acetone

004

You never really know how much you want to take a shower until you've forced yourself to strip down and stand under a stream of heated water. It is easy to forget how great it feels to wash yourself of the day's strains and to just close your eyes and let your shoulders relax. No one can hurt you when you're in a shower, no one can attack you, no one can yell at you, no one can grab your hair and slam it against a window-

My eyes snapped open at the memory and I grabbed at the ends of my hair. I sunk to the bottom of the bathtub and shook my shoulders. I reached for the shampoo and washed my hair for easily the first time in a month as the front door to my apartment opened. I heard it and my heart skipped a beat. I stood up straight and rinsed out the shampoo and put conditioner on my ends. Whoever was in the apartment was stomping around like a soldier; I washed my body. The stomping became louder. I rinsed out the conditioner and relished in the heat of the water until the Stomper knocked on my door. Not once, but five times in angry progression.

"Okay okay jeez, Corinthia. Let me get dressed first." A low 'okay' came in response. Either Corinthia had gotten a bad hangover last night or that was not her and I was more confident in the latter. I patted myself as dry as I could before pulling on black tights and a tank top.

Another knock.

"I'm almost done." My voice cracked and I cleared my throat, attempting to avoid the Stomper's suspicion. "Keep your horses under control." I pulled up the miniskirt that I had stolen from my sister's dresser and pulled my orange hoodie one. I slipped into the ankle boots that I hadn't worn since the funeral and slowly opened the door.

The Stomper was there. It stood tall, at least two feet above me with it's translucent skin and huge blue eyes, it's muscles bulged and pulsed under it's skin. It stared at me with a toothy smile, and I took a step back. My body was tensing and freezing and I was crying and shrieking. It reached for me with it's bony fingers and a voice inside me told me to run. But I couldn't, I couldn't move, I could barely move. It gripped my upper arms and hoisted me into the air. The voice was screaming but my crying was louder.

It began counting, "One, two, I grabbed you. Three, four, stop Core." It laughed. "Your name doesn't really rhyme but I tried." It swung me a bit and I watched it's heart pump.

The voice in my head began to sound like Corinthia. GOD DAMN IT, LISTEN TO ME CORA. GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE, it screamed. I slammed my foot into the thing's heart and it dropped me and screamed. I ran out of the open apartment door with tears and snot running down my face. I ran down the stairs and out the door but didn't trip until I was on the concrete stairs that lead up to my building, there I fell and ripped open my tights and the skin on my knees. I stood up and looked back as the Stomper appeared at the top of the steps. A red car swerved towards me and the back door opened, I looked in the back seat and saw the devil himself.

"Get in!" Romeo exclaimed. He didn't need to say that twice. Even with the pain in my knees and scraped hands I managed to clamber into the back seat of the old car. It made a u-turn and drove towards the highway that lead out of the city. I held my chest as I heaved. Romeo reached over me and grabbed my seat belt, and snapped it into place.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I closed my eyes tight and continued to count, I tried to block out what had just happened with no success. I gripped my dripping hair and cried. Romeo didn't say anything to me and for awhile he didn't look at me. I held my face in my hands and sobbed until I heard him unbuckle his seatbelt. He moved closer to me and wrapped his arm around me and held me close to him.

"Hey Coraline, everything's okay now. You're safe." I didn't believe him. He gripped me tighter. "I swear, you're safe." His voice was the softest and smoothest that I had ever heard it. "N is a very great driver, Dash is a pro at being the human GPS and I am great at hugging my friends. Nothing bad will happen to you here." My crying and shaking slowly calmed, "See, you're okay." I blinked a few times before shoving him off of me.