Welcome back! It's great to finally have a new chapter out. I've been really busy these last few weeks with all of the other projects I have going on. Things like the other stories I have listed on this site, the play I've been writing, plus directing my first production! That was definitely a learning experience. It was fun to watch my finished product up on stage (I was also the light and sound designer/technician/builder, plus I also helped build the set). I thought it turned out really well. And I'm happy to report that I've already been given my next project set to debut in April. Wish me luck!
Though inspired by true events, this story is borne entirely of my own imagination. Contained herein are depictions of physical violence and mental abuses, as well as vulgar language and depictions of sexual acts between two female characters, among others. If this sort of thing offends you, or if you are not of legal age to view this in your area, then please leave now; the author accepts no responsibilities for any harms that may befall you if caught viewing this materiel. This story is the property of the author and is copyrighted to me. If you would like to download this story to your portable device, please ask my permission first.
If that be it, then please sit back, relax, curl up with your partner (hopefully you're not alone) and enjoy part two of the rejuvenated series: Loving A Shadow!
Chapter 2
It just another end to another day. The halls of Kennview High School filled with students as the final bell rang. People weaved around each other to get to wherever they need to be. Some made their way to the library, others to the gymnasium locker rooms--both boys and girls. The teachers made their way to the faculty room for their weekly meeting.
Anne stood at her locker and gathered what she needed for the weekend, which wasn't much. Her tutoring lesson at the middle school had been canceled today. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to hold a cigarette lighter against one of the sprinklers to see what would happen. An afternoon shower followed by police questioning is what happened. The Bitch could only laugh to herself thinking about it.
"Stupid kids," she thought out loud.
"Who you talking about this time?" a familiar, masculine voice said from behind her.
Anne let out a huff. Refusing to turn around, she replied, "If you need to ask, then I need not answer."
The boy laughed a little. "Oh, Annie, were you talking to yourself again?"
Anne spun on her heels and surprised him with a left hook. "Care to try again, Daniel Stour?"
Daniel only laughed louder. Anne always thought it was weird that no matter how hard she hit this guy he only seemed to laugh harder. Daniel stood a full head taller than the girl before him, but she was the only person who could take him don in a fair fight, and that includes the football and wrestling teams. "Annie, you're in a pleasant mood today," he said rubbing his cheek. "But you need to start working out more."
Anne's eyes became like fire. "Don't call me that."
"What? Annie?" Daniel straightened himself and took a step closer to the Bitch. He smiled and repeated, "Now, Annie, that isn't polite -"
Anne punched him in the gut with her right. The boy fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around his middle, gasping for air. "You're right, Daniel Stour, it isn't polite," she whispered directly in his ear. "And neither are you." Anne picked up her things where she dropped them before rising up and straightening out her coat. "Don't you have someplace to be where you won't be such a bothersome insect?"
Daniel kept couching, trying to catch his breath. "Yeah," he uttered, trying to get up. "We've got practice today, but it's been delayed until the coach finishes up with the cops. Apparently the dumbass who set off the sprinkler was one of the eighth graders who practices with us."
Anne rolled her eyes. "Jocks..."
"Hey, we're not all bad," he said defensively. "In fact some of us have been known to be quite funny."
Anne let out a snort of derision. "Isn't that what your jock-strap tells you?"
Daniel chuckled. "Is that really the best you can do, Annie? Dick jokes?"
Anne pressed her right hand against his chest and threw the taller boy into the locker behind him. His feet left the ground before his back hit with a loud bang. Several people looked at the scene, then looked away just as quickly. If it had anything to do with Annebell Amera, they wanted no part in it.
Anne shut her locker and left Daniel on the ground clutching the back of his head. But it was Anne's head that was hurting more, Daniel was probably the only person in this entire school that could talk to her, take the punishment, and ask for more. Anne didn't get it, but he always found a way into her head as guarded as it may be. Her hard steps down the hall was a clear indication of that. She marched up to the door and walked out into the crisp Autumn air.
