Haunted by the Past

Chapter 3

                                                                                    Chapter 3

I start my truck and we sit in silence for the first five minutes just listening to the radio. I just can't believe that Adam would try to shoot, I mean, I thought we got over him trying to kill me. And where the hell did he get a gun? I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I befriended him this summer. At the time all I knew was that he was a new face and had no friends.

We started hanging out at the mall. Actually, we met at the mall when I started to notice this guy staring and following me around like a stalker. As I have proven by putting a "wolf" in my car, I am not the most intelligent of people. Do you know what I did next? I made the worst mistake of my entire life, that's what I did. I am truly a blonde at heart. I went over to him and introduced myself. What? I was still nurturing a broken heart and he was a hot guy that was staring at me. I personally saw potential. Once again, my excuse is that I was lonely and depressed. After my brave, however stupid, move we started hanging out a lot. We would rendezvous at the mall and then go somewhere from there. After a while, I thought I knew him well enough so I invited him over to my house. That same day he asked me out and I said "Yes," cause at the time I thought he was just this really sweet, hot guy. And cause I figured I could try and save him from the other school bitches that would just have a field day with him. I shouldn't have tried to even be nice to him in the first place.

Once school started he joined the football team as linebacker and became a jock. That's when he changed. All the popularity went straight to his head after he started going to parties with the rest of the jocks and cheerleaders. He started cheating on me with the head cheerleader, Savannah. Once I broke up with him and they didn't have to hide it from me and everyone else Savannah became attached to him at the hip. 

Soon after Adam got in a motorcycle accident. He broke his spine and wrist, cracked three ribs, and fractured his skull a tiny bit. He was ordered by the doctor that he wouldn't be able to play for football the rest of the season after he got released from the hospital. Because he wasn't on the team, he wasn't popular anymore, so Savannah broke up with him and he came crawling back to me. Soon after the guys just completely stopped hanging out with him. Of course he blamed me even though it was his own stupidity that got him into that mess in the first place. 

That's when the abuse started. One day he threatened to slit my throat in my sleep. And he would have if I didn't wake up at the last second. That's how close I was, I could feel the cold blade on my neck. He told me that it was a joke and that the blade wouldn't have been able to cut wet paper, let alone cut skin.

If he didn't like the way I was looking at someone-male or female-when he took me back to his house at the end of the day he would beat me. He told me multiple times that "violence" was one of the many side effects of his medicine. I can't believe I was ever actually believed or trusted him.

And I also can't believe that Brandon took that bullet for me when it could have ended his life...

"Why did you do it?" I ask in the truck.

"Do what?" he asks from the passenger seat, but I can see the discomfort in his face. He knew what I meant.

"Please don't make me say it," I plead.

He takes a couple deep breaths then says, "Because, I care about you and I refuse to let him hurt you more than he already has if I am capable of stopping it."

I pull to the side of the deserted road that we were driving on, park the car, then turn to him. "Brandon that could have killed you!" I yell in hysterics, my voice almost cracking at the end.

"And that's a chance that I am willing to take!" he yells back at me. 

My vision starts blurring with tears. "Why?" I ask, barley louder than a whisper.

He grabs my wrist gently and begins to lean towards me. And then we are inches apart. "I won't let them hurt you ever again, you're safe with me," and then he closes the space separating our lips.