runs over to help me up. Jake gets up and slaps me across the face. Bree jumps back as Jake tries to make another swing at me. Kale grabs him while pinning his arms back, just after Jake’s fist hits me. The blow was hard enough to my cheek that it made me fall to the floor. “Jake, why the hell are you doing this to Anna?” Kale asks. Instead of answering, Jake breaks down and tears begin to fall freely from his eyes. “Is he drunk?” Bree asks as she helps me off of the floor. “Yeah, but how did he get the vodka when he’s only eighteen?” Kale asks. “I don’t know, but he hits harder when he’s drunk,” I say, exasperated.