Misty walked with light steps up to the fallen athlete. She couldn't understand why he was laughing. He just looked like someone kicked his ass. Diane wasn't too far behind, but she could only look down and shake her head.
"Oh my goodness," she said, almost to herself, "Are you alright?"
"Never better," Daniel answered. He got up and greeted his girlfriend, who finally arrived. Misty watched them kiss, her heart both swelled and broke.
"What did you say this time?" Diane asked her boyfriend.
"Nothing that she hasn't already heard," he said, wrapping his arms round both girls' shoulders as they started walking down the hall. Misty was happy be involved in the gesture, but shrugged him off just as quickly. "What's that?" the man asked, nodding towards a piece of paper on the top of the pile in Misty's arms.
"Nothing," the brunette cheerleader snapped. She tucked it under her Calculus book.
"Nothing? Yeah I bet," her cousins's boyfriend teased. "It's another love letter for me, ain't it?"
Misty scoffed. "In your dreams, pal."
"Oh come one, Diane doesn't have to know."
"Yo! Standing right here," Diane nearly shouted.
"What?" he smiled. "Just trying to wrangle us a threeway -"
Both cousins slapped him in the gut. "Gross!" they shouted in unison.
"What gives?" Daniel asked, confused. He leaned over to Diane and whispered, "I thought Misty played on both teams."
Diane shot him an evil eye. "That's my baby cousin you're talkin' about buddy. Watch it." Misty looked over at the two of them. "And no, she doesn't."
"She doesn't?" the cheerleader prompted, her brain just now coming back to reality. "Who doesn't what?"
"She do that often? Dream about me like that?"
"Shut up and grow up!" Misty retorted.
"No she doesn't," Diane said. "She thinks you're a disgusting pig." Daniel gave both girls what seemed like a genuinely hurt look. "You don't play on her team, Daniel."
"Nope," her younger cousin replied a little too happily.
Daniel could only laugh. "I had to try; it's a guy thing."
Misty lifted an eyebrow at him. "You haven't stopped 'trying' since we met. I thought you were smarter than that."
"Funny, me too," Diane said giggling. Daniel leaned his head back and cracked his neck. Misty snorted at the goofy look on his face. "Even still, you make us all laugh, and we love you for it."
"And don't you forget it!"
The three of them ended up at the gym. Misty had her mind set on things other than practice, but, as the newly elected co-captain, she had to be here no matter what. Daniel gave Misty a hug and Diane a kiss before joining his teammates in the locker room. The younger one ford a smile at the two of them, images of her and Anne running rampant through her mind. She unconsciously played with her hair as Daniel walked away.
"What's with you?" her cousin asked suddenly. "Still got Anne on the brain?"
"Yeah," Misty said around a sigh.
"Why?"
Misty gave her a look that Diane couldn't interpret. "I've told you a million times already."
Diane let out her own exasperated sigh, complete with eye roll. "I told you she's the uber-bitch of this school."
"Don't say that."
"No one likes her," Diane continued. "Yeah she's smart, but she's also condescending, arrogant, sardonic, self-absorbed sociopath. She treats everyone like shit, including you."
"Shut up!"
"What?"
"When was the last time you spoke with her? When was the last time you tried to show her you were her friend? Or anyone else for that matter?" Tears welled in her eyes. "I'm tired of people talking shit about her. It's not fair."
Diane put her hand up. "Misty, you're my cousin, and I love you, and because I love you I'm trying to get you to see her for what she is. She isn't the sweet little Annie she used to be."
A tear leaked down her cheek. "Yeah, with friends turning her back on her, I can't say as I blame her. You said she came out of the hospital completely different -"
"More like completely fucked up," Diane interrupted.
"And after that day you told me that the two of you drifted apart. Did you ever call her, or try to welcome her back?"
Diane spun around and headed towards the parking lot doors. "I'm not gonna argue with you on this, Misty. I've said my piece, and I'll leave it at that. If you want to chase after her, fine, just don't come crying and bitching to me when she breaks your heart." With that Diane turned back around. Misty made to say something else, but the coach blew her whistle to get practice started.
