The Stars Line Up For You

3. c e p e h e u s

"What are you doing here?" I breathed out as my blood slowed to a creep in my veins. He shouldn't be here.

"I asked you a question Taylor!" I blurted out when he didn't answer. He stepped out of the shadows, his angular face highlighted by the moonlight and the sadistic smirk clear on his face.

"As you know very well, I haven't been here for quite a long time. And as I'm about to tell you, I'm choosing not to tell you exactly why I'm back. Keeps the suspense." He gestured out with his hands, as if that explained everything I needed to know. I then decided to shoot him a not-so-nice gesture of my own.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry." He said with a booming laugh. He feigned hurt and asked, "Did I offend you in some way? So sorry if I did. But we have other matters to attend to. Like the fact that your father is now out of jail."

"What?" I forced out. My father was not supposed to be out of jail yet for at least five years.

"Haven't you heard? He got out early for good behavior. Oh and also, they decided to take him."

"Who did?" I pushed.

"Cut the shit. You know." He snapped, causing me to jump back. Then I realized I did know, and I was filled with rage.I sprinted forward and pushed him against the tree. He groaned and gingerly put a hand to the back of his head.

"Why did you do that? I look so perfect." I rolled my eyes and shoved him against the tree again.

"Last I checked, you were working for them too."

"Those days are long gone, honey. I'm done with that after how many times they utterly screwed me over." He grumbled. He made a move to push back and I thumped onto the ground with a grunt.

"Well, maybe I don't give a damn." I smiled, covering up my grimace of pain. "You have something that you need, and I have nothing to give you. As you can see, I've lived a drama-free life for 5 years and I intend to keep it that way. So fuck off." I pushed against him, but he didn't budge.

"God, you are so damn salty. And that's not what it looked like yesterday." My mind flashed back to what happened at lunch. How did he know about that?

"You've been stalking me!" I screeched as he smiled triumphantly. "That is all kinds of wrong. Creep."

"Hey! It's called observing. I know you, so it's fine."

I was getting angrier now. This stupid banter had been going on for too long and I was going to put a stop to it. I pushed as hard as I could and got to my feet, ready to sprint, but it turned out I had underestimated how much he needed whatever he thought I could give him. He lunged and grabbed my arm and it almost popped out of its socket because of of my attempts to get away. That only made me angrier and I whirled around and punched him on the mouth. He was only slightly older than me, so he was thrown off and gave me just enough time to yank my arm out of his grasp and take off sprinting through the pitch black woods. My eyes had accustomed to the darkness so I could see the dark outlines of the trees in pale blue light of the moon. I jumped over a fallen log and took a second to glance back at Taylor, who was following shortly after me, wiping dark red blood from his lips.

"Stop running!' He yelled. "You're just making this harder!'

"Well then stop running after me and let me go! I'm not interested in doing anything with you!" I was starting to get winded, but I wouldn't stop and give him the satisfaction. I continued on until I got the edge of the woods, where the moonlit sidewalk came into sight. I looked back quickly, and when I didn't see Taylor, I jumped over the nearest house's fence and crouched behind it. I took a minute to catch my breath and waited in suspense for him to find his way out of the woods.

"Where are you, Rae? This would be so much easier if you just let me talk to you!" He called. I didn't dare talk, and hope he would move soon so I could get away. I just hoped he hadn't found out where I lived. I heard footsteps recede slowly, telling me that he was moving away to go look somewhere else. I waited until I couldn't hear him anymore and jumped back over the fence I creeped along silently where the edge of the woods me the backs of the fences and when I could see my house come into view, I went through someone's backyard and sprinted across the open street. I went in through the front gate of my house and climbed in through my open back bedroom window, kept open for exactly this reason. I narrowly missed falling on my face and waking everyone up. I especially didn't need a lecture tonight. I had enough problems already. I quietly collapsed on my bed, suddenly too exhausted to deal with anything right now. I drifted off to sleep, the curtains on my open window rippling slightly in the cold night wind.

***

I started awake, my vision blurry and I was violently shivering. I stopped taking in my surroundings, and I realized I was still safe in my room, but the window was still open, causing me to basically freeze to death in my room. I pushed myself up with difficulty and hurried over to close the window. I cam closer and stopped in my tracks when I saw the thing that had woken me up in the first place. A small white folded piece of paper was taped to my windowsill. I looked out the window and saw a dark figure jump over the fence and out of sight. I was instantly on edge because I knew exactly who it was. I snatched the note up, and skimmed over it:

I found you. your move. meet me where you know i'll be.

with love, Taylor

I crumpled up the note in irritation and threw it on my floor. I slammed my window closed and stomped back over to my bed. I knew it was childish of me to be pouting and stomping, but at this point I was pissed. I didn't bother being quiet as I flopped back on my bed for what was probably the tenth time in the past 24 hours. The sun was starting to peek out, bringing with is a soft ring of early morning light. I fell back asleep, knowing that I would't bother going to school today. I needed a day of calm before the shit storm that was sure to ensue.