Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I spun on my heel and turned out of there. I heard their kissing sounds stop – they made really loud sounds when the kissed… I hope Rob and I don't make noises like that – and Rob gasp, his breathing still heavy. His big biker boots thudded quickly after me. I could feel the tears start to flow. Damn tear ducts: they drive me crazy!

"Jess," Rob's voice called out to me. He grabbed my wrist and spin me around to face him. I struggled under his grip, but his hold on me was strong. I was seriously regretting picking a guy who was about as strong as I was. Pulling my fingers to push against my palm, I made a fist. Slowly, I curled my arm up – but, of course, not too slowly – to punch him in the face. My reactions were obviously off on account of the tears because Rob grabbed my other wrist, pinning both my arms to my sides. I kept my eyes and face down, afraid he would me cry even more. I felt Rob's tense muscles relax a little as he took one hand off my arm and placed it gently under my chin, pushing my face up so I would look at him. Sliding his hand up over my cheek, he wiped a couple of tears away with his thumb. Oh yea, be nice and sensitive and sweet and romantic when you cheat on me. That'll win me back… you wish! I jerked my face away from him. Rob drew his hand back in surprise.

"Robbie!" The biker chick called seductively. I growled dangerously and Rob just chuckled. How dare he!

"Go away!" He barked back. I felt his triumphant gaze on my face. I snorted in disgust. Who does he think he is? He just made out with a busty, bog-riding whore! And now he's being nonchalant about it? No!

"You go away," I said, bringing my attention to Rob, finally my eyes burning with tears and my face full of rage. He looked surprised and hurt.

"Jess, I-"

"No, Rob. Shut up. You don't get to do these kinds of things to me when I'm mad at you," I said through the stream of tears being created by the dozen it seemed on my cheeks.

"But Jess, I don't like her. She kissed me,"

"Oh, do you always kiss girls you don't like?"

"No, that's not fair-"

"It is too fair, Rob! I've had enough of this. We're over," I said flatly. Not believing what I had just done, I turned and walked away. This time, Rob didn't stop me.

As I walked the three miles back home, I felt a wave of relief pass over me and I don't know why, but I felt so much better – probably because now I knew the secret he kept from me all this time and I know I wouldn't have to keep tabs on him anymore. At the same time, I was totally and completely bummed; depressed was more the word I'm looking for to match my mood. I mean, how could he do this to me? There was no possible way to explain my lapse of judgment on my character.

It was still light outside; the sun choosing to take a little longer to go back behind the clouds. The sky had taken on a pretty pink tint with a smidge of red. Soon, the clouds would be a reddish hue and be spread out in such a way that it would look like blood had been shed. How emo! Leave it to me to come up with something like that, but that's how it really looks. The clouds sometimes split down the middle and drawing close to each other like they were about to go to way. Yes, I have a very odd mind. All around me it looked as though everyone and everything were normal. But it wasn't. Nothing was ok anymore and it wouldn't be unless did or said something to make it so. However, I knew he couldn't. No matter how much he kissed me – god, I'm going to miss that – or touched me - hhmmmm I'm going to miss that too – or talked to me – I'm going to miss that most of all – nothing will waver me to forgive him of cheating.

When I got near town again, people were looking at me funny and I could not see why. I mean, they couldn't have possibly known about my hideous break-up with Rob. And besides, it was going on all day. Maybe, they knew that Rob was cheating on me all along. But why would everyone in town care about me breaking up with Rob when no one showed any interest in the first place? I observed them more closely as I made my trek back to Lumbley Lane. As I watched and observed my "experiments" – as I liked to call them – another emotion was there too: fear. What could be that frightening the wonderful people – ha! More like stupid…some anyway – of my town?

Just a few more houses to pass. Oh look, there's where Rob kissed me the first time and when I fell off his bike. And there, there is the place where he conveniently parked his bike for when I didn't want my parents to know he was over. God, I miss him so much already. Maybe I should just go back and apologize. No, Jess, my thoughts said to me. He cheated, you have to be strong. Sighing, I knew I was right, I walked up the porch steps. Great-aunt Rose's car was still in the driveway. I made a face and decided that since she didn't know I was gone, that it probably wouldn't be in my best interest to go through the front door. Making another audible groan, I tread back down the steps and over to the tree where I made my glorious escape only a few hours ago. The sun was dark red against a blazing red, and increasingly blackening, sky. It was positively breathtaking and once of the many things I loved about Indiana.

I crawled up the trunk and pulled myself up to the nearest branch. Just as I was about to swing my other leg over the branch, I felt hands grip my ankle. I almost screamed, but random people coming up and attacking me was pretty much the norm for my life now. Was this seriously what my life will be like in the future? Random people trying to jump me? In reaction, I pushed my foot down to hear the pleasant crunch of a nose breaking. Whoever the person was let go quickly and groaned loudly. I didn't even bother to look down to see who it was, for some reason. Climbing up the rest of the tree, and to my roof, I was not the least bit worried, wanting to cry somewhere, yes, but not worried. Before I got in my room, however, I heard a very nasal, very high-pitched, very pained, and very girly voice that cried, "Jessica, may the Lord keep you in his good favor!" Frowning, I peered over the edge of the roof to find Karen-Sue Hanky clutching her nose and jumping all around. The first initial thought in my mind was what the hell was Karen-Sure Hanky clobbering her nasty little self around my house and then God has never done anything for me except cause me trouble.

