DIFFERENT (Different Series Book 1) (12 page)

       ‘Megan, did your brother tell you what he did to me that night in his room at your party?’ I shouted over to her, as I kept taking steps backwards. ‘How he grabbed onto my arms and wouldn’t let me go?’

        ‘You’re lying,’ she said back.

         ‘I’m not; you know I’m not. You aren’t a bad person, Megan. Don’t let him make you one.’

         ‘Ignore her, Megan, and don’t look at her. No one look at her,’ Brandon said, as he swung the bat by his side, his gaze lowered.

          This comment annoyed me. He didn’t need to be looking at me for me to do what I did to him. I had to be looking at him or whatever it was I wanted to move. I stared at the bat, causing it to loosen from his grip and for it to be flung to the side of the road. Megan looked horrified, as she remained standing where she was, whilst Brandon just looked up at me, his grin widening.

         ‘Did you see what she did?’ he said. ‘Do you see how much of a freak she is?’

          I started to run up the road back towards Leo’s house. I could have ended this. I could have done more to stop them catching up with me, but Instead I kept on running until they’d caught up with me and pushed me to the ground, holding my head down into the dirt as someone tied my hands behind my back. I tried to get free of their grasp, but I was outnumbered. However much I flailed out my limbs, I couldn’t shove them off me.

          ‘Brandon, don’t do this,’ a girl’s voice said. Megan’s.

          ‘Just go inside, Megan. Go and see your boyfriend and leave us to do this.’

          ‘She’s in my year. She’s just a girl in my year.’ Her voice sounded shaky. She was afraid, and it wasn’t me scaring her; it was her brother.

          ‘What if she hurt you next just like she did Veronica?’

          ‘I didn’t hurt her,’ I said, but my words were muffled by dirt, which stuck to my lips and got into my mouth. There was nowhere to spit it out; I was helpless, and it didn’t sound like Megan was going to be able to stop Brandon from doing this.

            I heard footsteps pass me, but I didn’t know who they belonged to. I tried to lift my head up, but the grip on it was too strong.

            ‘Put the bag on her head,’ Brandon said.

             There was a shifting of grip on me, but there wasn’t enough time for me to strike out. They were too fast and too strong. They put the bag over my head and lifted it up enough so they could pull it down. The grip on my head was still too strong, and I couldn’t get out of it. I couldn’t see anything but dirt.

             The plastic from the bag felt itchy against my skin, and I gasped for breath. I felt myself begin to panic. I was going to die here at the hands of Brandon. I was going to die up the road to my best friend’s house. I imagined him sat in his house, his arm around Megan’s shoulders as he reassured her that this was for the best.

           ‘I’ll tell you what, Celeste. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll make it quick.’

         I wondered how he was going to do it. Would he use the bat or something else? Would Finn ever try to look for me, or would he move on with his life?

         There was shouting, but I couldn’t properly make it out. Something fell by me with a thud, and the grip on me loosened. I tried pulling my hands free of the rope as I struggled to get onto my knees. I tore my teeth into the bag and managed to split it, spitting some of the dirt and bits of plastic out of my mouth as I sat down on the ground, ready to swing my legs out in front of me if I needed to.

         ‘You had to ruin it, didn’t you, Ginger?’ I recognised Brandon’s voice.

         ‘Leave him alone,’ Megan said.

          ‘Go away, Megan. This has nothing to do with you.’

         ‘It has everything to do with me when you’re aiming a bat at my boyfriend.’

         ‘He got in the way. If he’d just left me to get rid of her, then I wouldn’t have to do this.’

         Silence, then footsteps, and someone walked up behind me and pulled the bag off my head. I blinked my eyes open, adjusting them to the light. That was when I saw one of the boys lying on the ground, clutching his blood-stained shirt as he whined. The other boy was holding Leo’s arms behind his back. Leo was on his knees, trying to struggle free; he had a cut on his lip, and standing over him was Brandon, the bat raised.

       ‘Stop him,’ Megan whispered in my ear.

      Brandon swung the bat hard into Leo’s stomach. Leo barely made a sound, but Megan screamed.

        I focused on Brandon. I caused him to fall hard onto the ground, and then I focused on the boy who was still holding Leo. He saw me staring at him, and he let go of Leo and started to run. I caused him to trip up and fall face first onto the dirt path. I moved my attention away from him; if he could stand up, then he could go.

         I looked back at Brandon, who was now back up on his feet, the bat still in his hand. I caused it leave his grip, but this time I made it land in front of Megan. She hesitated before bending down to pick it up.

        ‘Megan, see? She’s crazy,’ Brandon pleaded with her as he held his hands out in front of him.

          ‘What she said you did to her, it was true, wasn’t it?’ she spluttered out.

         ‘I’m your brother; you know me.’

          ‘I thought I did, but then you tried to batter my boyfriend to death.’ She raised the bat and gripped it tightly with both hands.

          ‘I just wanted to protect you.’

           ‘Just go, else I’ll call the police.’

           ‘Megan, please.’

          ‘Just go, now!’ she shouted. 

           He looked at her before he changed his gaze to me. He stared at me before he started to run up the dirt path, until he was no longer in sight.

           ‘You tell no one what happened,’ Megan turned and said to the boy on the ground.

          ‘I won’t,’ he coughed out.

          ‘Let’s take him inside,’ Leo said, as Megan helped him up to his feet and he clutched his stomach. ‘Then I need to talk to Celeste.’

            Megan nodded as they both went over to the boy and tried to help him up. Leo was clearly in a lot of pain, and Megan struggled to support the boy’s weight as they staggered up the road towards Leo’s house. I could have helped them. I could have caused the boy to be dragged up the path. I didn’t, though; I just sat there until they were out of sight.

