Chloe's World

The night just gets worse

We drove to Josh's house.

His parents weren't home. I guess that was good for us. Both Josh and I helped Sky into the house. She seemed to be moving more. The color in her face was coming back and she was talking, promising us that she was ok. Telling me to stop crying. Telling Josh to stop screaming. It's funny how even though Sky was drugged, she was still the responsible one in the group.

We laid Sky down on the couch. Josh refused to leave her side. He kept stroking her hair and whispering in her ear. I couldn't hear what he was saying but whatever it was, it was making Sky smile.

I stood from afar and watched them. I didn't want to get any closer to her. I felt like if I did, I would hurt her. I was dangerous.

A knock on the door made me flinch.

I looked at Josh. "Should I answer it?" I asked. I was acting like a frightened little girl and Josh was my babysitter.

He nodded and I went to the door.

For some reason, I wasn't surprised to see Tyler standing there.

He looked in panic. I could tell by the way that he was playing with his hands that his nerves were all over the place. When I opened the door, his eyes shot right to me. I could see the fear behind them.

"Hey," he said. He sounded like he was out of breath. "Are you ok?"

Before I could say anything, he took my hand into his. I almost flinched. I looked at his face to see nothing but concern. It was like the fight between us had never happened.

It took awhile to get the words out of my mouth. "I'm ok." That was kind of a lie.

He nodded viciously. I thought his head was going to fall off. "How's Sky?"

"She's fine. How did you know we were here?"

"Josh called me," he said through a deep breath. "He told me that you were hurt."

"I'm fine," I lied again.

For a moment, Tyler just stared at me. And I thought that he was going to kiss me. God, I wanted him to kiss me.

But he didn't. And I couldn't blame him. I had to remind myself that he wasn't mine anymore. He was never really mine.

My body sat down on the steps on its own. I was exhausted, emotionally and physically. I put my hands to my face, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. My world had been crumbling for awhile. Now, I think it finally fell apart.

Tyler sat down next to me. I could tell he was waiting for me to say something.

"I messed up," I whispered. It was the only thing that I knew to be true at the time.

Tyler still just sat there. When I wasn't talking, the only noise that could be heard was the night crickets chirping. And somewhere far away, a dog was howling to the full moon.

"I'm so stupid," I muttered as a tear slipped down my face.

Then he pulled me in. And I fell so naturally into his arms. My head rested on his chest. And I cried my heart out.

Tyler just let his arms wrap around me. His hands went up and down my back. His lips gently brushed against the top of my head.

It was amazing. Tyler knew everything I was feeling. I didn't have to speak a word for him to understand everything that was going through my head.