"What the hell, Karen-Sue? What are you doing here?" I hissed loudly down at her, trying not to make any loud noises so Great-aunt Rose wouldn't know I escaped. I crouched down on the roof and peered over the edge. Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea since I just happened to remember my great fear of heights. I swallowed as my hands started to sweat profusely. All I wanted to do was come home, crawl in bed, sulk, then eat some ice-cream. But no! Nothing can ever go according to plan. My life drives me insane sometimes.

"Well I don't exactly know. But I do something weird is going on and I just wanted to tell you to be on your watch," She replied in a very nasal voice since she was still grasping her nose. You would think from the last time she got her nose hurt that she would figure out that you were supposed to pinch it just past the bone, but obviously not.

I sighed and pushed myself back up into a sitting position where my butt was propped on my ankles and the rest of me was supported on my knees. "God, Karen-Sue. Just get out of here," I said in a frustrated tone as I stood up to go to my window. I crawled in through the window and shut it just before Karen-Sue could reply.

As I looked around my room, I noticed a couple things out of place. This was odd because my door had been locked the whole time I was gone. Then I took a couple more glances around and saw that many things were out of place. My books from my backpack had been strewn across my bed, my shirts were hanging out of my drawers, the lampshade on my lamp was askew casting an eerie glow around the room and making everything look misshapen. A couple figurines had fallen on the floor and all I could do was stand there and wonder if an earthquake had blown through my room. It was quite uncanny and Aunt Rose really had no reason to ransack my room; nor did anyone else have one for that matter. Crossing my room to the door, I noticed a couple drops of mud on my floor. Looking back behind me and down at my sneakers, I saw that it was a trail of mud and it went past where I was standing to the door. My eyes widened and my breath stopped and I froze. Someone must have been here. I don't remember my shoes being muddy; I even checked them after I felt like I could move. I was numb to all feeling as I walked the rest of the way to the door and found it unlocked. My fingers wrapped around the oily knob and turned it. Hearing the door click, I pushed open and I peered out the crack. I saw the hall light on and no one in sight. I walked out into the hallway and crept on my tip-toes down the stairs, keeping my eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Seeing nothing, I headed to the kitchen to get a knife. I got a cleaver and now time to look for Great-aunt Rose. No sign of her yet.

I walked out into the living room, her usual place to plop her old, rotting carcass, and saw nothing at all. This was way too weird, and scary. I could hear my breath follow me around like a… dog? It was at this point that I realized Chigger was at my heels, following me around. It also became clear that it wasn't my breath that was following me, it was his. I sighed and shook my head as I continued to creep back around the house. Nothing seemed to be here anymore, not even Great-aunt Rose. Chigger and I made our way back up the stairs where I decided it might be helpful to look around my room again for clues.

My room was still cluttered and I frowned at the mess that I would have to labor over later. Oh well, it would give me something to do instead of think about Rob. As I re-entered my room, something caught my attention at the window: there was a piece of paper attached to the windowsill. I crossed to the window with my brow knit together in curiosity. First I looked out the window to see if anyone was there; that piece of paper definitely wasn't there when I got back to my room. Seeing no one, I pulled back into the room and snatched the paper in my hands and read the untidy scrawl scratched in Sharpie.

Dear Jess,

Did I not tell you not to tell anyone about our little secret? Well this is part one of your consequence. I don't think you will find her soon enough…you're almost out of time

As I read this note, chills and goosebumps crawled all over my skin. My teeth were chattering and the worst part of it was: this time I was really all alone. Retreating away from window after I closed it, I ran back into the safer confines of my house with Chigger following close behind. I got to the phone and picked it up, dialing my parents' emergency number first and foremost.

"Hello?" My dad's voice came softly.

"Hey, Dad, it's me," I murmured in a serious tone.

"Jess? Hey, honey, it's so nice to hear from you! What's wrong? You sound worried,"

I heaved a sigh and shut my eyes for a second before replying. "Dad, it's Aunt Rose," I started. "She's been kidnapped,"

Silence on the other end. I was silent in return, not even a breath was breathed. "We'll be right home," My dad said solemnly back. We said good-bye and I immediately dialed 911. I wasn't sure how much sleep I could get before the killer would actually… kill her, so I need all the help I could get. The police were warned and were on the case. This would be enough for now.

I moped myself to the kitchen, got some rocky-road ice cream and moped back to the couch. It was time now for some good, old-fashioned wallowing. I kept my phone at my side. This was definitely not a time for being alone, and it wasn't only because there was a killer on the loose. It was because I was rather afraid of what I would do if I were all alone. I called Ruth and she was over in less than a few minutes with a ton of nasty chick flicks that girls, for some reason, loved to watch when they were depressed. And for some reason, it did part of the trick.

A/N: Hey, guys, I'm so sorry that it has taken this long to post some more comments. I feel awful for leaving you all hanging, but I have to do it again. Being busy really sucks. And writer's block sucks. Most of this chapter has been done for a long time but I got kind of stuck close to the end. I plan to get done with the next chapter very soon, so no worries. Thank you for being patient and sorry for the crappy chapter. Hope someone somewhere enjoys this.