           A single tear began to trickle down my cheek. Exhaustion took over, and I just wanted to get out of here; I just wanted to get away from Leo. He was smarter than he looked. He knew that I couldn’t untie the rope. He knew that unless I wanted to run off with my hands tied up, I’d have to wait until he got back.

          He walked up the road, clutching his stomach with one hand and my rucksack with the other. Neither of us said anything as he bent down, placed the rucksack on the ground, and loosened the rope.

         ‘Celeste, I’m sorry,’ he sighed out.

         ‘So am I.’ I flinched out my fingers in front of me.

         ‘What are you going to do now?’

         ‘Go away, start a new life. Live, I hope. You?’

         ‘You shouldn’t go. You shouldn’t run away.’

         ‘I was leaving anyway, and now I definitely can’t stay. You’ll be okay. You have Megan, and maybe she isn’t as bad as I thought she was.’ I half smiled.

         ‘Apart from the fact she has a crazy brother,’ he grinned.

        ‘Well, no one’s perfect.’ I stood up and brushed some of the dirt off my clothes.

          ‘Are you really never coming back?’

         ‘I can’t come back, you know that.’ I looked at him before I wrapped my arms around him. He hugged me back, and I rested my head against his chest.

         The truth was that whatever Leo had done, he was my best friend who’d been there for me in the end, and I would miss him.

        I lifted my head up and let go of him. As much as I wanted to hold onto him forever, I knew that I couldn’t. I had to let him go.

         ‘Be safe,’ he said.

       ‘I can’t guarantee that, but I suppose I can try.’

       ‘See ya, then.’ He looked directly at me. He wasn’t afraid.

      ‘Yeah, see ya,’ I smiled, as I picked up my rucksack and walked up the path.

       I’d said my goodbyes. I didn’t look back.

Chapter Ten

I sat on the bench in the park, my rucksack by my feet. I’d come here ever since I’d left Leo’s, since there was nowhere else to go. Besides, sitting on this bench remanded me that Finn was real and that when he told me that he’d help me, I believed that he’d meant it.

         Time passed, even if sometimes it felt as if it never would. Everything had to come to an end eventually: this day, my time in Oakwood, life. Nothing lasted forever and nothing ever would. That was the thing with life. It was all about choices and decisions, and there was usually no one to guide me and advise me what to do.

         I knew that I must have looked a state sitting on the bench, covered in scratches, dry blood, and dirt, but I no longer cared what people thought of me.

        Louisa texted me asking me where I was and if the rumours from school were true, but I didn’t reply to any of her messages. I had a missed call from Gloria, but she didn’t ring again. Maybe they’d both let me go, and now I needed to let Oakwood go.

        It was half four when I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Finn.

        ‘
I’m in the park, I need to leave now x’

       
I couldn’t stay sitting here for another two and a half hours with the events of today repeating in my head. I felt as if I was in limbo just sitting there; I needed to leave. I needed Finn to come and save me like he said he would.

        It was ten minutes before my phone buzzed.

       
‘20 mins x’

         I wondered what the Prestons would be doing. At this time, Gloria would usually be preparing dinner, Terry would either still be at work or he’d be in his office, and Louisa would most likely be upstairs doing her homework whist listening to cheesy pop music. I would miss them, even though I knew that I didn’t belong with them.

       Twenty minutes later, Finn walked up the park path. He was wearing his grey top and he had the hood pulled up, yet I recognised him instantly.

        I perched on the edge of the bench as I failed to hide my smile. He’d stuck to his word and come.

        I picked my rucksack up off the ground and rested it on my lap.

        ‘Let’s go,’ Finn said, unable to meet my gaze.

        ‘What’s wrong?’ I was the one who’d been close to being battered to death by Brandon, yet I was the one asking Finn what was wrong. He just seemed anxious, and this fact worried me.

         ‘Nothing, we just need to go now.’ He took my rucksack off my lap and swung it over his shoulder, and he started to walk back up the path.

         I stood up and followed him, but something about this situation didn’t real right. Finn was acting rushed, but what choice did I have but to follow him? He was all I had left, but most of all, I wanted to be with him.

          ‘Where are we going?’ I struggled to keep up with him. I was aching from being knocked to the ground earlier, and right now I wanted him to help me.

            He got to the entrance and stopped. Still he was unable to meet my gaze as I caught up with him. He just stood there anxiously looking around him. My instincts were telling me that something was wrong, but my heart was telling me to stay with him.

           ‘Over here,’ he said, as he looked before walking across the road, and I followed him.

           He stopped on the pavement by a black van. I stood by him, not knowing what was going on.

            The passenger door of the van opened, and a man in a black suit stepped out of it. I didn’t pay much attention to him until he placed his hand on Finn’s shoulder.

            ‘Good work,’ he said.

             I wanted to ask what was going on, but someone was behind me, and they’d jabbed something into my neck. I turned to see another man in a black suit standing there holding a large needle, like the kind they use for vaccinations. I couldn’t focus on him enough to make him fall over, to make him bleed. I fell to my knees and looked up at Finn, who was still clutching my rucksack. He finally looked at me, his eyes full of guilt. He didn’t try to stop the men. Instead, he just stood there.

           I felt myself being dragged into the back of the van. I wanted to scream out, but I couldn’t make a sound. The door closed behind me, and then I found myself unable to control my body and unable to keep my eyes open.

           Nothing made sense to me. What had been in the needle, and why couldn’t I focus? No one knew where I was, and no one would come looking for me. This was it. This was what my new start with Finn was always going to be, a lie. It was all a lie. Had he ever even liked me at all?

           The last thought that crossed my mind before sleep claimed me was that Finn, the boy who I had trusted, the boy who I had confided in, had betrayed me.

          I was different. I was alone.

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