When We Were Kids {Currently Revising}

Chapter 8: Spoken Like A True Psycho

Clementine and I were ready by precisely 9:00 pm. Colton picked us up 9:15 and there we were, going to a party with a guy we barely knew. I didn't think Colton had changed clothes at all since we met earlier. Obviously, he wasn't into all that looking-like-a-gentleman stuff. Not that I cared. I was going to have a fun time tonight. I was sick of always having to worry about stupid things like whether someone was staring at me while I was undressing, or whether Henri was going to come back and shoot me again. 

"So, you girls party much?" Colton asked us, trying to get a conversation started. 

"Not really. We're kind of boring if you know what I mean." Clementine laughed. 

"Yeah. It's just our boyfriends kind of keep us tied down. We've known them forever though so it's cool." I wanted to make sure he knew that we were taken. 

"Well, Laylah just dumped hers." I was seriously wondering if Clementine was already drunk from looking at Colton. I turned back towards her in the back ripped seat and glared at her. She got the clue. 

"But they're working things out...," Clementine finished, but it was too late.

"You dumped him, huh? Nice. I bet you were just dying to meet some new faces." He looked towards me and hinted that he meant himself. 

"Maybe..." I looked out the window at all the passing trees. For parties, we always had to go way out of town into the city, because our town was not a partying kind of place. 

"We're here." Thank god. I needed to get out of this rusty car. I shoved open the door and stood, pulling my skirt down and my shirt up. No need to show any cleavage or anything else. Clementine followed. 

"Oh, come on ladies! It's a party. Let yourselves fly free." I literally was about to slap him when Clementine stopped me. 

"Don't...," She whispered, so I let it go and followed the guy in. 

"You 21?" A bouncer was at the door. Clementine and I weren't twenty one and we definitely didn't have our fake IDs with us. 

"Here's me and here's them." He showed them two cards. The bouncer looked at us and the card, trying to match them up and nodded. How did this guy get our fake IDs? 

"The party was really loud. I mean, I guess every party is but this one was definitely not a high school party. There were people dirty dancing, people eating, people sleeping, people drinking, people laughing, and even people just pacing in circles. There was so much going on, I didn't even realize Colton buying us drinks or myself for that matter. 

"Where's Clementine?" I shouted, not seeing my friend.

"She went to the restroom! Oh, and by the way, drinks on me!" I drank the entire drink, feeling obligated to do so since he bought it for me.

Soon after, that jerk bought me another one. When was Clementine coming back? She'd been in there for like forever. It had been thirty minutes since she first came in with me, or did she come in with me? I was getting woozy. I knew I'd only had two drinks but I was already feeling lightheaded. What drink was this?

"I'm going to go look for Clementine." I got up and sat back down. Too wobbly. I could barely stand. 

"Whoa, no need to do that. She'll be back. Don't you fret." I couldn't even hear his words now. The last few words I heard was the bartender asking if I was OK and then I just blacked out.

***

Jay Henderson was devastated. His dad had been sent to prison for murder and abuse, and his girlfriend had just dumped him for no reason. Was he that bad? Did no one want him? Even his mom had left town after the trial. He was all alone. 

He had wanted to tell Laylah all about the trial and how his father had abused him and even about how he still loved his dad but was glad he was leaving. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. He knew she'd hate to hear this but he felt sorry for Laylah.

He didn't want to hurt her even more. Jay knew a lot about Laylah. He knew about how she couldn't remember anything about her crash and the two months leading up to it. He knew that something had happened to her when she was in seventh grade and she was killing herself to find out. He also knew about her shot in the stomach and her mechanical leg gone wrong. 

Throughout all of this, Laylah had said she was fine. Jay also knew that this was a lie. He knew she was trying to be the strong person she was. She always felt the need to show her strength, ever since the leg incident. She always felt like people would think she was weak because of it when in reality, she was the strongest person Jay knew. 

Jay perceived Laylah was also dealing with something else. Someone else. He felt like maybe the reason she left him was because of someone else. It hurt. 

The phone rang. Jay ran to go pick it up. It was Laylah's mom. She was in tears. 

"Jay. Please, do you know where Laylah is? It's three hours past her curfew and she hasn't called or anything. 

"I'm sorry, Mrs.S. I'll go look though. Do you know where she went?" He asked politely and calmly. Mrs. Sanders had been extremely worried about Laylah ever since that accident and you couldn't blame her. 

"No! I just saw her and Clementine take off in a car with some new guy and that was it. They were going to some party." Jay shivered in worry. What if something had happened to them? What if the 'new guy' had done something to them? What if the 'new guy' was Laylah's 'new guy'. 

"OK, Mrs. S. I'll try to help." Jay confirmed, finally.

"Thank you, Jay. You're a sweet boy." She hanged up.

Not when I see that guy I won't be, he thought.

*** 

I woke up in a dark room. I was gagged and pinned down to a chair with ropes enclosing my ankles and wrists. Oh no. I glanced down at my legs. My mechanical leg was broken. The upper part of the metal leg or the upper thigh was still there but my metal shin was gone. It was missing. I was a one legged girl who couldn't walk and was in deep trouble.

"Pssst..." I heard a girl across the room. Clem...Clementine?

"Clementine?" I spoke loudly, out of surprise. A guard told us to shut up and after that, I didn't hear a word out of Clementine's mouth. Two hours later, a light flickered on and who walks in? Colton. That a**.  I was shocked at my minds terrible language but honestly, I didn't care anymore. I was sick of being the victim. 

"You...," How could I be so stupid?

"Hello ladies." I was in such a state of shock when Colton walked in, I didn't notice the other girls around the room. I scanned each of their faces. They looked distraught, hungry, scared, and parched. They had been there much longer than any of us. As I got to the last girl, I shook my head in disbelief.

"Monique?" I questioned.

"Shut up!" Colton yelled. Monique glanced at me with an embarrassed look. She had always bragged about her boyfriend. He's soooooo hot and sexy and did I mention hot?, she'd say constantly. I suddenly felt bad for thinking they were annoying. 

Colton passed each one of us a bowl of grits and walked out of the room. 

"Eat up! You'll need the energy for your next task." I gulped. What was the next task? Who were all these girls? What was he going to do to us? Why were we even here?