Strength

Chapter 4 - Stay Away From Her

After a series of nightmares last night, I finally accepted that won't be able to sleep anymore, at around 5 am. I got up and went to the sink in my bathroom. I looked myself in the mirror to see tear stains on my face, my brown hairs were either sticking to my sweaty face or standing on my head like spines of porcupine. In my eyes fear was evident, even to me.

I splashed water on my face trying to forget about those horrible years. After taking some deep breathes and calming myself down, I went downstairs to the kitchen. I filled a glass with water and sat down on a chair. I took a sip of water giving relief to my dry throat.

I remember that today I have to buy supplies for school with Ryan. And I will be starting school from tomorrow.

I took another sip of water and rested my arms on the table. And kept my head on it. I kept imagining about the good and worst possible scenarios of school.

I sighed and decided to take a run to clear my head. I changed into a jogging suit after I got to my room. I looked at the clock on the nightstand which showed that it was half past five. I took my phone and went outside the house onto the streets and started walking. It was still a little dark. Occasionally I saw some people jogging down the streets.

After a while of walking I started jogging too. I kept moving in straight line to avoid forgetting the way back to house. Half an hour later I got tired and walked to a park a few feet away. It was almost empty except some people who running or stretching. I plopped myself on a bench and took in the surroundings. 

It was a beautiful park with swings and slides for children. There were plenty of trees which beautified the park even more. I pointed a couple, the man seemed tired but the wife was dragging him to run. Another man dressed in black, came panting and placed himself on the bench next to mine. 

The sun has began rising and the orange streaks of sunlight lit the sky. All the darkness was slowly fading away. It fueled me with positivity. No matter how much darkness is there in life, morning will always come with sun and light of hope.

 I took out my phone to click a picture of sunrise. I looked at the the time before keeping it back. I haven't even realized that I had been sitting here for past  forty-five minutes. I started walking to house appreciating my decisions of not making any turns while coming here.

I heard loud and fast footsteps behind me. I turned around but saw nobody. I continued walking to my destination. I turned back one more time to make sure if anybody was there, just to get the same result.

I opened the front door when I reached to the house. Stephen came hurriedly and stood in front of me. He remained silent for a second before he suddenly and unexpectedly exploded.

 "Where the heck were you? I searched the whole house and found you nowhere. Do you even know how worried I wa-, mom and dad would have been if they knew that you were missing" He boomed.

My heart beat was speeding up and I took a few deep breathes to calm myself. I was reminding myself again and again that he won't hurt me, he wasn't Daniel. 

He can be just like Daniel. Stupid subconscious.

"I-I just went to take a w-walk." I stuttered out. Stephen was still looking furious which made me even more nervous. He closed his eyes, at that time Ryan walked down the stairs who must've woken up by the yelling.

He was quick to walk to us. "Sophia, go to your room." he ordered looking at me for a fraction of second. "And be ready by 10 or I'm not taking you." He said reminding me about our plan to mall.

I left that tension filled space as fast as I can and came to my room. I took a shower while thinking about the scene downstairs. Now that my mind was working properly I wondered about the way Stephen acted. I can't understand why was he even bothered by my absence. Probably because he would have to answer his parents.

-STRENGTH-

I have been waiting in the living room for Ryan for the last fifteen minutes. He told me to be ready at time and he was late himself.

"Be ready at 10 or I'll not take you"  I mocked him with a heavy voice.

"Uh-huh, I see you have limited patience," Ryan remarked suddenly appearing in the room. I looked at him in shock and bit my tongue. He rolled his eyes and motioned me to come with his hands. We walked out the door to one of the two cars.

Ryan started the car and turned on the radio, a soft song was playing and I unconsciously tapped my foot along with it. He glanced at me and switched the station to a rock song making me cringe. I looked at him to see a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes at him and turned to look outside the window. Does he seriously hate me? 

Once we arrived at the mall he led me to Target and told me to get the things I needed while he was talking to a friend of him who was also at the mall. They both stayed in Target though.

I walked around picking pencils, pens , notebooks. I was looking at a diary when someone crashed into me, abruptly. A pair of hands caught me before I fell from the impact. I looked up to see a tall boy around my age standing in front of me. He removed his hands from my arms after I was standing properly.

"Oh, I am so sorry, I-" He started apologizing, but he was turned away from me by a hand gripping his collar.

"What were you doing with her?" Ryan growled lowly without leaving the boy's collar.

"Nothing, I just accidentally bumped into her, I was just apologizing." 

"Oh please, you accidentally bumped into her? Do you think I don't know these little tricks you high school boys play to get girls' attention? And I bet you, you'll be a lot more sorry if I ever see you near her again. Stay away from her."  Ryan glared at him one more time before grabbing my arm and dragging me away. I looked back at the boy when I heard him mutter something like 'Overprotective Brothers' and saw him shaking his head. But that's not the only thing that caught my eyes. There was a familiar looking man staring right at me.

-STRENGTH-

Hey Guys,

So, what do you think about Ryan?

And who's the man following Sophia?

Also, I wanna say that this was a little late update but my exams are coming up and I have to study for it, so I won't be able to update for a while.

But I promise next chapter will come on: March 20

Love you, Eternal_18