Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Keep running. Keep running. Keep running. Dory's voice echoed in my head in that sing-song tone.

That and the sound of rushing blood was all I could hear as I ran for dear life through the school corridors with an enraged chimp behind me.

“Well isn’t this ironic.” I thought to myself as I felt a sense of deja vu coming to me. My mind highlighted the similarity of my current situation to that time when I was thirteen and Drake brought me to that new circus in town where it turns out that the chimp thought I had killed its kin and started attacking me by almost tearing my leg in two.

I had the same exact amount of fear, or maybe even more, coursing through my veins at this very instance. My heart hammered against my chest at an alarming rate and I was beginning to feel lightheaded. I felt like I was going to piss my pants if Gina didn’t stop chasing me down the halls soon.

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!" I finally cried out in panic, unable to hold it in anymore as Gina started closing the distance between us. I was ready to shout anything over my shoulder as long as it gets Gina off my heels. Curse my physical state. If only I had listened to Tia more whenever she lectured me about doing some exercises.

I made my biggest mistake by looking back at Gina. I saw her glower at me before her hand shot out towards me and grabbed a handful of my hair. Once she got a good grip, she yanked my hair back so suddenly that it caused me to stumble backwards, forcing me to a stop.

As she brought her other hand down to slap me. I brought my own arms up to shield my face and squeezed my eyes shut, just waiting for the final impact but it never came. When I felt the absence of the strain on my scalp from getting my hair pulled, I cracked open an eye to peek through it and I felt the huge weight on my chest vanish. The death grip that the panic and fear I felt had made my chest constrict painfully as I tried running away from Gina and it had finally let me go when I saw that I was saved.

I was relieved and yet confused to find Ryder pushing Gina roughly away from me and shielding me from her.

"Move away, Park. It's between me and the bitch." Gina snarled ferociously and I shrank back. Shit she's bloody scary when she's angry. Why the hell did that ball have to be such a dick and hit her of all people?!

"Leave her alone, Gina. Walk away and you won't need to break any of those perfectly manicured nails you just got done last week. I'm sure you don't want to break any of them, do you now?" Ryder inquired calmly and lightly that I had to throw him a bewildered look. Was he seriously talking about her manicured nails now of all times?

"I will if I have to," she bit back, still keeping her glare on me.

"Now, MOVE!" She growled loudly when suddenly, Tia appeared out of nowhere and sprang at a stunned Gina.

"Come on, she'll be fine," Ryder muttered to me before helping me walk away from the two girls going at each other’s throat. I glanced over my shoulder at the two girls, not sure who I should be more worried about.

We walked to the parking lot and I kept quiet, too shocked to make a sound. When I did find my voice, we were already pulling out of school grounds.

"Wait, where are we going?" I said in a panicked voice while gripping the edge of my seat.

"Calm down, Princess. I’m just driving you back to your house since school is almost over anyway and you're not exactly safe if you stay there with an ape in the loose." I giggled at his description of an enraged Gina.

On the way, we joked about several things and I felt myself staring at him as the car came to a halt in front of a red light. His hair was sticking up in all directions but I guess he was one of those guys who could pull it off with just a smirk. Lucky shit.

His cheekbones were so sharp it could've sliced an apple straight through and his forest green eyes pierced everything it settled on.

Basically, the guy oozes off perfection and made me feel, and probably look, like a clown in comparison and my button nose definitely wasn’t helping. What bothered me most was that I could actually imagine painting my nose red and use those afro wigs and huge shoes and polkadot suits.

When the light turned green, he hit the gas and took a turn that led to my block. I poked around his car while waiting for him to pull up at my house, opening the dashboard compartment and noticed something glinting inside. I picked it up and took a good look at it.

It was a ruby pendant. Small, but beautiful nonetheless. I raised it so that it would catch the light and looked at it closer. I couldn’t help the gasp that left my lips.

"It's real," I whispered to him and he glanced for a second towards what I was holding and I caught the smile on his face.

"Oh, that old thing. It was my grandmother's. She told me that when I finally meet the girl I want to marry one day, I should give it to her. It's some kind of family heritage." He said, his eyes glued to the road in front of us. I nodded though he wasn’t watching me, while processing the thought and trying to hide the pang of jealousy inside me.

You're falling for him..

Shut up, conscience.

Only when I finally managed to shut the nagging voice up did I realize that Ryder had been trying to get my attention.

"Huh? What?" I asked deliberately and instantly blushing at how stupid I must've sounded. He smiled and shook his head but still voiced his thoughts. "I wondered how you could've known that it was a real ruby, a lot of people had to ask but you seemed sure of it with a single look."

I shrugged at the question, putting the pendant back to where I found it and closed the compartment.

"My grandma had a jewelry store and insisted that I learn about them and how to sell them when I was a kid," I explained and he simply nodded with a small smile still dancing on his face. I looked out the window, trying to hide my blush from him. Dammit, Luce, snap out of it! He’s just a friend.

“Question,” I said out loud after a few seconds of staring at the necklace that I had placed back into the dashboard compartment. “If it’s supposed to be some kind of family heritage, shouldn’t you keep it somewhere safer? Aren’t you scared of losing it or breaking it if you keep it there?”