"You're wrong, Diane," Misty mumbled. "You'll see."
Anne didn't want to go straight home. If history was any indication, then there should be a yellow Nissan parked in front of the house with the owner of that vehicle fucking her mother's brains out. Anne glanced down at her watch. "I'll give 'em another hour," she said under her breath. Thoughts of the past week filtered in and out of her brain. Her test and assignment scores; her lesson plans for her middle school class; the song she played on her Kramer; that new girl Misty Thomas.
Anne kicked a rock. She decided to visit her father and her brother. It seemed like a good day for it. The clouds were low in the sky, blocking out the sun. Plus it looked like it might rain soon. Yeah it might be chilly, but what the hell. It's not like she's never been in this situation before. Anything to prolong the inevitable sojourn home. Maybe sitting down and having a chat with good ol' dad might clear her head up about a few things.
The cemetery was about as empty as anyone would think it to be this late in the day. The teenager walked past the groundkeeper's house and over the hill to the graves. She read the names of their neighbors as she passed them. One stood out amongst all the others on this row. It was a child, born and died on June sixth, what was his sixth birthday. "Happy fucking birthday, David," Anne mumbled as she past the marker. "Born on the sixth day of the sixth month, and die on that date just as you turned six. Not cool."
Anne took a seat between her father and brother's tombstones. She stretched her legs out on the cool grass and slipped her backpack off. She leaned back against it and looked up with her eyes closed. Their faces flashed in her mind's eye, from the last time she saw them. They smiled back at her, as though happy she made the trip to see them. She held onto that visage for as long as possible. But just like every good dream, you eventually have to wake up and ruin it.
Anne sat up and folded her legs. "Hey guys," the teenager said, glancing between both stones. "It's been a little while since I made it out here, I know. Sorry about that." Anne flung her pack onto her lap and pulled out her latest composition book. "I've been trying to stay busy, you know. Mom's still making my life a living hell, but I'm still alive."
A tear leaked down her cheek. Her memory flashed back to the day of her attack. The day of their deaths. "Still alive..." She pulled out a pen and started writing. Turning to her brother's grave, she said, "Oh I got a letter from Steven. He wants me to fill in for you when they get back into town. No I haven't written him back yet, but I will eventually." She wrote a few words in her book, then turned to her father's grave. "I'm on the ballot for Valedictorian. I have no idea how I got on it, but it's kinda cool. I guess. I mean, I know no one is gonna vote for me, but it's nice to finally get some fucking recognition from those peon assholes."
The girl wrote in silence for a few minutes. The rhyme scheme for the poem needed some touch up, but that's something she could fix anytime. "I have no idea what this is," she said with a giggle, staring at her work. "I don't even know where this is coming from. Maybe I'm just tired of always being a bitch. Maybe I'm tired of all the shit mom puts me through. I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Maybe I'm just tired of being tired. I haven't been sleeping all that well for the past week. Don't ask me why, because I don't know."
She looked intently at her brother's grave. "What's new you ask? Well not much. We got this new girl in school. Her name is Misty Thomas. She's pretty nice for a cheerleader. Co-captain to boot. Attractive, good heart. Can you believe she want's to be my friend!" Anne said with a laugh. "Get this: She comes over to me at lunch last week. I'm sitting by myself like always and then she proceeds to banter on and on about wanting to be my friend, how much she knows about about us--you, dad, me, and mom--and what she can do to help. I swear, I never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. Oh, and here's the cherry on top: She's Diane Thomas's cousin! Oh that's too rich!"
Anne about fell over herself laughing. She wrapped her arms around her middle and lost it. Anyone passing by would have thought she was stark raving mad. She was practically wetting herself.
"What's that dad?" she asked, sobering up. "Why am I such a bitch to her? I don't know. Maybe because that's what the world made me? Because the people around me either die or go nuts." She gave a pause and stared at the tombstone, all bits of humor now gone. "I know it's not fair to her that I do that! It wasn't fair what happened to us either, remember. Bad things happen and more often than not, they happen to good people. You told me that once." Anne put she notebook and pen in her back and zipped it closed as fast as she could. "I came out here to relax and see you guys, and this is how you treat me? By putting me through a fucking inquisition! Just like she did. I can't deal with this right now."
