Diamond Tears

Chapter 5

Sawyer

I sit in the car, heating blasting to protect me from Canada’s cold weather, and wait for my sister to come out. When I was in high school, it took me like, a minute to come out. Now? It apparently takes ten to fifteen minutes.

My car door opens, and instead of Miami, I see a girl with blue streaks in her hair. Um, clearly not my sister.

“Are you Sawyer?” She asks.

“Yes, but where the hell is my sister?”

She ignores me, and pushes herself and another girl into the back seat.

“What the hell?” I let out a string of curses. “Who are you people?”

“A girl paid me fifty bucks to put this girl in your car and make sure you drop us off at Chapters downtown. She said to tell you that she would talk to you later.”

“Why?” This sounds exactly like the kind the shit my sister would get into. And then drag me along for the ride.

“Apparently someone wants to kill Miss. Crippled over here.”

“Hey!” the girl yells. “My name is Addison! And I am NOT crippled!”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Just get comfortable, Addison.”

Addison

Dear Baby,

                Let me tell you how my Friday was. It was horrible. It’s been two weeks since I told Miami I was pregnant. The only good thing is that my face, finally, has completely healed. However, my ankle is still injured, so I still have to walk on crutches. This is why I turned mad while being dragged into a car by a complete stranger, only to be driven to work by another stranger. Yes, I might have saved $3.75 on bus fare, but still. The whole thing just pissed me off. It also means that I could’ve been killed, but someone wanted me safe. Someone in the Elite group wanted me out of harm’s way. Did I mention I threw up for five minutes after the extremely car ride?

“So, are you in the Mafia?”

I jump at the familiar voice. It was the girl who got paid to save my life. “Why are you still here?”

“I love books,” she answers. “So, are you?”

“Am I what?”

“In the Mafia?”

“No.”

“Do you get beat up a lot?” I glare at her. “Sorry, I’m new. I didn’t think small towns were interesting until I met you.”

I sigh. “My name is Addison Coleman, I was raped by my brother and his friends, I skipped a grade, and soon, the whole town is going to know I’m pregnant. So keep your mouth shut about that one, okay?”

“Fine by me. You know who raped you, so why don’t you press charges?”

I start putting the new books away. “That’s the problem, I can’t. A lot of people think I’m a lying whore. Part of the reason why I’m crippled.”

She laughs nervously, remembering her words in the car. “Sorry about that, but the girl was quite adamant that you got into the car. She said a couple people were going to ‘finish you off. ‘And you’re nice enough, so I was trying to keep you alive.”

I close my eyes and nod. “Thank-you, I owe you.”

“Really? Can I get a discount on this?” she asks, holding up a book.

I wake up the next morning to the sound of silence. Which means something is wrong. Usually, granny is up cooking up a storm. And cleaning so that the house looks like it’s on sale. I tip-toe to her room, and knock lightly on the door.

“Granny?” No answer, but I can see the sunlight coming from under the door. Slowly opening the door, I gasp. “Granny?”

She’s lying on the floor, her eyes wide open, her skin pale. Her mouth is slightly open, making saliva drip from the corner of her mouth.

“TRIS!” I yell, picking up the phone. “AUNT BEATRICE!”

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”