Shadows of My Past

Chapter 13

My fun soon disappeared when we arrived back at the apartment.

The moment we opened the door Damian appears, and that's when I remembered, we never told him we were leaving the house.

The one thing he wouldn't let me do.

"Do you even know how worried I've been? You were gone for hours and I had no idea where you were!"

"Damian it's ok, I was with Clay."

"No Phoebe it's not ok! It's my job to protect you."

"I was protected!"

"Well how would I have known that? Someone is stalking you, and then one day I come home and you're gone!"

"Damian you're getting way too worked up about this.."

He directs his attention towards Clay. "You couldn't have bothered to leave a damn note or something! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with my girlfriend."

My head snapped towards him.

"I'm not your girlfriend, Damian. I never was."

And with my words still hanging in the air between us, I walked past both of them and went straight for my room.

«·» «·» «·»

By 1:00 in the morning, no one had bothered to come check on me. I guess they both decided it was best to leave me alone for now.

Good.

I started thinking.

The bad kind.

The kind where you tear yourself up, and you feel empty.

Lonely, almost.

Sometimes I pity myself.

I start thinking about Damian. Maybe I was too hard on him. Maybe I should apologize?....

No. Forget it.

I need to sleep.

But I can't.

Screw this, I need to take a walk.

The cold air hit me as I exited the building, careful not to wake anybody.

If Damian caught me sneaking out at this late, he'd kill me himself.

I rounded the corner, glancing at the different houses. The streets were empty; everything was dead silent.

The night was eerie. Only five minutes into the walk and I was starting to feel paranoid.

I kept seeing a shadow in the distance...

But then I saw him.

Standing. Observing me in the distance.

I backed away. Slowly.

But he followed me into the dark.

So I ran.

I ran as fast as I could, pushing myself farther and farther.

When I turned around, I couldn't see him.

I couldn't see anything.

I was trapped in the in the woods.

With careful steps I proceeded forward.

I stretched my hearing, searching for the slightest sound of movement.

I ran farther into the woods. Faster this time. I was in a race with myself.

I needed to get back home, but I couldn't turn around.

He could still be watching me.

What if he's following me now?

I started running again.

But not for long.

Someone yanked my wrist back and threw me hard against a tree.

When I turned to look, he was standing in front of me.

"Hello again Phoebe." his voice was deep and intimidating.

It was hard to see his face, but I managed to punch him in the jaw as he tried to grab a hold of me again.

My first instinct was to again, start running.

Not fast enough.

That asshole lunged for me and pulled my arms behind my back as he dragged me to his car.

Once reached, he threw me into the back seat, hopped into the front, and sped away.

I slammed myself as hard as I could against the door, but nothing.

But then I heard a whimper next to me.

And that's when I noticed; I wasn't alone in this car.

A child, a redheaded girl, was sitting in the corner, curled into a ball. Her green eyes stared wide at me, like she had never seen another human before.

She was scared, poor little girl.

Her hair was dirty, skin pale, and she had bruises on her arm.

A large scar on her forehead.

"Why did daddy take you?"

I looked sadly at her. "I don't know. But I need to get out of here."

I peered over at the helpless figure beside me. She must be miserable living with this man. Did he do this to her? How dare he treat a child like this.

I would know more than anybody how much it hurts.

Physically and mentally.

"Would you like to escape with me?"

She scooted a little closer to me. "You mean it?"

I nodded. "I know what it's like to be hurt by a father." There's no way I'm letting a beautiful child like her go through the shit I did.

Her smile itself indicated that words wouldn't be enough to describe how grateful she was.

"At the next stop, we need to hijack this car, and drive as far as we can, ok?"

She nods.

I pull her into my arms. "I'll take care of you. I promise."

And with that said, I keep her close to me as we anxiously waited for the next stop to arrive.