Walking Into Shadows

Chapter Two

Finally, we pulled into my driveway. Brandon parked his car, but didn't turn it off. He knew I didn't want any company today, and so he didn't ask if I wanted to make plans for later. Instead, I would try to catch up on some much needed sleep. I had done all of my homework in detention and so there was nothing keeping me from my bed today.
I kissed Brandon goodbye and walked through my front door. When I got inside, I tossed my bookbag into a corner and sighed.
"Annie?" My dad called from the kitchen.
I said nothing, and started up the stairs. I didn't want to talk.
"Lyn?" He called.
I froze in my place. I hated it when he used my middle name.
"Yeah?" I replied.
Dishes clattered and something smashed.
"God...bless America!" He shouted.
I laughed silently at his attempt not to swear. He came out of the kitchen holding a paper towel over his hand. His deep, auburn hair was a mess on top of his head, almost like he hadn't brushed it at all.
"You okay kiddo?" He asked.
Before Gran died, it had been months since I'd willingly spoken to my dad. At first I was sure that I was just hurt because he'd gotten a new girlfriend; but I later discovered it was just because his new girlfriend was a she demon sent to steal his soul.
Since Gran was gone now, and I didn't have any adult to confide in, I'd been talking to my father non stop.
No.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. Are you alright?"
"Are you sure?" He pushed.
"Yes, Dad." I insisted.
"Didn't get much sleep last night, did you?"
I paused before answering honestly.
"No."
"That same dream?" He wondered.
"Come on Dad, what happened to your hand?" I tried to change the subject.
My father's face turned bright red.
"I... dropped a plate." He admitted. "You know how we roll in this family. You never really cooked dinner unless you got injured."
He always turned everything into a joke.
"You're a terrible cook." I laughed.
"I am a great cook!" He sounded highly offended.
"Oh sure, if you've got a babysitter with you in the kitchen!" I joked. "I mean, Dad, your food is delicious, but you always get attacked by the food, dishes or furniture."
"Hey!" Dad argued with a completely straight face. "That chair came out of nowhere!"
After a short silence, we both burst into laughter.
"I made spaghetti." He informed me, breathlessly.
I, still laughing, followed him into the kitchen.
"Beth?!" My dad's girlfriend shouted from somewhere upstairs.
"Yes, Jessibelle?" I asked.
How fitting that she be named after a biblical whore? She stalked down the stairs and met me at the bottom.
"You left your room a mess! I want it cleaned now!"
She had been in my room. It wasn't the first time she'd outed herself on going through my things. She was physically beautiful. But she was rude, and condecending. She was nosey and controlling. And worst of all, she had my father blind to the damage she was doing to his relationship with me.
"What do you care if it's clean or not? It's my room, you shouldn't be in there to begin with!" I spat.
"Annabeth..." my dad chimed in.
"Dad! She was in my room! She's not even your wife, let alone my step mother! You would both be so pissed if I went into your room while you were gone!" I could feel a migraine coming on, and felt sick to my stomach. I was nearly blind with rage.
"Annie..." Dad never stopped trying to keep the peace between my harsh insults to his girlfriend.
"Mom never went through my room!" I cut him off again.
It was probably mean of me to throw my mother in his face like that. She had been dead for almost four years now. My father looked hurt, but his hurt expression was soon replaced by one of anger.
"Jessi is not your mother, Lyn!" He shouted.
"Yeah no shit!" I shot back.
"Apologize! Both to Jessibelle and to me! This attitude is out of hand."
Jessibelle smirked and folded her arms across her chest.
"To her? Are you joking?" I laughed. I was so angry, that tears began to sting at my eyes.
"You're grounded! Go to your room!" My father demanded.
"Fine!" I shouted, storming up the stairs.
I slammed my bedroom door shut behind myself and began packing up a toat bag with my clothes and makeup.
My thoughts swirled wildly around in my head and I tried hard to steady my breathing. I couldn't catch a break with that woman. Since she'd arrived she'd been barking orders like some kind of prison warden. I had to get out of the house. I had to get away from Jessibelle. I had thought about running away before, I had even gone so far as to tell them that I would. They never believed me. This time I was really leaving.
I texting my best friend, Caitlyn my plan and she confirmed it with her parents. I packed up my backpack with a few outfits and some makeup. I searched the shoebox underneath my bed for the money I had saved up from babysitting last summer and my dog walking job the summer before that. I had counted it at least a hundred times, and so I knew that there was two hundred and sixty six dollars in that box. When I opened it, there was only eighty inside.
Jessibelle.
I pushed the rage inside me way below the surface and took several deep breaths. She had stolen from me, and there was no way to get my father to believe a word I said. Tears stung my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away. I had to keep a clear head in order to get out.
Once I heard things settle down, downstairs, I crept through the house and snuck out the back door with my bag, and ran to Caitlyn's house a few blocks away.
I had walked to her house before and so I knew exactly where to go, but I had never taken the route running before, and by the time I was half way there, I was exhausted.
I pushed myself through the burning in my legs and the ice in my lungs until I reached my best friend's front door. I knocked furiously until Caitlyn's mother, Mrs. Campbell opened it. She seemed very worried at the sight of me, but invited me inside and pulled me into a warm embrace.
"Are you alright? You look awful."
Thanks.
"I'll be okay. I'm just not sleeping very well lately." I sighed for the hundredth time today.
"Well, Caitlyn is up in her bedroom. I'll call you girls down when supper is ready." She told me.
I nodded and took my bag with me upstairs.