He's A Keeper

21

"Miss Carter, can you explain the events of the party again? Clearly this time." The detective asked.

And I did, over and over.

After the events of the party, the police had arrested Alec, and I had been interviewed tons of times.

The story was always the same. I explained everything the exact way it happened. Alex had claimed he hadn't touched me, although that was a lie.

"Hey, come here." Daniel said, holding out his arms for a hug.

I ran over to him, glad to be free of the interview.

We hugged for a long time, not speaking.

"Hey, you're gonna be okay." Daniel promised, wiping a tear that had fallen.

After what happened, I felt like I couldn't trust anyone, not even James.
He was scared too, scared I would leave him because I was to frightened to even kiss him anymore.

Daniel and I got in the car and drove home.

I took a shower, scrubbing my skin until it was red.

I had the same nightmare every night, Alec always torturing me.

I put on a clean pair of sweatpants and a plain tee shirt, then brushed out my hair.

Walking downstairs, Daniel put a bowl of salad and some cookies in front of me.

"You need to eat." He said.

"Not hungry,' I lied.

"Brynn- I know what happened to you is wrong, and you'll never forget it, but you need to take care of yourself."
He was right. I had only eaten a few things in the past couple of days. I didn't know what was wrong with me.

I felt scared all the time in public. Every guy that even glanced at me made me feel unsafe.

I sighed, and began to eat the salad and cookies. What a weird combination.

"Your birthday is in four days.." Daniel said.

I slightly smiled. "There's that pretty smile we've been missing." He said.

I continued to eat while Daniel came up with party ideas.

"Can we go rollerskating?" I asked.

"You wanna go rollerskating? Okay, fine by me." He agreed.

He walked away, probably to go tell Aunt Emma what I had chose.

After what had happened at the party, Aunt Emma had sat me down and gave me a long talk about guys.

Not James, but just guys in general.

She said some of them were nice and sweet like James, and warned me about the ones like Alec.

After that, she took me out to a weaponry store and bought me pepper spray and a pocket knife to protect myself.

I couldn't bring them to school obviously, but I could keep them in my car.

Speaking of car, I had finally gotten my license, and I had been driving myself to school.

The front door opened, as I washed my bowl out.

"Hey, darling." James said, leaning on the counter.

"Hey." I said, putting my bowl in the dishwasher.

"Can we talk?" He asked, nodding his head toward the treehouse.

"Yeah," I said softly, slipping on my flipflops and walking outside.

We both sat on the couch when we got inside the treehouse.

We were both quiet for a really long time.

"I'm sorry." He began.

"It's not your fault, for the hundredth time." I said.

"I know Brynn, but I feel like it is, I wasn't there to protect you." He said, resting his hand on my thigh, making me wince.

He almost removed his hand, but I put it back on my thigh.

"If anyone should say sorry, it should be me. I'm sorry I've been pushing you away. I'm not like afraid of you or anything, I know you're not like him." I said.

He nodded.

"I just keep having flashbacks, and it's scary." I admitted.

"You can talk to me about it, whenever you want." He said.

I nodded.

I moved closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

He cauticiously put his arm around me, then kissed my forehead, making me feel happy inside.

"Babe," I said.

"Hmm?" He asked.

I raised up, then leaned my head up and kissed him, my heart rate speeding up.

I finally pulled back and rested my head on his shoulder again.

I was going to be okay.