Pattern

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

// Prudence //

I threw the phone down, covering my mouth to stop myself from crying aloud. The door opened, and the man - I needed a name for him soon - looked around, confused. He sprinted down the steps.

"What the fuck happened, Prudence?"

I hated the fact he knew my name, that he could say it the way he did, like he knew everything about me. I held the scissors behind my back, and hoped he didn't notice the phone. "I got bored," I spat, then realised I had every reason to be afraid. Now wasn't the time to act brave.

He walked over to me. "And you thought you mess up the place? You thought you could possibly do that and get away with it?"

I met his eyes, then slowly got to my feet, shaking again. I wasn't sure if I could stand, but I had to. Courage came from within me. "Fuck you," I said, and pulled out the scissors.

I aimed them at his heart, and stabbed.

He held up his hand in the last second, and I hit it instead. For a moment, I watched as it started to bleed.

And then he hit me so hard that I lost my balance, which was going to happen easily since standing was difficult. And before I could react properly, he was kicking me, over and over in the stomach. And they were proper kicks, the ones that made me feel like my organs were being beaten, not just an angry senior want to show off. This time, it was an angry psychopath.

"Stop!" I managed to choke out, but then I spat up blood, and he still didn't stop. He smacked my face against the wall, over and over. I kept coughing, but he still didn't stop. I didn't think I could breathe anymore, I couldn't do anything anymore. I wanted to curl up into a ball and die, just to stop it, stop the pain.

And after a while, by some miracle, I blacked out.

--

When I woke up, I wished I hadn't.

I was hurt, everywhere. I ached and ached, and nothing felt alright. Nothing felt like it would ever be okay again. I could barely move. I felt around, wondering if he had found the mobile phone, my only connection to the world. I had five recent missed calls, two from Crystal's phone, two from what I recognised as my father's mobile, and one from Avery's number. The phone had been on silent, and face down, so he'd have no reason to notice it.

The screen made everything in the room visible, but there wasn't much I wanted to see. I noticed the battery was dying, so went quickly to call someone.

I - or rather, Hanna, was out of credit. I wanted to give up. Every instinct was telling me to give up, to close my eyes so the pain all over my body and the migraine would go away. I couldn't, though. I had to live for certain people.

I waited in hope for someone to call me again, but no one did.

No one called, at all.

I was alone again.

--

I fell asleep for a few hours, but I woke up crying. I took a minute to realise where I was, and I then grasped why I hurt so much.

And then the fear overtook me, and I realised I'd rather die than have him come back.

Was I really that weak? I was angry at myself, because it was my own damn fault that my insides were even aching. I just had to act like a smartass, like I didn't care, when I really just wanted to go home. I wanted my dad. I wanted to hug him, and I wanted him to tell me that I was okay, that I was safe.

And I wanted Madi, to arrange a sleepover and paint my nails and tell me that scars faded, that they just made me prettier, and that she'd always be there when I needed her.

And, finally, I wanted Avery, and I wanted him to hold me and promise that he wouldn't goddamn leave me again, because I needed him. I wanted him to sing to me, because his voice seemed to make everything better.

But it looked so unlikely that I'd ever see these people again, and I'd die a girl with so many regrets, that I hadn't told my dad I loved him in so long, or Dylan that he'd be a great tech guy, or Esther that she was a perfect addition to our group.

I never told Madi that I would never be the person I was without her, and I'd never get to tell her that I actually might like Avery, and I'd never get to kiss Avery to find out.

It made me so sad, because all the things that had stopped me before were silly and unimportant. And it was even more sad that I had to be put in this situation to realise it.

I was going to cry again, because everything hurt and there was no hope anymore. I tried to hold on to Avery's words on the phone, but he was gone too. I was completely and utterly alone, and breathing was even difficult. The pain was just becoming bearable until I tried to move and was forced to bend my head over, closing my eyes to wish it away.

I wonder if this was how Hanna felt, how Lucy and Natasha felt. And they'd never been able to contact anyone, have a single person tell them they'd be okay.

After a while, the phone lit up, in its dying moments. It was sort of tragic, but I managed to quickly opened the text.

"I'm not sure if you'll ever see this, but don't give up. We'll find you. You'll get home, I promise you.

Just don't give up."

The phone had not recognised the number, and died seconds later, so I didn't know who it was. But I had an idea.

Instead of crying, I swallowed my fear and made sure to breathe.

I was going to survive, or die trying.

In the end, there was only ever those two options.