Back For You

Chapter Eight.

      Back For You - Chapter Eight. 

                             Peyton returned home completely out of breath. She had ran the entire length home. Not stopping to even answer her mother’s urgent calls.

Immediately once she arrived, she fled into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Bracing her hands against the sink and breathing heavily as she stared at herself in the mirror.

She watched as her bottom lip quivered and her eyes watered. And soon enough, she was sobbing like the pathetic fool she classified herself as.

Her hands shook as she reached up and ran her fingers through her messy waves of brown hair. “He’s back,” She whimpered. “He’s back.”

Tonight, the encounter with Tyler confirmed everything. That it wasn’t her imagination. That Tyler was actually here. That he was actually back for her. And just like the other day, she was so incredibly scared and panicked and just about any other emotion that described distress.

She twisted her fingers into her hair, her stomach churning. Now she truly felt sick.

Stop it, Peyton! Her mind screamed at her, stop it and pull yourself together!

She wavered at the words and bit down on her lip. So hard that she drew blood and soon enough the coppery taste filled her mouth.

You can’t let him take you again, Peyton. You have to fight back. You have to fight back. You have to be strong.

Peyton was soon realizing how incredibly true this was.

Peyton didn’t want Tyler Moore to run her life anymore. She didn’t want to be plagued with the idea of him coming back for her. She didn’t want to spend every night awake and wondering if Tyler Moore was going to take her.

She was tired of living in fear. She was tired of being weak and worthless. She was tired of giving into her fear rather than taking charge.

And before she knew it, Peyton was walking towards her mother’s room and to the box her father use to keep on the top shelf.

She grabbed a box full of old books and stood on top of it, grasping the metal container and yanking it down. She jumped off and kicked the box aside.

She placed the metal box under her arm and walked towards her room. Immediately when she entered she placed the container on her desk and made sure her window was locked. She also pulled the curtain over it and then locked her door.

Once she was certain she was alone and her mother hadn’t returned home yet, she peeled open the lid of the container and stared down at the item inside of it.

She felt uneasy as she skimmed her fingers over it. She contemplated for a moment if this was taking it too far. If she could actually defend herself with this thing if needed.

Then she thought of Tyler locking her back up in that basement and suddenly those worries faded away. She wasn’t about to let her life be messed up again by Tyler.

She picked up the object, turning it over in her hand a few times as she swallowed roughly. Hesitantly, she walked over to her bed and slid the object under the pillow.

She determined, at that moment, she was taking fate into her own hands.

                                                             Peyton’s mother wasn’t pleased when she returned home. She had yelled at Peyton for making her worry and think something had happened. Peyton had sheepishly apologized and told her mother that after five minutes of waiting, she was feeling really bad and so she caught a ride home with Mel instead.

Her mother cooled down slightly after hearing that. Especially after Peyton said she wasn’t feeling well. 

Peyton had made up this huge fib of how she was sure she coming down with the flu. Her mother went into the mode of making home-made remedies she believed would cure Peyton’s flu quicker rather than prescribed medications. 

So that’s why she stayed home from school on Monday. And then Tuesday.

 By Wednesday, Peyton was getting sick of taking her mother’s disgusting self-made medications. But she kept on doing it because Peyton didn’t want to be caught off guard by Tyler at school or anything. This time around, she wanted to be ready when he came for her.

So each night, she’d lie on her side and watch her window, grasping tightly onto the object under her pillow, ready to defend herself if needed.

But each night, nothing happened.  And it made her more anxious then anything.  She was in a permanent stare of terror, it seemed, since at every moment of every day she was on edge. Constantly peering around and not even sleeping a wink those two nights.

The only night she seemed to give into exhaustion was Wednesday. And that’s when it happend. That’s when Tyler Moore came into her bedroom.

She was awakened by light flooding inside her small bedroom and his deep breaths. She remained stiff and unmoving in her bed.

She slithered her hand as slowly as possible under her pillow, gripping onto the object she had been keeping under her pillow. A gun.

A gun her father had made her promise to never touch. Then again, promises were meant to be broken.

She felt the tears pool behind her closed lids at the thought of her father. And because of Tyler Moore being in her bedroom.

Even from her bed, she felt the heat radiating off of him. She could feel the ghost of his fingers as they wrapped around her ankle and pulled her from her bed just like he had done months ago when he took her away from everything she had ever known.

And that’s why when Peyton flung herself out of bed and pointed that gun right at him, she didn’t even flinch.

She could barely see through the darkness and tears. All she could focus on was how the silver of the gun reflected from the hallway’s dim lights.

He seemed to notice what she had in her hands, since he stood ridged and stiff.

She backed up against the door, clicking the lock shut with her free hand and letting out a shaky breath. She blinked through the tears, only resulting in make more fall.

“Peyton,” He breathed. Similar to the way he had just days ago.

“Shut up,” She commanded, though her voice quivered. “Just shut up.”

“Peyton-”

“I said shut up! Shut up!” Peyton suddenly screamed. And in the distance, she could hear the sound of her mother calling her name. She grinded her teeth together and reached up with her free hand to wipe away at the tears, “You ruined my life,” She stated. “You ruined my family. You ruined my friends. You ruined my future. You ruined me!”

He remained silent. Unmoving.

“Do you know what you put me through?” Peyton sobbed, “Do you know how many nights of sleep I’ve lost because of you? You filled every one of my nightmares. You are my nightmare. And you damaged me to a point where I’m beyond repair. I can’t even talk to a person without wondering if they’ll do the same thing you did to me!”

She could hear the thud of her mother footsteps and her shrill shouts of panic. Then Peyton’s mother began to bang on the door.

Peyton pulled back the hammer of her revolver. It sent her heart into frenzy and she could see Tyler’s eyes draw wide and panicked. A foreign expression she’d never seen on him before. She shakes it off a minute later and levels the gun to his chest. “You ruined everything. And I won’t allow that to ever, ever happen again.”

And then she pulled the trigger.

He screamed before the bullet made impact. He screamed the loudest scream she had ever heard before. Every emotion from pain, fear, and anguish filled the air.

His scream rang differently in her ears.

She dropped the gun, feeling lightheaded and nausea as she fell onto her knees. Her mother’s screams droning on in the background. And before she passed out, she looked to Tyler, the reflection of the moon hitting his face. Except his eyes weren’t green. They were brown.