The Boy Next Door (Editing and Rewriting)

Chapter 11

“How dare you?” he screamed at the top of his lungs, waving the knife around in his frustration. To say that I was scared would be a complete understatement; I was absolutely terrified, I was only trying to tell him that I didn’t want to be with him anymore. Not after what I found out about our relationship, the real reason behind it. I had invited him over so that we could discuss it without the stares of everyone at school, in private. I barely even started my sentence before he freaked out and grabbed the knife that was lying on the bench next to him.

“You are trying to break up with me?” Ryder screamed at me again, the knife still tightly gripped in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

“I know what you and your friends did, why you are really dating me Ryder, and I don’t want to be with someone like that,” I said, my voice barely coming out as a whisper.

“What did you say?” he screamed, he just kept screaming, and the tears kept flowing down my cheeks.

“I know about the bet!” I screamed back at him, and instantly regretted it when he brought the knife up, looking as if he was about to lunge at me.

“Well, not everything goes over your head then does it, dear,” he sneered, even though he wasn’t screaming at me anymore the venom in his voice was still there. He took a step towards me and I took a step back, hitting my lower back against the edge of the bench that was behind me. Clearly seeing an advantage he took another step forward, blocking me from moving with his body.

“Please Ryder,” I begged, the tears coming down even more now, “please don’t hurt me Ryder, I won’t say anything, I swear,” I promised him, right now I would sell my soul to the devil if it got me out of this situation. But of course, I had already done that.

“You’re darn right you won’t,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, but it still managed to send a cold shiver down my spine, he still sounded deadly, “and just to remind you not to, I’ll give you something to remember me by,” he said before he lifted my shirt to expose my flat, tan stomach.

“W-wh-what are y-you do-doing?” I replied, through my tears and frantic breaths.

“Shh darling, it’ll be okay, don’t move,” he replied without looking at me, I could only see his short cut, dark brown hair as it moved in time with his movements the sun glinting of it at certain angles the hair I once used to love running my fingers through.

“Oh, yeah by the way,” now he looked up at me, his brown eyes cold and hard, no emotion whatsoever, “this is going to hurt. A lot.”

 That was all he said before he dug the knife deep into the flesh of my stomach, carving line after line, while I stood there screaming and thrashing.

“I thought I told you not to move, you stupid girl,” he said as he stood flush against me again and stared straight into my eyes, “I’m almost done. So hold still and it will hurt less.”

With that he continued carving onto my flesh until he was satisfied with the result, he stepped back to admire his work, leaving me with nothing to hold me up. Since my strength was all gone due to the screaming, crying and the pure terror that was running through my veins, I collapsed onto the floor.

“See you around sweetheart!” Ryder called over his shoulder as he walked away, leaving me there on the floor, bleeding out, alone.

I woke up with a start, sweat was pouring from just about everywhere and my heart was racing about a million miles a minute. I had somehow managed to fall asleep on my beanbag by the window and was dreaming about Ryder, again. As if I needed to see the events unfold themselves all over again, whilst being helpless to stop them, again. Standing up I headed to the bathroom so that I could wash my face, possible take a shower and get all the sweat and the memories off me. Looking at the clock before I got up I saw that it was only 4 am; I still had a few hours before I had to get up and get ready for school.

Entering the bathroom I walked straight up to the sink and looked in the mirror that hung above it. My hair was a complete mess, my eyes were red and puffy from all of the non-voluntary crying and I looked as if I had just seen a ghost, which I sort of had. With all of my thrashing in my sleep my tank top had ridden up a little, leaving the bottom of my stomach visible. The scars that reminded me of the nightmares stood out, a bright red against my now pale skin, even though it happened a year ago they never really faded very much, they were still as red as they were back then. Five deep lines all running across my stomach at different angles. The five lines that apparently symbolized the five weeks that I was with Ryder, or maybe it was to symbolize the five letters in the name. Funny how he has the same amount of letters as devil, ironic isn’t it?

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I decided against having a shower and instead just washing my face trying to get rid of the tear streaks and the sweat. After drying my face and the hand towel next to the sink I looked back at my reflection, pulling down my tank top over the stomach, hiding the scars. I headed back to bed. Pulling back the blankets on my bed and climbing inside I pulled the blankets up to my neck, hiding underneath them almost as if they were my own personal shield.

This time I slept peacefully, Ryder didn’t come and haunt my dreams this time and I was glad. It felt like I had only been sleeping for a few minutes when the incessant beeping of my alarm clock signalled that it was 7 am, and that it was time I got up so that I wasn’t late for school. Climbing out from underneath my warm, secure blankets I headed into the bathroom for the second time that morning to start getting ready. Stripping out of nightwear, my gym clothes from yesterday since I never changed out of it, I got into the shower, managing to avoid looking in the mirror in the process. The warm water felt nice on my skin, washing away the feeling of disgust from the night, washing away the dirt, but unfortunately it couldn’t wash away the memories.

After washing down my entire body, I hopped out of the shower, dried myself with a towel before wrapping it around my body. Running a brush through my hair, flattening it out, I headed into my room before entering my closet to get dressed, hoodie, jeans again and sneakers, and head downstairs. Grabbing a cereal bar off the counter and leaving my dad a note to say that I had left for school, I headed out the door and away from the house, towards the school.

The air was nice this morning, not exactly cold but not very warm either, it was relaxing and felt refreshing as it wisped past my face and tangled in my hair. All too soon I was at school, entering through the double doors that cut me off from the outside air I suddenly wished that I had stayed home that day. Because, in the middle of foyer, comfortably leaning up against the front desk, his hair slightly covering his brown eyes, that once captivated me but now only sickened me, was the source of my nightmares, Ryder.

A/N: Enjoy! Ooh cliffhanger! Why's Ryder in London? What does he want? Comment answers if you want :P 

Hope you enjoy