My Next Door Neighbor is WHO?!

Threats and Regrets

Chapter 9:

Third period. 9:23 a.m. Hour two of sitting in this white room surrounded with guards and Toby. He always carried a pack of cards in his backpack, so we played cards the majority of time. At 9:30, we got our first visitor. It was Kathryn. When she saw me, she ran to me and hugged me. I saw the guards tense up out of the corner of my eye.

"Please, no sudden moves" one of the guards said.

"I'm sorry" Kathryn said apologetically.

She sat down in a chair across from Toby and I.

"I can't believe that this is happening" Kathryn said.

"I know. Do you have any clues?" I asked her.

"I already told the office some of them" she said.

I was surprised. It was Wednesday. It was only the third day of school and this whole scheme of things has elaborated into so much within such a short amount of time. Before I knew it, the guards were calling for Kathryn to leave. Fifteen minutes went by so fast but, it turned out that Toby and I had a whole line of people wanting to talk to us. Person after person. Some people I had never seen before and some people I only knew because I had a class with them. A lot of them were nice and each time I asked if they had any clues they said no. Most wanted to hear about everything that escalated up to this moment. It was very hard to tell the story since I was still emotional over the whole thing. The part that was the most emotional was the part of how I heard a scream and saw my dead mother laying there in the backyard. Some cried about it which made me feel like they had a personal experience. If I wasn't talking to people, I was resting my head on Toby's shoulder. He and I had become so close recently. I valued his friendship.

Toby had to go do something around 10:15. He didn't tell me where he was going but, he whispered into one of the guard's ear and left. I was worried. Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom or something, he would be OK. Then, I heard a voice come on the announcement system. It was Toby. What was he doing?

"I want to say something" he paused. "Aurora Arnold.....will you be my girlfriend?"

I freaked out. Toby loved me! He wanted me to be his girlfriend! The one he spent time with, the one he wanted. Just then, Toby came running back in the room.

"So...?" he asked.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. I got up and hugged him.

We stood there, hugging, until one of the guards said that we had another guest. Great, more talking and crying. It was Amanda.

"Hi guys! I mean, the greatest and cutest couple ever!" she said.

"Thanks!" Toby and I said simultaneously.

"I can't believe how crazy this has all gotten!" Amanda said.

"Me either. One day it was fine and the next it wasn't. It's crazy to think about" I said.

Fifteen minutes later and Amanda had to leave. Ten guests later and it was one period before lunch time. We had more people and more people and then one person that would completely change my world upside down. A girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. Her eyebrows were black so she had died her hair. It was Julie! Why did she change her look? She looked horrible. She had a huge sweatshirt on, at least three times her size and her hands were clasped together. She looked cold or something.

"Hi, haven't seen you in a while" Julie said, rudely.

"I know. This is crazy!" I said.

Then, she gave me this look. A look I couldn't get out of my mind. It was deranged, it was psychotic. Most of all, it was unexpected. Then, like a cheetah running after its prey, she pulled out a knife and stabbed me like a ninja. She stabbed me right in the stomach. I immediately fell off the chairs and onto my knees. I heard Toby do something. My vision was blurred, everything was slowed. I couldn't take in these quick moments right now.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" I heard Toby screaming.

"OH, SHUT UP! LIKE YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT STUPID, WORTHLESS AURORA!" I heard Julie screaming.

When I heard that, I mustered up enough strength, got up and started yelling at Julie.

"HOW COULD YOU BETRAY -" "SIT DOWN!" Toby cut me off and demanded.

I sat down and cried. The pain was so intense. I curled into fetal position and grabbed my stomach. The fighting slowly subsided and I heard footsteps run towards me. I didn't know how I was still alive. My stomach was bleeding so much. I heard Toby's voice.

"Aurora, Aurora, please stay with me, I can't lose you" he was begging.

He slowly picked up my hand and held it between his hands. His hands were so warm, I was so cold. I felt him put my hand to his lips. He kissed my hand. While he was kissing my hand I felt tears fall. He was crying. I could briefly open my eyes and adjust my vision to see him.  His face was red, when he would open his eyes to look at me they were bloodshot. I could feel his hands shaking. I wondered if this was what it felt like to him when I broke down at the house this morning. His grip got tighter around my hand. Just then another wave of excruciating pain radiated through my body. I was still gripping my stomach. About ten seconds later I heard the medics. They came up to me and kneeled down.

"Hi Aurora, we're going to take you to the hospital, alright?" the medic told me.

"OK" it took a lot of strength for me to say that. My voice was faint and muddled.

I slowly got lifted up and put into a gird. I had to lay flat because there wasn't any room on the gird to curl up. Toby's hands were still holding my hand. My hand was sweaty because he was really hot. Plus, the tears didn't help either because our hands were wet too. Of course, there was a huge crowd in the hallway. I only knew because Toby whispered it to me. I heard lots of gasping and little chitter-chatter all around me. Why couldn't anything normal happen to me? So far, my life was a living hell. It started out great when I first met Toby. Everything was normal. Now, everything was ruined. It was perfect having Toby here, but I was wounded. With each platelet of blood I lost, I was closer to dying. The hospital was only three minutes away from school that's why I didn't need a helicopter to get there. My vision was still blurred as ever and my hearing was starting to dissipate. I felt tears stream down my face, I was crying, again. Wave after wave of pain coursed through my body. Before I knew it, I was in the hospital and on a hospital bed. Toby whispered to me. He was still here with me, holding me.

"Aurora, you're in the ICU" Toby said.

I just slightly nodded my head. I couldn't say or do anything, I was in too much pain. I felt him get up and release my hand. No, I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to be here with me, to endure everything with me. These were his last words to me before I went into surgery: "Aurora, I love you" and then he kissed my forehead gently. I heard the door close and knew that he was gone. Then I had to get surgery. They had to sew my stomach back up and the stab wound. Then, as if I wasn't sleepy enough, they knocked me out with anesthesia.

I woke up.

I was back on the hospital bed when I woke up. I could finally see. There was no pain in my stomach anymore.

"Hi, beautiful" Toby said. He walked towards me, grabbed a chair, and sat by my bed. He smiled. His braces were off!

"I love your teeth" I said.

He laughed. I guess I was kind of loopy from the anesthesia.

"Thanks. How do you feel?" Toby asked me.

"I feel better than I did" I said.

"Good. The doctor said your stomach was pierced and they had to stitch it up, not just the skin. You were in the operating room for 2 1/2 hours. The EMT's in the ambulance said you died for 2 minutes in the ambulance. They said they didn't know how you lived" Toby told me.

"Really?" I asked in pure disbelief.

"Yes, I have to go now. I have to go eat dinner. Bye" he smiled and kissed me on the forehead.

Sitting alone in the hospital room, I started to regret some things. I debated with myself if I should've ever even introduced Toby to my friends. I also debated with myself if I should've ever said yes to dating Toby. Then, I realized, Toby didn't cause this. The person who caused it was Julie. She was a hateful, jealous-veined person. She gave threats, I had regrets, and now in this moment I realized, life was perfect.