Anne ran out of the cemetery. She didn't stop running until she reached the driveway of her house. For all of her faults, being out of shape was not among them. A yellow car was in the driveway, but not the one she thought it would be. Not a second after she walked through the door did the first drops of rain start coming down.
"What are you doing here?" her mother said before her daughter shut the door.
"I live here, if you recall." Anne locked the door behind her and headed for her room.
"Where the hell have you been? Do you know what time it it?"
Anne froze. She was being motherly, this can't be good. "I stopped by the cemetery to visit dad and Jason. Is that a crime all of a sudden? When did you start caring where I've been?"
Mrs. Amera pointed at her daughter. "Don't you dare take that tone with me, you little bitch."
Anne grinned. "That's more like it." Her mother stepped up to the teenager as if she was going to hit her, but something stopped her. "Oh mother, is your arm too tired from jacking off all that cock?" A masculine chuckle from the kitchen gave both of them a pause. Anne turned from ice queen to frightened and betrayed. "Mom, no..."
"Yes she is," said the very familiar man as he entered the living room. "She did a very good job." The man put his arms around his mistress's shoulder and kissed her cheek. Anne barely noticed the cigarette in his fingers. Anne was on the verge of tears. "You look surprised to see me, Annebell."
Anne's hands became fists. Blood leaked from her left palm as her nails dug into the skin. She refused to meet either sets of eyes. "How cane you invite this man into this house?"
"Well let me see," the man said, feigning concentration. "She calls me up and says 'Hey, Sid, I need a good fucking. Get your ass over here'. How can I say no to something like that?"
Neither one of the women could say anything. This man, who Anne only knew as Sid, was the last person she expected to see today. Mrs. Amera put on a smug smile while her daughter fought against her instinct to kill this man.
Anne refused to cry in front of either of them. "You're a monster, Sid. A loathsome weasel of a human being. Get out of my house."
Sid smiled. He took a puff of his cigarette and blew the smoke in the teenager's face. "It's alright, Anne. I've already done what I came here to do." He walked with his usual overconfident swagger and picked up his leather jacket. "I'll see you next time."
"The next time I see you, I'll kill you," was Anne's response.
"Sure thing, kid." He turned to her mother and said, "Maybe next time I'll invite my friends to join us." Before either of them could say anything, he was out the door. They listened as he started his car and drove home to his wife.
"How could you mom?" Anne said, barely above a whisper. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Shut your damn mouth, little girl! I'm not putting up with any of your shit tonight." Anne watched her mother disappear into the kitchen. "Why did you drink all of my booze?"
Anne covered her face with her hands. She fell to a squatting position, but refused to let the tears out. "I didn't drink any of your goddamn booze, mom! You're too fucking wasted to even tell me what day it is half the time."
"Don't start with that shit," she said, coming back into the living room. "Now cook us something for dinner. I'm starving."
"Yeah, I bet you are," she said as she stood back up, running her hands through her hair. She thought she knew the exact right thing to say to this woman tonight, but she crossed the line. Anne told her hundreds of times that if she ever saw that man again she'd kill him. She'd strangle him with her own two hands just so she could get the satisfaction of feeling his heart stop in her grip; she wanted to see the terror in his eyes as he faded away.
Anne wasn't going to argue with her tonight. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a couple of apples and cookies, then headed back to her room. Just as soon as the door slammed shut the tears flooded out. She cried for hours. All of her confusion, frustration, anger, and hatred finally won. The noises coming from the other parts of the house meant nothing as the visions in her mind's eye played out like a bad dream, the music of her brother's guitar blocking out the rest of the world.
Thank you for reading chapter two. I know it was a bit shorter than the first one, but that was a fluke. I didn't realize how long the first chapter was until I posted it. LOL Well, as always, feel free to send in your comments, questions, concerns, or critiques. I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you.