Invisible

CONFLICT

I FOLLOW AIDEN THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR, see Jeremy walking down the stairs.

“Forgot something?” he asks, smirking. Aiden’s fists start quivering, and he tilts his head toward me, keeping his eyes on Jeremy.

“Go get your stuff,” he says. I nod, walk past Jeremy, upstairs into my room. Once I start packing, I hear someone running up the stairs, down the hallway.

“Emma?” Anna asks as she walks into my bedroom. I look at her, my throat blocked. Then I start packing again.

“You should help me,” I say.

“Please tell me he didn’t…” she says as she stands in the doorway. I look up at her again, her eyes welling, seemingly sympathetic. She’s not asking because she didn’t believe me… She’s asking because she’s hoping it’s not true.

I don’t want to say it again, tears pouring out when I even think about saying it.

“You should help me.” My voice is cracking, and she knows.

“Oh my God,” she says as she runs toward me, wraps her arms around me tightly, “I’m so sorry.” It’s a heartfelt apology, and I feel it when she pulls away, stares at me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

It takes a moment for me to tell her, a sign I’m still afraid. I look away from her.

“He threatened to do this to you and Michelle…”

Her expression changes quickly. From sympathy to regret to frustration… and right back to regret.

“I’m sorry I… Emma, could you forgive me?”

“You didn’t do anything,” I say painfully, “I should have told someone earlier.”

I walk into my bathroom and pack everything. My toothbrush, toothpaste… I stare at my razors, wonder what to do with them. I haven’t used them in a while, and now there’s no need for them. I stare at the garbage can next to the sink as I grab them, drop all six of them in.

Then I smile, a small weight lifted. When I walk back into my bedroom, I check my bag again, and I notice I forgot one thing.

“Anna,” I say, “I need you to help me look for the bracelet Aiden gave me. Remember it?”

“Yeah,” she says as she follows me out into the hallway, toward the door closest to the stairs. I’ve never been in Jeremy’s room, too afraid to set foot in it, afraid of what I’d find…

Or worse… Afraid he’d catch me looking for what he took from me, leading straight to more pain.  

His room looks perfect, as if he were a neat freak. My heart starts pounding as I start to think he might have thrown it away. I set my duffel bag down on his bed as I walk toward his dresser.

“Look everywhere for it,” I say as I open some of his drawers, look through them. Anna walks toward me and does the same. Once we finish, there’s a loud bang downstairs, making both of us jump. Aiden’s voice follows. 

 “Don’t you ever fucking say that again!” he yells, “You hear me?!” I sit still for a moment, Anna making her way out of the room. I start toward his nightstand, looking in the drawers. Then Aiden appears through the doorway.

“Emma,” he says, “you have to go.”

“No,” I respond, “I’m not leaving without it.”

“Emma—”

“I said no…” I hesitate as I slam the drawers, pace. “Can you help me look?”

He frowns, but nods as he walks past me, opens the closet door. He doesn’t take his time, violently throwing down everything on the shelves. Then I see it, the same brown bracelet he gave me when I was ten. I smile as I jump toward it, pick it up. Aiden takes my hand, leads me outside. I grab my duffel bag outside the door, and once I’m halfway down the stairs, I see Jeremy hunched over near the threshold to the dining room, his hands pressed to his nose. Blood is dripping, and when I get downstairs, he doesn’t look at me.

“Anna,” Aiden says as he lets go of my hand, “take Emma to the hospital.”

“What about you?” I ask. Both of them stare at me, Aiden’s eyes somewhat absent. I frown.

“I’m waiting for the police to get here. Just go.”

Anna and I both watch him, his eyes avoiding mine. He glares at Anna, his eyes flaring.

“What the fuck are you standing around for?! Go!”

She jumps, walks past me. “Come on,” she says as she grabs my arm, “Let’s go.”

I let her pull me toward the front door, frown as we make our way outside, Aiden left in the foyer. Anna climbs into the driver’s seat, her frown frozen as if she’s not even trying. I lean back as she turns on the engine, the truck starting to move within seconds. I imagine myself just  fifteen minutes before, how I fought Jeremy face to face, how everything had seemed so fake, how he no longer had any control over me.

As I remember it, I realize nothing’s changed.