James had kept to his threats, he made sure that I paid for my little outburst by making life at home hell. The only reassuring thing was that he wasn't at my High School, with him being three years older than me. So at least I had one place I was safe.
That's what I had thought. Giving myself this illusion of security I hadn't really thought about the lengths that this guy would go to in order to take me down.
He went as far as dating Amber, a girl in my year who had always been jealous of me for some reason. The reason I'm still not too sure why- she was beautiful and popular too. I didn't see myself as a threat to her, or her thirst to reach the top of the social ladder.
Anyway, James decided to start dating Amber, which is when the rumours all began. This time they all centered around me. This was the first time I had ever become a victim of this town's game of spreading rumours. Let me tell you I hated every minute of it.
James had taken it upon himself to reveal my so called 'secrets' and seeing as he lived with me he was obviously the only one with full time intel. Apparently, I had stolen a girl's boyfriend, planned on making my way through relationships to tear them down, oh and my classic favourite of being a drug experimenter seeing as I could sneak meds from Mum without her noticing. The list escalated the worst thing was that so did the amount of people that believed them. People started turning their back on me, either in fear of me jeopardizing their lives, or for the fact they actually believed these bunch of lies to be true.
Soon enough I was only left with one friend, Susan. She hadn't believed the rumours thankfully and had stuck by my side. She had seen how James had treated me when she had been over my house and knew that he was out to get me.
It was the first time I had ever felt alone, I could walk down the street and no one even mutter a word to me. After sixteen years, you'd think they'd know me better than this. Somehow a few of the adults were unaware of the rumours, and if they did know they acted oblivious around me.
After taking my weekly visit to Lina's I had returned with a bag of Christmas presents from the staff. I knew they had heard the rumours, Lina's always had the up to date gossip, but I'd never really cared because it had never been about me. Still they had greeted with open arms like always with a mug of hot chocolate and carrot cake on the side. These were the people I relied on. I couldn't say they knew me that well, I only saw them for a brief time once a week but they were always there. Always checking up on me and seeing how life was. Relief washed over me as I was walking home, at least some people knew the truth Isabelle I thought to myself.
As I reached home James was in the hall way blocking my way to the stairs. No way was he ruining the first day I've been in a good mood for weeks now. I politely asked him to move out the way, not seeking to suffer from his wrath.
His head rolled back as he let out a short laugh before answering, "Looks to me like our princess lost her bite. Now tell me why should I let you of all people pass?"
I could feel a headache forming, desperate for him not to ruin my one day of happiness I whispered, "Please let me pass James." I looked down at the floor, dreading what he was going to do next to me. Silence. It felt like years before I sucked up the courage to look up to see that he had moved away and was looking down at me with a glint in his eyes. I made my way up the stairs whilst muttering a quiet 'Thank you' and allowed sleep to take over as soon as I reached my bed.
YOU ARE READING
Shot in the Dark
ChickLitIsabelle was a small town's pride and joy, living a life sheltered by popularity. She never knew what it was like to face the wrath that came with small town rumours. That was until someone walked into her life and turned it upside down.
