Wicked Road Read online

  My gut said Marylin was more than capable of it. Mathew was not his first victim. How many murders had he gotten away with? By using magic he would be good at it and could murder just about anyone and get away with it. I'm positive his parents were his first. Why he killed them in cold blood, I don't know.

  My skin chilled in fear.

  I stowed away the whole thing to contemplate on later. It just gave me a headache and made me edgy. I concentrated again on what everyone was talking about, coming back to the normal world. Gossip, movies, music, sports, homework, parties... and flying rumors. It was the usual high school's hot, but boring trends.

  Then, I heard my name said by some guy. He was behind me in the other line to the left. I didn't turn to look, but I locked my ears on their conversation. He said, “...word is going around about Donnie.”

  “No way man. The freak?” second guy said.

  “Way.”

  “What’s up about her?”

  “Heard Ronnie say Donnie is sleeping around.”

  “Du-hude! The weirdo? Are you serious?” second guy chuckled.

  “You think I'm lying? Go ask him for yourself.”

  “Whoa.”

  “Just for the fuck of it too.”

  “Whoa...How'd all of that happen and when?” the second guy asked curiously.

  “Well, it was on the night that Matt died. Ronnie and her were in her room, alone. When no one was around them it just happened.”

  What?! How did he know we were alone in my room for a while, doing nothing, but hugging for comfort?

  “Damn. Well, then I'd like to do her and teach her a couple of things to make her scream for me. I mean, she is hot.” I didn’t have to turn around to know he was smirking, I could hear it in the tone of his voice.

  Oh I want to go beat the crap out of both of those guys!

  I rolled my eyes with disgust and scoffed to myself instead, holding my fury in. My cheeks felt hot. I crossed my arms against my chest and shook my head in disappointment and anger.

  Are…You… Freaking… Kidding… Me? Did Ronnie actually say that about me? I never slept with him. I never slept with anyone in my life. I didn’t want to get STDs, that's for sure. I was still a...virgin with a clean record of not having one single boyfriend. And that’s how I wanted it forever.

  I can't believe he'd say something like that about me. And especially saying that it happened on the night that Matt died?!

  Wow. To me, that was very, very disrespectful of the dead. What the hell was going on in his mind to say that about me? I was his best friend forever. I mean did he really say that about me? Would he say that? Is it just some rumor? How could he say such a thing to ruin my reputation? Or even my dignity? What pride I’d had was gone now! I better talk to him about this after school. This isn't over yet...

  “And, and, and...that's not the end of it. She's also slept with those two other douche bags in her group except on different nights,” the first guy spoke.

  Alright! That's it! This guy is just sick to the core. And now he's just making up rumors and gossiping like a fourteen year old girl!

  I couldn't hold my fury in. I turned around, and headed towards the two guys. I saw the second guy's shock as he realized I’d been within hearing as they discussed me.

  I knew I had to end this rumor once and for all. I’d never punched anyone before and hoped I got it right. I stormed up to them, drew back, and swung with everything I had. My fist hit the guy that was talking smack so hard he stumbled back.

  “You motherfu…” I couldn't complete my curse word since it was too explicit, so I stopped myself from saying it out loud. “Nothing of what you just said is true, you gossipmonger!” I was sick and tired of hearing it. I was sure he was a hater, a troll that made everyone around him feel like crap.

  I swear the cafeteria went quiet. I felt the first prickle of tears. I shook my head so slightly at the guy I’d just punched and stormed off to the first place I could find devoid of any humans.

  All I knew was I had to leave school grounds. I ran, bolting out of the cafeteria doors.

  Forget my school bag. Jade or Spike will bring it back home. I was sure, or maybe Ronnie would, but then I didn’t want him to. I was so angry at myself. Did Ronnie honestly say something that wasn't true?

  Running, panting, sweating, I hadn't ran this well in what felt like years! When I slowed down I didn't realize I had been followed. I looked behind me swiftly but continued to walk.

