A Proscriptive Relationship (38 page)

“
What’s wrong?” Holly asked in surprise. “Mr. Heywood?”

I shoved Mr. Heywood aside as hard as I could and started out of the room, angry tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I blinked them away and walked swiftly down the hall.

“
Holly! Wait!” Mr. Heywood demanded, grabbing my arm. “Listen to me!”

“
Let go!” I growled, ripping my arm away from his.

“
Holly!”

I continued down the hallway, keeping my eyes on the ground. Mr. Heywood was following me. I could hear his footsteps and calls to me. I ignored him, my chest clenching painfully. As soon as I reached the hospital exit, I felt Mr. Heywood take a hold of my arm again.

“
Leave me alone,” I ordered, glaring at him.

“
Holly,” he said in an exasperated voice. “Just let me explain—”

“
Explain how you used me? I don’t care!” I cried, trying to pull my arm away from him.

He just held on tighter. In a desperate attempt to make him let go, I kicked him in the shin as hard as I could. He didn’t even look phased. In fact, he looked amused. I didn’t find anything funny about it.

“
Let go, or I’ll scream,” I warned.

“
Holly, please.”

“
One . . .”

Mr. Heywood let go and I automatically took off running. I didn’t want to hear his explanation or excuses or apologies. Not right now. Right now I just needed time to myself.

“
Holly!” Mr. Heywood yelled after me. “Holly! Stop! Where are you going?”

I ignored him, continuing to run across the parking lot. It was dark now, but I could care less. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I wanted to get away from Mr. Heywood.

LESSON twenty-six

The sky above me grumbled threateningly as my feet slapped against the black asphalt. My lungs were burning. I stopped to catch my breath. The streets were empty and quiet, making the despairing thoughts in my head loud and clear.

I had been used.

Mr. Heywood had used me.

I was a replacement.

Through tears of anger and helplessness I could make out the gates of the park in front of me. On the other side of the park was the downtown—dangerous territory—but I figured I’d be safe in a public park. I entered through the gates and started walking down the path until I found a bench to collapse on.

A slight breeze ruffled my hair and blew some of it into my face. I kept it there, lying back on the bench and gazing at the sky. Barely any stars were visible through the ominous looking clouds that hung in it. Another low grumble of thunder filled my ears.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and immediately deleted the text from Mr. Heywood. I couldn’t handle talking to him.

“
I’m such an idiot,” I whispered, a wry smile appearing on my face. “I should have known . . .”

Haley, Holly.
You never stop loving someone
. The yearbook picture. The guilty expression on his face. It was all too obvious! I was such an idiot! Now tears were falling freely as another rumble of thunder echoed across the sky. Why me? What did I do? It hurt. It hurt so much it was hard to breathe.

“
I love him,” I sniveled, clenching my fists. “This isn’t fair!”

My phone vibrated again and this time I ignored it completely. If Mr. Heywood was worried about me, he could worry. It went off again and this time it was a phone call. Irritated, I picked up the phone to reject the call but my eyes widened in surprise when I realized that the caller ID belonged to Lance. But Lance’s cell phone was still with Shawn. With a shaking hand I pressed the answer button and put the phone to my ear. “H-hello?”

“
Holly! Long time no talk!”

“
Shawn?” I whispered, feeling my body tense.

“
The only and only,” Shawn responded. “I just wanted to check in on you.”

“
Why?”

“
It’s not safe for a girl to be alone in a park at night.”

My breath caught and my eyes shot wide. I quickly jumped off the bench, looking around cautiously. Where was he? How did he know where he was? I held the phone tightly in my hand as I heard Shawn laugh from the other end.

“
You look tired.”

“
How do you know where I am?” I asked quietly.

“
I can see you right now,” he told me. “Can you see me?”

Once again I took in my surroundings, slowly and vigilantly. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and I didn’t see any people. I swallowed nervously, slowly backing towards the gates at the entrance to the park.

