Chapter 1

It all started off as a normal night, as normal as things could be in this ghost town. Things were good, I was happy, for the most part. There was only a few months to go, and then David and I could finally be together again. Or so I thought. I locked up the house and got into my car to go Galeno. It was kind of chilly outside, so I got my jacket out of the trunk and warmed up the car. I thought things were going great, I just got off the phone with David before I left, and things were fine. That is, things were fine until I walked into the bar, where I ran into David’s three best friends, who dislike me very much. They’ve hated me for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure what I did to anger them so bad, but ever since David and I got together, it’s gotten worse. Their dirty looks that send shivers down my spine, the coldness I feel when and if I pass by them. David doesn’t see how much they don’t like me, how could I expect him to though? They are his best friends. Who wants to believe that their best friends hate their one true love? Last time I tried telling him they didn’t like me, well, that went bad.

“David! They don’t like me! You don’t see the dirty looks they give me. What they say to me when you aren’t around. How they treat me when you aren’t around!”

“Monica, that’s bull. They do like you, and even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”

“You can honestly say that you don’t care what they think about me?”

“Yes, I can. I can because they aren’t the ones dating you, I am, so it shouldn’t matter what they think. What’s one mean thing they’ve ever said to you?”

“I’m not really allowed to say..”

“Jesus, Monica! They like you, what does it matter?”

“As soon as you turn your back, they threaten to hurt me!”

“Why are you making up lies? Why would they want to hurt you? Is this some excuse for us to break up? Monica, I don’t want to lose you, ever, but you need to stop making up lies!”

“David, they don’t want me to be with you.”

“Monica, just go, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“But David--”

“GO!”

I shake my head, pushing the tears from my eyes and the lump back down my throat, trying my hardest to not remember again. After that day, I learned not to bring his friends up anymore. I knew it’d just hurt him, and I didn’t want that.

I see them just as they see me, hatred displayed clear on their faces. They start to advance towards me and I take off running, afraid of what they were going to do. Their threat rang in my head for what seemed like the billionth time, “Stay away from David, or there will be consequences.“ 

Where was I going to go? I didn’t even bother getting into my car, it’d take too much time. I love my truck, but it’d take too long to get it to start. I ran up the empty alley on my right. It was dark and scary and I regretted it the second I turned into it. At the end of the alley, I found there was nowhere to go. Crap. I heard a group of laughing guys, “Oh Monica, where are you going to go now? We told you David deserved better than you. You’re trash, I can’t imagine what he sees in you.” I recognized the voice as Christian’s, chills were all over my body in an instant, I shivered. I had to stand tall, I couldn’t let them know I was scared.

“You can’t chase me away! I love David! Why can’t you guys just accept that him and I are together?”

“He deserves better than you, is your hearing messed up?” 

“What do you care?! He’s the one dating me, not you! Why does it bug you guys so much that we‘re together?”

“He’s our best friend, and we look out for him.”

“Yeah! He’s your BEST friend, shouldn’t you trust his judgment?”

Damien finally spoke up, “Monica give it a rest! You aren’t talking your way out of this. We warned you already!” I panicked, and looked around for an escape. I found myself screaming in my head. I saw a ladder going up the side of the building, invisible to anybody looking from the other side. They had the light shining in their faces, but I didn’t. How was I going to get to it quick enough? They all play football; they would be quicker than me. I was staring past them, thinking, when they pulled me out of my thoughts.

“What are you looking at?” Damien yelled at me. I started walking towards them, and as I walked towards them they backed up completely spread out so there was no escape out the alley. What they didn’t know is I didn’t play on going out that way. I had to be quick climbing up the ladder; they’d be stunned for only a few moments. Could I be quick enough? I would have to be if I had any chance of getting out of here. I took a deep breath; I was only about ten steps away from the ladder. I had to distract them somehow, and since I was already looking past them I had an idea. I started screaming and pointing beyond them, and just as planned, they turned around. I scrambled up the ladder careful not to make any noise; I was half way up before they even turned back around. They looked straight at where I just was on the ground. They were helplessly confused.

Christian was the first to speak up, as usual, “Monica! There’s nowhere to run, we’re going to find you sooner or later!” I wished I could say something back, but I didn’t want them to know where I was. I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until I felt my lungs screaming for air. I took a gasp of air and tried to slow my heart beat down. Why? Why is this happening? I just wanted to be with David, I just wanted to be happy. Tears welded up in my eyes instantly. What was I going to do? Things never came easy for us, but I didn’t need his friends trying to break us up. I pulled myself together and peeked over the edge of the building. It looked like they were gone, but I wasn’t about to test it out. I slowly crawled over to the other side of the building and found there was another ladder, there was no one in this alley, as far as I could tell. I started slowly descending down the ladder, and that’s when I heard it. There was someone in the alley, and they knew I was there, the person was moving toward the ladder. 

“Come on down, Monica,’ spoke a husky voice.

I froze.

 

 

Author's Note

Cliff hanger! What do we think?