  It was Ronnie. I didn't stop, but kept going. I was too angry. This time, even though I had deep feelings towards him, those feelings couldn't push the anger away.

  “Don,” he caught up and caught my arm in his hand. He twirled me around, but I didn't dare look at him. Instead, I looked at the lined houses to my right. He cupped my face in his hands.

  “Hey, hey, hey! What’s the matter? Why the tears?” he spoke to me in a soft, worried, caring tone. He wanted me to look at him. Our faces were mere inches away. Lately, he'd been getting too close to me.

  I didn't look at him just as I didn't speak out loud. I didn't know my tears were falling silently until he said it out loud at that moment. He brushed them away softly with his thumbs. When he touched me this way I couldn't stay angry any longer. Somehow, he calmed me down with just this touch. But I wasn't going to let my guard down. I gave him a blank, emotionless face. “You didn't spread rumors around about me, did you?”

  He was taken aback. He moved his hands to the top of my shoulders holding me firm in my place. He stared into my eyes, penetrated them. He looked into them intensely with raised eyebrows, and crinkled forehead. “Donnie, what type of friend would I be if I were to do that to you?! You know I wouldn't say anything like that about you, true or not. Why would I go tell some random guy about something that's mine? Or not mine? Or not true?! And plus, you know me.”

  Now I was the one taken aback. “Know you?!” I scoffed. “I didn't know you the time you hid your guitar secret from me.”

  “And I didn't know you when you hid your singing from me. So we're even.” He was right, but that was not all.

  Here came the intensity of letting everything out when there's something I knew he wasn’t telling me. “That's not only it. You're also not telling me something else. Every time I try to reach out to you, every time you bring up your mom and talk about how you can't join the band it hurts you. And I don't know why. You're hiding something from me, something big. It's like you don't trust me with it. I don't know what else you're hiding from me. There could be so many things you're hiding from me. I thought I knew you Ronnie, but I don't.”

  I saw the glint of pain in his eyes from my words. He placed his hands down at his sides. He sighed deeply. He’d shut his eyes and it seemed as if he was giving up, as if he was defeated.

  Suddenly, he looked older than usual. I had never, ever seen him so exhausted-looking in my whole entire life! I feared for what this “secret” was about. Whatever it was, I don't think he wanted to exist at this moment. “Donnie,” he looked at me. “The only reason why I'm not telling you about it is because I don't want to hurt you. I swear I would tell you everything, just everything to what's been bothering me. But I just can't say it. I can't let it out that easily.”

  I crossed my arms against my chest and shifted my weight to one leg. “Say it.” I dared him.

  This was going too far. He's told me many deep secrets before. I didn’t get why he wouldn’t share this one with me or what was so different about it. It was affecting him and it was affecting our strong friendship.

  “Say it,” I told him again. “I've been through a lot already. What's so bad about this one anyway?! What makes it so different than any other thing I've been through?! I've been bruised, burned, bullied, broken, hurt, depressed, threatened, violated, and stripped away from people I love most –. ”

  He cut me off.

  “And that's why I don't want to put more on you. You've been through enough.” He sounded like he was on t
he verge of despair.

  “And I'm still not done going through enough...Just say it god damnit!” I was getting angry again. Wow. Without his touch, I could get fired up in a second. It's like without his touch I was unstoppable. And with his touch, I calmed down. I was myself again. I hated doing this to him. I hated feeling like this.

  He looked away, at the ground. He brought himself closer to me. He raised his hand to touch my cheek, but let it drop again. I watched him gulp. He said, “My family and I are...leaving.”

  He didn’t have to say more; those words were enough to shatter my already broken heart. I stood there, beside him, regretting asking him. I regretted forcing him to tell me something we both knew I couldn’t handle. I wanted to just fall through the ground and disappear, let it hide me forever.

  Ronnie was leaving me!

  I never imagined it would come to this. He was the one thing holding me together.

  I turned and walked home. My jumbled thoughts were a mess, my shattered heart bleeding, and my soul was disappearing into the shadows.

  I finally realized I had never really known him. He had been in my life forever but he was a stranger.

