Affliction

29

Annie

The hand that is covering my mouth to drown out my attempts to scream is the same hand that held mine during the day, then pushed me around during the night. My whole world was built up and torn down by this one simple hand. I never thought I would be in this position again.

"Are you going to scream if I let go?" He asked, shakingly. "Please I just want to talk."

I wanted to talk the past three weeks, but he blocked me on everything. Why should I give in now? Right after I move on, he comes back. How is that fare?

I shook my head side to side. At first he was hesitant, but slowly he released his grip and I scrambled away from him. What the fuck is he doing here?

"What do you want?" I asked, sitting on my bed and scooting farther and farther away from him.

"I just-" He took a step forward, but I stopped him.

"No. If you want to talk, you keep your distance." I didn't even feel bad when the flash of pain crossed his face.

"Okay- that's fine. What I say, you'll want to hear, okay?" He asked, taking a seat on my desk chair.

"Okay." I mumbled, more than ready to hear this explanation.

Nervous tactics kicked in, and he became fidgety. His hands were scratching the back of his neck, the other pretending to fish something out of his pocket. I was about to say something when I heard the sound of Demi's voice, and basically shit myself.

"Annie, can you come here?" My mom called.

I rose from my bed and pointed at him, as if I was talking to a dog. "Stay."

I escaped from the room, with a million things racing through my mind. 1- What the fuck? 2- What the fuck. 3- What the fuck!

I found Demi in her room- oh shit. Did she find the coke in her mouthwash? The rocks in her icebreakers? The monopoly money?

"Yeah?" I asked, observing her expression to see if I'm in deep shit or not.

"So, Wilmer is staying home this week now. They're shooting in Los Angeles, so you lucked out. Congrats." Demi sarcastically said, throwing her covers back and climbing into bed.

I awkwardly yawned and began backstepping towards the door. "Okay- yeah.. That's cool."

"So, I've been freezing my ass off up here-" Wilmer said, walking in the room, "and I couldn't figure out why until now.. Annie left her damn window open and I had to go in there to close it."

"You were in my room?!" I yelled, my jaw dropping to the floor. How did he not see Jacob? How is Jacob not dead?

"Yeah? And?" Wilmer asked, pushing past me to get in bed beside Demi.

"Why was your window open this late?" Demi asked. "There's creeps. You know you aren't supposed to do that."

"I was.. Hot." I shrugged, then yawned as an excuse to get out of here. "I'm going to bed."

I bid them goodnight, ignored the weird looks they each gave me, and then disappeared back down the hallway. I quickly closed the door behind me, then turned to face Jacob. Jacob, whom must still be hiding.

"Jacob, you can come out. He's gone." I said out loud. Only seconds later goosebumps pricked my skin from a breeze. The window is open.

The hair on my neck stood as I made my way over there. I peered my head out, only to see the fire escape latter slowly rocking side to side. I closed the window, looked in the closet, under my bed, and in my bathroom, but Jacob was nowhere to be found.