Help Me

Chapter 3.

Riley's POV

Why was he asking me about school? He won't call someone, will he? What if Harold finds me again? A thousand questions shoot through my head at once and it seems like there is no chance of them slowing down. I look at my watch and it is barely ten in the morning. I sigh and start walking to the one place no one will bother me. The only graveyard in town. I jog over to where my mother is buried and sit down with my back against the tree in front of her headstone that read  Mary Evans Loving mother and wife.

"I know it hasn't been long since I came here, but I needed the quiet," I say aloud. "Why did you have to leave?" I stop when I feel tears running down my eyes. "They say you killed yourself but I don't believe it," Maybe I just don't want to believe it. I have thought on more than one occasion if she could kill herself, why can't I? "I wish I could see you again," She was happy, wasn't she? Why would a happy person kill their self? Someone could have killed her, couldn't they? Her death has left me with so many questions that I will never have answers to.

I lean back against the tree and close my eyes. It is slightly warmer today than it was last night and the sun feels so good. I better try to sleep while I am warm because I am sure it will be colder tonight again. My thin tee-shirt is not good enough for this weather. I wiggle around and get comfortable before falling into a restless sleep.

"Riley! Wake up!" My best friend Rachel yells beside me. I groan and reach towards her face, my hand flops around a few times before I reach her. I push her face away and rollover. She laughs and starts tickling me. I scream with laughter and inch away from her, as soon as my eyes are open she stops. "There now come on. Mom is cooking and I am starved."

"Rachel, I can't. Your dad already works too much to support all your siblings. I don't want to bother them," I tell her and all five children flash in front of my eyes. Rachel is the oldest and she helps take care of the others. She is a good friend, sister, and daughter. I couldn't ask for a better person to help take care of me.

"One night will not kill us or you Riley. Come on mom is going back to work next week anyway." She says with her puppy dog look. She knows how to get me to agree to anything, she blinks her eyes like a baby bird and I cave.

"Okay, fine. One night. That's it, Rachel." I tell her sternly. I start to stand up but she holds her hand up making me stop.

She hesitates before speaking, I know that it can't be good if she is hesitating. "Do you really think she killed herself?" She asks before clamping her jaw shut and looking anywhere but at me. I know she didn't want to send me into one of my memories about her death.

I think a second before I answer her. She was found in a lake, my mother used to do competitive swimming when she was younger. There is a small chance of her drowning much less choosing to commit suicide in a lake. "No, but what can I do?" I mutter but she hears me. "Come on, we don't need you starving out here," I tell her and stand up before pulling her up behind me.

We walk to her house and she keeps me entertained with her stories of what I missed at school. "And Katie tried to hook up with Chad." She rattles on but I zone out. What if mom really was murdered? Who would kill her? She was always volunteering for a charity or an event. She was in church every day she could and she was kind to everyone. "Riley, are you even listening? I swear sometimes I wonder how you can walk down the streets alone. You will get run over if you zone out like that," She rants as we walk into her house.

"Rachel, where have you been?" Her mom asks from the kitchen. Rachel grabs my hand and drags me in there with her.

"I convinced Riley to have dinner with us. I hope that's okay," Rach tells her. As she grabs her baby sister Kara from her mom's hip.

"Of course, it is Rachel, Riley you are welcome to stay here tonight if you would like. Rachel said you and your dad were fighting," Kimmie, Rachel's mom, says.

"If it wouldn't be a bother I would love to," I say and wiggle my finger at Kara over Rachel's shoulder. The three of us go into the living room and we end up watching some cartoon with Kara ask Kimmie finishes dinner. Before I know it, I have dozed off on the couch.

"Come on sleeping beauty. Dinner is ready." Rachel yells from the kitchen. I laugh at the nickname but get up anyway. I walk down the hall to the bathroom and wash my hands before joining them at the table. We eat quickly and quietly since the younger kids have already eaten and gone to bed. Rachel and I clean the table off and load the dishwasher before her parents say goodnight and head upstairs. "Come on you can sleep with me," She tells me as I grab clothes from my bag.

"I am perfectly capable of sleeping on the couch Rachel. Your family is good enough to take me in but I don't want to push them too far," I tell her remembering how if I even pushed against Harold he would take me to the basement and do horrible things to me. I shudder at the thought.

"If you are sure. Goodnight Riley. Sleep well," She says and disappears down the hall to her room. I change in the bathroom and settle on the couch pulling one of the blankets off the back of the couch before laying down again. Maybe this time I won't wake up as soon as I doze off.

~

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