  I sensed him following me. I took off as fast as my shaking legs could carry me, hoping I would surprise him enough to put some distance between us.

  I was utterly devastated and needed to be alone. Everywhere I turned there was nothing but pain and madness.

  A random thought snuck up on me. I didn’t know how long I wanted to be alone, just that I did. I needed to be away from him more than anything.

  I couldn’t begin to understand what was happening to me. I had absolutely no clue. It was definitely not going the way I’d planned. I honestly just wished I’d died with my parents, burned with them instead of living this morbid, pathetic life. My inner truths no longer shocked me. Wondering if I deserved the title freak, I felt like cutting all ties to everyone I’d ever known.

  My endless tears soaked my face as I hurried home. I slammed the door, instantly grateful no one was home. I locked the door and slid down to the cool tiles and whimpered. I choked on the grief that had so thoroughly taken me over. I pressed my cheek to the coolness of the tiled ground and let out the screams, the sobs, the tears that never seemed to quite leave me anymore.

  Even Ronnie’s useless battering of my door was not enough to move me from where I lay crumpled in a fatal position.

  “Donnie, open the door, please,” he begged.

  He uselessly twisted the locked doorknob. His urgency meant little, if not nothing to me right now. Yet, he had been right all along. I shouldn’t have demanded the truth. I shouldn’t have dared him to be open with me. The truth always hurt more than the lies, it seemed. I couldn’t bear another word of it.

  “Just go away. Leave me alone,” I whispered loud enough for him to hear through my whimpering.

  “Donnie, I'm sorry. I wish I could do something about it but I can't. It's not in my hands.”

  Run away to be with me, I thought briefly, but realized it was a pointless, hopeless idea. “Ronnie, please, just go away,” I told him desperately. I didn't want to think about anything right now, except cry till my eyes ran dry.

  “I'm sorry,” he said, and I knew he meant it. Didn’t matter, there was nothing he was willing, or could do to change it.

  “Go away!” I screamed, covering my ears so I couldn’t hear him begging, in pain. I’d never screamed at him. It broke my own heart. My own actions were tormenting me. I was so angry at him, angry at the world for what it was doing to me. My thoughts twisted madly… It was so unfair. It was so unfair…

  He sighed in defeat. A low thud made me think he’d finally given up, his head rested against the door. Then, awhile later I heard his feet walk away.

  My tears refused to dry. The feeling of being tormented and betrayed was gnawing at me.

  What a day! First, it was the bloody rumors and now Ronnie finally telling me that he was leaving. I was so sick of hearing what I didn’t want to hear, so sick of feeling every painful feeling that existed out there. I needed a break.

  I angrily punched the door, in agony, with my good hand. The same one I punched the guy's face with. It hurt like hell. I winced, noticing it was already bruising. Now two of my hands were injured...

  Even after all I’d been through, I was still alive. Like a monster, I fed on the raw and sinister emotions to live. They were like a special drug, all my own, to keep me going in the dark depths of reality.

  Chapter

  Eight

  I woke up ravenous at one in the morning. After such an emotional day yesterday, I’d forgotten to eat.

  Looking at my options I chose something quick. I heated frozen pancakes and poured a ton of syrup on them, and happily indulged. My body never gained a pound. Eating made me feel a bit better.

  Sitting alone in the dark was a bit eerie. It was too quiet, and I imagined shadows lurking. Me and my head, I thought. I felt like I'd been seeing a lot of ghosts lately. But I knew it was just me.

  My future was pointless. I no longer set goals or made plans. My only thought was to keep moving, let life lead me wherever it wanted to. It was going to do whatever it wanted despite whatever I tried to do. No marriage for me either unless it was someone I adored.

  I finished up quickly, dying to go back upstairs. I took some goodies and silently made my way to the game room to distract myself with horror flicks. I grabbed my checkered black and purple fleece blanket from my room and turned to head back.

