Lovely Bones {Sequel to Skinny Love}

Scared

Emma's POV

I hear them shouting my name, all of them, but I don’t listen. I turn around and push past Riley, who was trying to hold me by my shoulders. Once out of the house that seemed to have no air, I run down the street, my face soaked with salty tears. I stumble a bit, but I don’t let it stop me. I keep going and going, never looking back. I knew they wouldn’t go after me. Riley wouldn’t let them, and I was thankful for that. Right now I just needed space; I just needed to be alone.

I run up our driveway, the space where Lacie’s car usually sits, empty. I push open the front door. (One day someone will take advantage of Lacie’s forgetfulness to lock the house.)

The stairs are blurry while I trudge up them to my room. I slam the door shut, and run my back down the wood. I sob into my hands, aware of the mascara staining my palms.

After a while, no tears come. My body shakes, but not because my window is open, letting in fresh air, and not because I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, something I hadn’t been able to do for a while because of the scars.

I run my fingers through the tangled mess on my head. Toby’s hat was gone. I had thrown it down once I had saw him. I press my eyelids together tightly, trying to suppress the memory, and lean my head back on the wood behind me. It all seemed so dreamlike. No, it was more like a nightmare. A nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from no matter how hard a tried. No matter how many times I pinched my arm, I was still here.

I thought he had missed me as much as I missed him, or at least I had hoped he missed me as much as I missed him. But he had just gotten new company. It was only for two weeks. It was only fourteen days. How could he find someone new in fourteen days?

I run my hands up and down my arms, feeling the goose bumps underneath my fingertips. Dragging myself from the position I had sat for far too long, my butt sore, I walk into the connecting bathroom. Hot water felt good against my tear stained face. I gathered my hair into a messy bun at the top of my head.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror was difficult. When I had first arrived home, my thought wasn’t on harming myself, but after the harm Toby had done to me, it now was different.

I look to the top left drawer where my razor was kept. No. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t care if Toby was disappointed in me, but others would be. Riley, Avery, Carly, Justin, the rest of the boys including Thomas and Braiden—they would all be disappointed. I couldn’t disappoint anyone else.

Through my closed bathroom door I hear a small, weak, knock. I opened the door slowly, praying it didn’t creak. Again the knock came, and I slowly made my way towards the door. I regret opening it when I see who it was, once I saw what he looked like.

Toby’s eyes matched mine, tired, and his face was also tear stained. It looked like he had run his fingers through his hair multiple times, as it was standing tall. I looked to where his eyes were; my wrists.

“Thank god.” He whispers, quietly.

“What are you doing here?” I mutter. He looks up at my face. It looks like it had caused him physical pain seeing me like this.