“
I wouldn’t go that way,” he warned in a light voice. “Dan is out tonight. I’m pretty sure he went in that direction.”

I froze up, terror filling me. There was only one other exit on the main road that led downtown. “What are you going to do?”

“
Get you,” Shawn responded without hesitation.

There was a click and the line went dead. Panic bubbled in my chest and I frantically went to my contacts and scrolled down to Jeremy’s. The phone seemed to ring for minutes before he finally picked up.

“
Hello, gorgeous, how may I help you this fine evening?” Jeremy answered in a deep, suave voice.

“
Come to the park! Now!” I cried, looking over my shoulder every five seconds. “Please! Hurry!”

“
What’s wrong?” he responded, all playfulness in his voice gone.

“
Shawn . . . he’s . . . I think he’s somewhere here,” I responded, trying to stop my body from shaking.

“
Damn it!” he swore angrily. “That park is all the way across town!”

“
Please come,” I begged, feeling tears watering up in my eye. “I’m scared.”

“
Where’s Chris?”

“
I don’t care!”

“
Huh?”

“
I said I don’t care where he is,” I repeated. “I don’t want to see him. Come get me.”

“
Holly, I want you to start walking towards downtown,” Jeremy told me.

“
But—”

“
I know you’re not supposed to be down there, but it’s safer than a dark park, isn’t it?”

I half-grimaced. Yeah, maybe my reasoning wasn’t so great. “Okay. Stay on the phone with me . . .”

“
I’m going to call Chris and tell him to meet you—”

“
No!” I cut him off, clenching my jaw. “I told you I don’t want to see him!”

“
Holly, this is a serious situation,” Jeremy responded, disapproval in his voice. “What is wrong with him coming to get you? Why don’t you want to see him?”

“
Because . . . Holly . . .”

Jeremy took a sharp intake of air. “You found out?”

It felt like a freight train hit me. “You knew?”

Jeremy knew and didn’t tell me? Of course he knew! He was Holly’s cousin! He must have known I looked so much like her too. New tears sprung to my eyes. “I thought I could trust you.”

“
It wasn’t my place to tell you.”

I laughed. “You’re just like Mr. Heywood. No wonder you two are best friends. Liars.”

“
Holly, don’t be overdramatic.”

“
Overdramatic?” I cried shrilly. “Alright, Jeremy! You try having your heart broken, being used, being lied to by the people closest to you,
and
being targeted by a gang leader!”

“
I’m sorry,” Jeremy started, but I cut him off again.

“
Save it,” I snapped. “Don’t bother coming to pick me up either. I can handle myself.”

“
Holly—”

I shut my phone and clenched it tightly in my hand. My legs suddenly felt like rubber and I slowly lowered myself to my knees, tears falling down my face again. I really was an idiot. Why couldn’t they just tell me straight out? It could have saved me so much hurt! My breath started coming in short and quick and I had to calm myself down before I started hyperventilating.

It wasn’t as bad as it seemed, I told myself. Jeremy was right. I was overreacting. But there was only so much one person could take in one night. I had every reason to overreact!

My phone went off again. “Oh my God!” I cried in irritation, snatching it up and opening it. “What?”

“
That was quite the scene.”

Shawn.

“
Shut up.” I feigned bravery.

“
What happened? Did Chris break your heart?”

“
Shut up,” I repeated, scowling at the darkness surrounding me.

“
Hey, I know your pain, remember?” he responded sounding amused. “It’s funny how you look so much like my Holly . . .”

“
I guess you won’t be after me since it’s now obvious Chris doesn’t care about me, huh?” I said with small laugh.

“
Who said that was the only reason?”

“
Huh?”

“
Sure, that’s the main reason,” Shawn told me. “But you look so much like Holly, and your name is even Holly. Your hair, your eyes . . . all the same.”

“
I’m not her though!” I protested, suddenly angry. “I might look like her but I’m not her! Don’t associate her with me!”