  Tinkling sounds made the hair on my arms rise. It seemed to be coming from my window. I was literally scared the freak out. When I reached my window, I hesitated, wondering who would throw pebbles at my window at this time of night. Images of some horrifying face made me want to run back to the game room without ever knowing.

  I found a bit of courage and looked out. When I realized it was Jade and Spike I was instantly relieved. I slid my window open and looked out just as another pebble flew up, smacking me in my forehead. “Ow,” I whispered.

  “Oh, sorry,” Spike apologized.

  “Why would you guys annoy me so late?” I asked rubbing my forehead.

  “Can we come in?” Jade asked.

  My perked eyebrow was more than likely not visible in the dark to them. Almost two weeks of nothing and now they wanted to visit me, in the middle of the night? “What's the occasion?”

  “We have a...problem, and we want to crash at your place,” Spike answered.

  “Well, what kind of problem...OMG, don’t tell me you two are gay and have the hots for each other?”

  “Eww, gross. No!” they both said jumping away from each other.

  “Look, we might act stupid and whatnot, but we definitely do not like each other that way,” Spike answered getting defensive.

  I was just trying to lighten the situation with my sarcasm. But I guess they weren't up for it tonight. I thought about it for a minute. They wouldn't come this late unexpectedly only unless the worst has happened. “Fine. You guys can come in. I'll come down to open the door.” I slid my window close, took my blanket off the floor of my room, threw it on one of the couches in the game room, headed downstairs, turned off the alarm system and opened the door.

  They were a mess.

  I told them to stay quiet as we headed upstairs. I started the movie I’d planned to watch and sat between them on the couch. “Okay, you guys…What is up?” I smiled a little while I waited. Neither of them said a word. I looked at them back and forth. The expressions on their faces were unreadable.

  “Guys?” I asked to get their attention.

  Both sighed at my question.

  “It's okay Donnie, we're okay. It's just some guy stuff. You know, the usual,” Spike told me.

  I got worried. “What? What are you talking about? What guy stuff?”

  “We just had some girl issues and got in a fight with some dudes, that's all,” Jade said.

  “I see. Figures the mess,” I pointed out to t
hem.

  They looked down at themselves and fixed their clothes.

  Suddenly, I felt sandwiched as they hugged me, each leaving a kiss on my cheeks. “Guys. Can't. Breathe.”

  “Sorry,” they replied, easing off me.

  “We wanna crash at your place if that’s okay.”

  “Of course I don't mind.” I smiled. I wonder what made them hug me so tight that way out of nowhere. Probably comfort...

  “What about the lawyer?”

  I snorted, and looked at Spike with a disappointed face. “Honestly, do you think he'd say no?”

  “No.”

  “If you guys want some PJs, you know where to find them.”

  They were like brothers to Mathew and had worn his clothes before. They went to Mathew’s room and changed.

  Each came back with a pillow and blanket and took a couch.

  I started the movie from the beginning and tried to get comfortable. Spike popped open a bag of chips startling me. I shot him an especially annoyed look because he could have woken someone up. I hated that. He crunched and munched his way through the bag, smiling the whole time. I gave him my evilest look and was tempted to throw a shoe at him.

  “So could you explain why Spike had to beat the crap out of that guy at lunch?”

  What?! I couldn’t believe Spike would do that for me! I felt a little less lonely knowing they had my back.

  “I guess I just wanted to test how hard I could punch someone when it came to nasty rumors.” I shrugged.

  They looked at me like they were stupefied. “What kind of rumor?”

  “Oh you know, the usual. Hasn't it been spread around school already?”

  Jade whistled tunefully through his teeth. “You think someone would dare spread any rumors after seeing Spike punch the fuck out of that guy?! Pa ha. You must be dreaming.”

  It must’ve been an ugly fight. I'm just glad I wasn't there to see it. But then it would've been a good thing to see the other students reaction to it and see if it taught them a lesson. People need to seriously leave me alone. All three of us had a rough day indeed. Also, since they brought this topic up, it reminded me of my back pack. I still hadn't gotten it back. “Um, did either of you happen to forget something of mine before you left school?”