After a few more minutes the sounds of cars approaching reached my ears. I didn’t know who was coming, but I was praying it was Zane. It wasn’t. Two police cars pulled up and Phil approached them coming out of the woods on my right. The night was dark and as the moon was covered by a cloud the only light was from the police cars’ headlights.
“Phil, we can’t keep doing this,” one of the guys spoke. “You need to stop making trouble.” As the other two officers joined them, I texted Zane and told him to stop. If these guys, police officers, were involved, then him appearing would make everything worse. He texted back a question mark but told me he’d stop in a passing spot nearby.
“Where did the girl go?” one of the cops asked and Phil pointed in the opposite direction to where I was. They all nodded and took off in that direction.
“Fan out. Find her quickly,” came across to me and I scuttled out of the bush, running towards town. After ten minutes and with a stitch in my side I saw lights ahead.
I followed the light and sighed in relief as Zane’s car came into sight. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, and he stared in relief as I threw open the door.
“Zane, get us out of here now,” I muttered, and he turned slowly and then took off back towards town. Ten minutes later he pulled up in front of the house and I shot out of the car.
“Bailey, wait. You look a mess.” I shrugged and ran towards the front door when Zane tugged on my arm. “No, come in the back door. No one will be in the kitchen at this time and you can escape to your room without an inquisition.”
He led me to the door and sure enough, the kitchen light was off. I didn’t think anyone was in the kitchen as I walked through the door, but Coop was sitting just inside the dining room staring out at the water. My breathing increased and I moved slowly and quietly towards the stairs. My eyes stayed on him and after a moment he turned around. His eyes widened as he took in my appearance, and he half rose from the seat, but then sat back down.
My first thought was that he really didn’t care anymore as he turned to look out of the window again. I sprinted for the stairs, closing and locking my door before making my way into the bathroom, closing and locking that door too. I heard the soft knock at my door, but I ignored it and climbed into the shower, turning the power and heat on. I couldn’t help grimacing as the warm water burned my cold skin.
I sat in the shower for an hour, washing and cleaning my skin. I had scrapes and cuts all over my arms and legs and one graze on my forehead. After I was clean, I went to go to bed when the sound of my door being tapped reached my ears. I couldn’t cope with it, so I grabbed my pillow and comforter from my bed, taking them into the closet. I made myself a little hole at the back end of the closet, hidden from sight, but big enough that I could fall asleep without worrying about anyone finding me.
As I lay there, on the floor of my closet, I struggled to close my eyes. The events of the previous few days ran through my mind and adrenaline causing my heart to flutter in my chest.
After hours of thought, I finally nodded off and didn’t wake until late morning. Panicked voices woke me up and someone was banging on my room door.
“Bailey,” my mom shouted as I tried to close my eyes and go back to sleep, “Bailey, are you in there?” I grumbled sleepily and rolled onto my stomach before crawling along the floor to get out of the closet. My hand lifted to the handle of the closet and I pulled myself up to standing height, stepping on something that yelped.
“Coop,” I hissed as he rolled into view and snatched his hand away from me, “what are you doing in here?” He lifted his eyes to mine and when he met my gaze, I saw determination and fear in his desperate gaze.
“Bailey, I know you probably hate me right now, but can I explain later?” he spoke softly and nodded at the door. His head disappeared quickly as the sounds in my room escalated and my closet door flew open. “Bailey, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”
My head was down covering my cheek and the scrape along it with my hair. I shrugged and glanced at my mom through the curtain of my hair, behind her stood Shawn and two officers in uniform. One was familiar to me and my stomach dropped as he stared at me with eyes like flint. Coldness washed over me, and my body shivered in response.
“Phil said you ran out on him.” I just stared up at my mom, and she gathered her hands together looking aghast. “Why would you do that, Bailey?” I shrugged again and moved to walk past my mom, but she grabbed my wrist and I winced, pulling my arm away from her.
The cop’s eyes narrowed, and I glared at him, moving around my mom and heading to the door.
“Bailey, answer me,” my mom’s voice called after me and I spun around losing my temper and freaking out.
“Hmmm let’s see, where do I start?” I paused for a moment and lifted my chin, staring into my room in the brisk morning light and making eye contact with everyone there, my injuries visible to everyone.
“Do I perhaps start at the bit where I threw myself from a moving car to get away from him? Or how about”—I lifted my wrist shrugging back my shirt to show the bruising on my wrist—“when he grabbed my arm and twisted it, forcing me to go home with him even though I didn’t want to.” My whole body shook, and my mom stood with her mouth agape.
Shawn stood frozen to the spot beside the two police officers, one of whom eyed me with sorrow and the other with suspicion. His mouth opened and I almost didn’t catch the words because there was a commotion on the stairs. I couldn’t make out words, but I could hear raised voices.
“Do you have any proof? Any witnesses perhaps?” the cop from the night before asked and my eyes narrowed at him.
“Well, since you were there, why don’t you tell me what he said to bring you to the spot that I dived from the car?” His jaw dropped open and his colleague turned to look at him as I continued, “Yeah, I saw you and another cop too. What were you going to do? Try and intimidate me? Threaten me if I talked? Well, guess what, I’m going to sing like a canary in a coal mine.”
There was a sound of scuffling in the hall and Phil walked calmly into my bedroom, a fake look of relief on his face as he saw me.
“Bailey, thank god. We’ve been so worried.” I spun to face him and my whole body tensed.
“Get out of my house,” I muttered in a deadly voice. He stepped towards me, until he was standing beside me and his gaze turned glacial.
“Or what? What are you gonna do? My dad’s the fucking District Attorney and my family are all in law enforcement, so what you gonna do?”
He ran his finger down my arm and I lifted my knee, kneeing him so hard in the balls that my leg ached.
“You ever fucking touch me again, you sniveling sack of shit, and I’ll break your neck. Is that clear enough for you? There are witnesses here and if you ever come close to me again, I’ll use my nails and twist and twist and twist.”
My mom grabbed my arm and dragged me from the room as one of the cops followed me. My mom’s grip was hard, and she didn’t look at me. She was furious and I wasn’t sure if she was furious because I was hurt or because Phil and his dad were influential figures in town. She tried to drag me down the stairs, but we didn’t get far. Zane was lying on the staircase with his huge cut on his head and blood all over the floor. My feet slipped in it and my mom screamed as I dropped to my knees beside Zane, clumsily feeling for a pulse.