“
Touching a nerve, am I?”

“
Leave me alone!”

“
You care about Chris so much and yet he replaced you. You can’t even compare,” he continued, sounding amused.

“
I . . .”

“
Don’t you want to get back at him? If you got with me, I’m sure that would do the trick. Don’t you feel betrayed? C’mon, get back at him with me. I promise I won’t hurt you. I like your spunk and I’ll forget all that you’ve done. You can replace Holly for me, and get back at Chris. Let’s get back at him, sweetheart” Shawn coaxed.

“
No . . .”

“
No?”

I shook my head. “I still love Mr. Heywood! I don’t care if he loves the other Holly, I’ll just make him fall even more in love with me! Even if . . . even if he never loves me back, I’m not going to try to hurt him for revenge.”

Shawn stayed silent. Then started in a dangerously low voice, “So you’re choosing him too.”

“
There was never any other option,” I responded coldly. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me! You’re some guy who’s after Mr. Heywood just because you abused your girlfriend and she left you! Your buddies shot my best friend for no reason! You’re after me even though I didn’t do anything!”

“
Fine, I’ll take you by force.”

My breathing hitched and my eyes shot wide. “What?”

“
Could you imagine the look on Chris’s face if he found you beaten half to death in an alleyway? And just when he’s found the other Holly? And then, when he’s in shock, I can get him—that way he can’t tell the truth about you or the other Holly.”

“
I’m calling the police,” I said. “I’m calling the cops. You’re crazy. Completely crazy! He didn’t do anything wrong! He was trying to protect the one he loved! He doesn’t deserve what you’re doing! I—”

“
Call the cops?” Shawn laughed, interrupting me. “Can you? If you do that, Chris will be going to jail too.”

“
He . . .” I trailed off, realizing he was right. Mr. Heywood would go to jail again if he were caught up in another gang problem.

“
See? It all works perfectly. I’ll get my revenge.”

“
Why?” I whispered.

“
Because no one makes a fool out of me and gets away with it. Prepare yourself, I’m coming.”

Suddenly the line went dead and I was left in silence. I slowly lowered the phone away from my face and glanced both ways along the dark path. I had to get out of here. My head was pounding from all the crying, making it more difficult to try and hear any suspicious noises. Pushing myself off the ground, I decided I should move away from the gates and towards the road that led downtown. Another crack of thunder sounded and then I felt the first rain drop. A groan escaped my lips as the few rain drops quickly turned into a downpour. The rain was masking all other noise. Not wanting to take any chances, I began to sprint.

Paranoia took over, driving me on. I imagined footsteps following me. A cracking noise to my right, voices to my left. I didn’t know which were real, or which weren’t; but I wasn’t going to stop to figure it out.

As soon as I made it to the road, I was pulled to the side roughly. A startled scream escaped my lips, but a cold hand quickly suppressed that. With wide eyes, I looked up to see my captor.

Shawn roughly twisted my arm from my back, making me cry out into his hand. “Don’t struggle, Holly,” he ordered.

I didn’t like the way he said my name. However, to save myself pain, I heeded his words and stayed as still as I could.

“
Dan is bringing the car around now, so just hold tight for a minute.”

Car? They were seriously going to kidnap me?
Dread filled my veins and I felt myself on the edge of hyperventilating. How was I going to get out of this? No one was around! Only Jeremy knew where I was and he was all the way across town.

Then Shawn ran his fingers through my hair. “Your hair even feels the same. I’ve heard that everyone has a twin in the world, but I didn’t actually believe it. It’s incredible.” He lowered his chin so it rested on my head and he let out a small sigh. “At least you’re the right Holly this time.”

This time?
My eyes narrowed in confusion.
Right Holly?
What did he mean by that? I was tempted to shake my head, but I kept still. Shawn pulled his hand away from my mouth and I took a deep breath, or as deep as I could manage in the driving rain.

“
Don’t scream,” he warned.