Back For You

Chapter Six.

           Back For You - Chapter Six.

                             Peyton locked herself in her bathroom the minute she arrived home. She didn’t have to worry about her mother’s questioning of why she was so panicked. She was at work, so Peyton was left alone to her own onslaught of questions her mind threw at her.

How did he get out? Did he break out? How did he get his old car back? Peyton tried to swat away at the pestering thoughts, but they wouldn’t leave her alone. Nor would the frantic state she was starting to slip into. He’s going to kidnap me. He’s going to take me back to that basement. He’s going to keep me locked up in there for weeks, months, years. And this time, I’m not going to come back. I’m going to end up like dad. He’s going to make me pay for leaving him. He’s going to make sure that we are never separated again. We’re going to be together. Forever.

Peyton paced around the bathroom, tangling her fingers into her hair and tugging as hard as she could, praying that this was just another nightmare. But it wasn’t. And soon enough the tears were falling and the screams were leaving her throat.

She screamed for mercy. She screamed because she didn’t understand why bad things happened to her. She screamed because all she wanted was Tyler Moore to get out of her head. And her life.

She fell to the floor, kicking at the waste basket and anything else that was in her path. She let out inhuman wails and sobs till her throat began to burn.

She pressed her knees to her chest, a fresh batch of tears leaving her sore eyes as she wrapped her arms around her legs, as if she was desperately trying to hold herself together. Then she realized it was futile. She was already broken, anyway.

Broken and tainted and faithless.

She remained like that for hours. Huddled in a corner and crying until she was sure there were no more tears left to shed.

She felt numb after. Staring at some non-existent spot on the wall. Not long after did she drag herself out of the bathroom and onto the couch where she turned the volume of the TV up on high and made sure the doors and windows were locked, like always.

At some point, exhaustion over took her and she fell into a deep slumber. One good thing came out of it. There were no nightmares. Probably because they had all come true already.

                       “Peyton, are you alright?”

Peyton’s mother asked worriedly the next morning at breakfast. Peyton hadn’t spoken, nor glanced, in her mother’s direction since she came down stairs.

She felt too drowsy and light headed to put effort into conversing with her mother. She was too absorbed in the fact that she saw Tyler. That he was back. And she couldn’t believe it.

She knew it was him, for sure. There was no doubting it. She had seen him. And she didn’t know what to do about it.

She didn’t know whether to tell her mother or not. She was scared her mother wouldn’t believe her. Or that they’d be forced to leave their home just because of Peyton’s stalker. It didn’t matter if they did leave, though. Tyler would follow her wherever she went. She learned that the hard way.

So she kept her mouth shut and simply drove herself mad with the thoughts that overwhelmed her. Her mother was more than just worried at that point.

“Did something happen?” Her mother persisted to ask. Peyton didn’t reply. “Peyton? Peyton, what’s wrong?”

Peyton let out a huff of annoyance at her mother’s constant questioning. “Nothing, mom, I’m fine.” She spat and stood from her chair, collecting her bag off from the floor. “I’m going to school. See you later.”

Peyton didn’t give her mother enough time to reply. She practically sprinted out of the house, not even flinching when the door slammed loudly behind her. She carried out her daily routine when all she wanted to do was hide. Then again, there was nowhere safe to hide. Tyler would get to her anyway. And that scared her more than anything.

So she stuck by people closely, blending in with larger crowds and actually sitting with people in both class and on the bus. They gave her weird looks, but never said a thing. She was grateful for that.

And for the first time in months, she actually participated in a conversation that Mel had sparked up with her at lunch. She couldn’t exactly remember what it was about, but she chimed in a few words here and there. Mel was pleased by that. She had grinned like she won the lottery.

The day had continued on fairly regular. There was no sign of Tyler Moore. Nothing. Still, she remained on guard at all times.

 She flew out of the classroom once the dismissal bell rang. Not caring when the teacher called after her to come back and write down the homework assignment. All she wanted was to get home.

And that’s what she did. She spent most of the time locked in the bathroom. She found it was the only safe place in the house, considering it had no windows or such. She stayed there until her mother arrived home and began to cook dinner.

“You rushed out this morning pretty quickly,” Her mother stated as she stirred around the spaghetti in the big pot. “Is everything okay?”

Peyton nodded stiffly. She knew her mother wouldn’t drop it. Especially if Peyton started to ignore her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just stressed.”

Peyton’s mother frowned at her. “Are you sure?”

Peyton rolled her eyes. “Yes, mom.”

“Peyton, don’t lie. I know you ran off from Mr. Matthews. What happened? Did he say something?”

Peyton mentally cursed the person who had told her mother about Peyton freaking out at school. “No, he didn’t say anything.”

“Then what?” Her mother pushed on.

Peyton looked up from the ground and glared at her. “It’s nothing, okay? Just drop it.” Peyton stood to leave, but her mother wouldn’t allow it.

“Don’t you dare use that tone of voice at me, Peyton Adams.” Her mother commanded and pointed a finger at her daughter. “Tell me what’s going on. Help me understand what-”

“Even if I did tell you, you’d never understand!” Peyton screeched and shook her head at her mother. “There’s no point.”

Quickly, the look of anger her mother had before diminished from her eyes.

This is about Tyler, her mother realized dully. She sighed and inched closer to her daughter.

“This is about... him, isn’t it?”

Peyton didn’t respond. It was enough of an answer for her mother.

“Peyton, I’ve told you this many times,” Her mother whispered. “Tyler’s-”

Peyton didn’t bother to listen. It was just the usual speech about how Tyler was locked up far away from their small town. That Peyton was finally safe.

If only her mother knew how wrong she was.

She wasn’t safe. She never would be. Tyler Moore would always come back for her. And she would never be able to escape him.

After her mother’s speech, she went up to her room and changed into pajamas. She climbed into bed and forced herself to sleep. During the night, she woke up momentarily, swearing she saw Tyler Moore’s familiar green eyes staring right back at her.