Ryder shrugged, “There used to be a box for it but I lost it. I like to keep it close to me so I keep it in the car ‘cause no one else drives this car anyways.”

I hummed, nodding slowly, accepting his explanation. “Fair enough.”

We finally reached my house and I turned to look at him after making sure my cheeks no longer felt like volcanos that were threatening to erupt anytime soon.

"Thanks for the ride," I smiled at him and he mirrored my smile with his megawatt one.

"Do you have time for some drinks? Drake's supposed to be out so I'm kind of alone again." I said to him mindlessly while gathering my things, not exactly thinking about how that might have sounded, but when I saw his smirk and wiggled eyebrows, I realized that my invitation might have sounded too suggestive.

Dang it! Kill me now. Just kill me now.

Someone please bang my head against the wall hard enough so that I'll have a concussion. Please. It'll save me a great deal of embarrassment.

Anyone? No? It's a cruel world. Really.

"I-I.. I didn't- it wasn't supposed to come out that way!" I sputtered out but despite my effort in explaining, Ryder took no notice because he was already too busy laughing.

"Yes, Princess. I'll come inside." He grinned and exited the car, walking around to my side of the car and opened my door.

"After you," He offered me a hand and although I was still wearing a light pout, I took his hand and muttered a quiet thank you.

His grin was still plastered all over his face and my inner self grew agitated, snapping at him. I avoided looking at him, despite the numerous times that he would poke me to try and get my attention. I swatted his fingers away and opened the front door.

"Make yourself comfortable," I told him, "I'll just get some cookies and hot chocolate for us." I called back over my shoulder while making my way to the kitchen.

"Don't hurt yourself, Princess," he called out from the living room before I heard him snigger a bit. I rolled my eyes at that as I opened the door to the kitchen.

A scream echoed throughout the house and my whole being went numb. I couldn't breathe or blink, too stunned by the sight in front of me. I couldn't afford to blink. I faintly heard a set of footsteps thumping behind me before I felt a presence behind me. Hands grabbed my arms to hold me up and realization washed over me like cold water being poured from a bucket over my head.

When I felt that my jaw was unhinged and my mouth was wide open, I realized that the scream I heard actually came from me. I gasped once before breaking down, my eyes still glued to the body that was sprawled across the kitchen floor before me. My hand flew over my mouth and stifled my sobs as I fell to my knees. I shrugged Ryder’s hands off my arms violently and crawled on all fours to get closer to the immobile body. I reached out, my hands shaking as it hovered over my brother’s body. His body faced the floor, his back towards the ceiling but his head was turned to the side. There was a knife a few feet from his body, under the foot of the counter. Luckily, there wasn’t any blood on his body but he wasn’t moving. I held onto the limp body of my brother, clinging onto it for dear life. Ryder came over and squatted beside me and reached out to place his finger on Drake's neck, trying to find a pulse.

He then wrapped his arms around me and used his hand to rub my arm up and down, trying to calm me down and get me to stop hyperventilating.

"He's alive, Luce. Drake's alive. He's gonna be alright. We need to get him some help, okay? Breathe." He whispered calmly and I angled my head to hide it in the crook of his neck to calm myself for a while. I felt Ryder’s hand stop rubbing my arm and I heard him talk to someone on the phone but I focused on breathing instead of listening in on what he was saying.

Pull yourself together, Luce. The faster you do that, the faster you'll find out who did this to Drake. Come on. Breathe.

I could feel my sobs ceasing and slowly, my breathing returned to its somewhat normal rate. I sniffled a bit and wiped my eyes dry, picking myself up and getting to my feet. I steeled myself and told myself that it wasn’t the time to break down.

"Is anyone coming?" I asked Ryder, turning to him.

He nodded, “The ambulance is going to be here soon. They told us to wait and to not move Drake in case there are any fractures or broken bones.”

I sniffled some more. The sight of my brother unconscious and not moving invoked the fresh urge to start breaking down again.

Get your shit together, Luce.

“I’ll go get my things so that when the ambulance arrives, we’ll be able to leave with them.” I said. Drake nodded, still crouched beside my unconscious brother. “Stay with him?” I pleaded with him with my eyes, my voice cracking as I said the three words.

Drake nodded again, “Of course.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, wiping the little tears that escaped my eyes before walking out of the kitchen to get my wallet and my phone.

As I walked back into the kitchen to wait for the ambulance with my brother and Ryder, I noticed something sticking on the top of the counter. My mind had just stopped processing things following the shock of seeing my brother’s unmoving body so I must’ve failed to see the note that was left for whoever found my brother on the countertop.

I walked towards it slowly, Ryder watching me with a questioning look on his face, calling out my name.

I raised my hand slightly, keeping my eyes on the note as if it was a ticking time bomb that might go off any second then. When I was close enough to it, I took it off the countertop and raised it so that I could read it better.

The second that my eyes ran over the words scribbled on the paper, my blood ran cold and I could feel my face lose its color whilst reading what was written on it.

Drake's just the beginning. I'm coming for you next. -x