Haunted (Under Construction)

Truth

I walked into the science room and saw her sitting in her usual spot reading her book. 

          "Avery." I said. She looked up at me. I noticed a glassy and unaffected look in her eyes and then she looked back down at her novel. What the hell? Was she ignoring me?

          "Avery?" I said as I walked towards her. She didn't look up. 

          "Yes?" She answered me not removing her eyes from the book. 

          "Is everything alright?" I asked her. There was a long silence. 

          "Everything is fine Jericho." I stiffened when she said my name with no emotion at all. 

          "It doesn't seam that way." I told her. She slammed her book shut and looked up at me. Only now her brow was tightly knit and the green eyes were cold and hard. 

          "I said everything is fine. Are we done here?" She snapped at me. I was taken back. 

          "Yeah we are." I said. I sat down in the seat next to her in frustration. 

          "What the hell are you doing?" She asked me. 

          "Sitting with my friend." I told her. She groaned and gathered her stuff and moved to the front of the room. If I remembered correctly just last night we were getting along fine. I did thee same and moved to the seat next to her. we did this about five times before I had enough of this game. I grabbed her wrist a little to tight as she got up to move again. She winced at the pain. The way she winced was not from me squeezing her wrist. I saw tears well up in her eyes I instantly let go of her hand. I then absorbed her appearance. Long sleeved shirt, a hoodie, and finger less gloves. I grabbed her arm and lifted it up. The gears in my head started turning. 

          "No!" She yelled. This only edged me on. She tried to yank her arm away from me but it was hopeless. I quickly slid the layers away from her wrist. I was in shock at what I saw. It took all my will power to contain my wolf from shifting right then. Her small wrist was surrounded by a thick black and blue ring. I tilted her wrist to see that three other half rings circled her wrist as well. 

          "Who did this?" I growled.  She didn't answer. I studied he as she looked out the door at what seemed like thousands of people. 

Avery

          Jericho roughly dragged me by my arm out of the classroom. I gripped the frame of the doorway and yelled at him as I wanked my arm away from him, 

          "Wait! What about class?" Jericho looked around at the people surrounding us. 

          "Fuck it." he said as he grabbed my arm again and pulled me down the hallways and out of the school. Why was he doing this? Because he saw my wrist and wanted answers. He pulled me to the dumpsters behind the gym. The gray concrete walls were decorated with graffiti, and an old bench sat up against the wall. Most likely the smokers had dragged it here. 

           Jericho turned around and faced me. His face was agonizing he looked so hurt and in pain. 

           "Avery , please... who did this to you?" He asked me. I stayed silent and silently debated within my self weather or not to tell him. Could I trust him? He swears to me that he cares about me, but is that true? I bet he says that to all his fake friends. Let's say I did tell him... how would he react? Would he be repulsed at how weak I am and leave me. As much as I hated to admit it my heart constricted and felt heavy at that thought. I didn't want to be left alone. If he did I would be more alone then be for. That scared me senselessly. What if he told someone? Oh God that would not do at all. What would I do if he told? That would mess up everything! Let's say if, and I mean if I did tell him. Then what? Would he pity me? Would he hate me? Would he see me any different then he does now. All these questions buzzed around my head relentlessly. The gears in my head turned and looked at every angle and possibility of the out come. 

           I don't want to be alone. 

           I Don't. 

           But could I trust him? That was my main question. I had a plan and if I told him that might alter things. 

           "Avery... pleas say something." He pleaded. I began to tremble. I  stumbled towards the bench as my knees quaked underneath me. I sat down on the bench and squeezed my eyes shut. Could I do it? Could I tell him? Should I tell him. I felt Jericho sit down next to me and take my hand in his. 

         Trust him. I heard a warm a smooth voice say. The voice gave me a sense of Déjà vu. My head instantly shot up and I looked all around me in search for the voice. I anticipated to find Angela somewhere, but she was no where to be seen. Angela was the one who gave me confidence and guidance at moments like this. However at this moment she was absent and I was left to make the final decision. I looked into Jericho's eyes. Could I trust him? Was he going to leave me more alone then before? There was only one way to find out. I took a deep breath and said,

          "All of them." I felt his grip tighten on my hand.

          "All of them who?" He growled. 

          "My family." He grasped my hand and brought it to his forehead as if he was praying. 

          "How long has this been going on?" He asked me. 

          "Since I was fifteen so roughly almost three years." I told him slowly and calmly. I Heard him curs under his breath. The was along and tense silence after that. 

          "Pleas... don't- don't tell anyone." I begged him. As soon as I said this he dropped my hand. 

          "Why would you say that? Avery it's dangerous. We need to get you out of there." He said frantically. 

          "You think I don't know that? Where would I go? Even if I did leave they would just hall me back to that hell hole and that would make things even worse. My best bet is to wait till I'm eighteen." I told him. 

          "Why can't you leave?" He asked me. 

          "Trust me I tried. I almost made it to the boarder, but Ben's on the police force so the police didn't help me. I told them but they just told me Ben would never do something like that. So they sent me back and things became worse." I told him. 

          "Then what are you going to do?" He asked me. I shook my head at him. 

          "At the moment there's nothing I can do. Before I leave I'm going to press charges against them, but I want to wait until Terrance is eighteen as well. That way he can be charged as an adult. But until then... I have to wait it out." Jericho wrapped his arms around me and brought me close to him.

          "Listen to me. As soon as you get home lock your door and don't come out unless you absolutely have to. If any thing and I mean any thing happens then call me and I'll pick you up. It will be alright." He said in a shaky voice. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my face in the crook of his neck. 

          "I will." I promised him.  He pulled away from me and exhaled. 

          "Now, why did you act like that this morning?" He asked me. 

          "Oh... sorry. I guess I do that when I'm on edge or trying to hide something. I just didn't want you to see the bruises." I said as I rubbed my wrist. 

          "I guess that makes sense. Why didn't you want me to know?" He asked me. 

          "I didn't want you to pity me. The last thing I need is for people treating me different because I have a not so perfect life. So really can you blame me?" I told him. 

          "No I really can't." He said. He then reluctantly stood up and stretched his hand out at me. 

          "Now, we have a science class we are missing." And just like that I took his hand and we walked back towards the school.