At two in the morning, I am woken up by a loud buzzing coming from my phone.
8 new messages
Alex: EMERGENCY MEETING RIGHT NOW !!!!
Alex: HELLO
Alex: ANSWER ME
Alex: R U GUYS EVEN AWAKE
Alex: HELLOOOOOOO
Kate: what's up
Alex: MEET ME AT JAGGED EDGE RNRNRNENRN
Kate: alex it's two in the morning
Alex: BITCH IDCC
Adya: WHATS WRONG
Alex: CAN WE MEET AT JAGGED EDGE RIGHT NOW PLEASE
Kate: i think it's closed
Adya: LETS MEET AT THE PARK OK
Alex: OK HURRY UPPPP
Adya: IM HURRYUPPINGGGG
I get out of bed and groggily pull on sweatpants and a hoodie. Then I head around the side of the house to the garage and open it up, grabbing my bike.
When I get to the park, there is a lone figure standing on the grass. Despite her unenthusiastic messages, Kate is the first one there, anxiously pacing back and forth. When she sees me, she grabs me by the shoulders.
"Where the fuck is she?" she asks frantically, running a hand through her hair.
"She's not here?" I ask. "Did you call her?"
"Yeah, like, twenty times," Kate says. "She's not answering. What if she's in trouble?"
"Fuck," I say. "Okay. Okay." I take a deep breath. "You stay here in case she comes here. I'm gonna go over to her house and see if I can find her there."
Kate nods and bites her lip, eyes filled with concern. "God, I hope she's safe."
"We'll find her," I say, before putting one leg over my bike and pedalling away from the park.
I barely make it onto the first street, secluded and only a minute away from the park, before I see Alex. She turns the corner, running fast. Her face is purple and streaked with tears. A black eye is forming on her face.
Something is horribly wrong.
"ALEX!" I yell, and she runs faster and faster towards me. She collides with me, barrelling into my arms, and I hold her tight. "What's wrong?" I ask, my voice muffled in her hair.
"Shit, we have to go," she says, pulling away and grabbing my hand. She looks up at me, her eyes wild. "Adya, we have to go right now."
I'm confused. "Why?" I ask, and then I see him.
On the other end of the street, rounding the corner as he stumbles, full speed towards us, is Henry. Alex's dad.
"Oh my god," I say. I stumble backwards. Alex grabs my hands urgently.
We take off running.
When we reach an empty street, I jump a fence and help pull Alex over. We huddle in the corner of a random person's backyard and pray no one can see us in the dark.
"He's drunk," she whispers to me. "And he's violent when he's drunk. He showed up on my doorstep, and I told him to go away. And he-" A tear rolls down her cheek. "God, I'm so stupid. He convinced me to open the door. He's so convincing sometimes. And then he punched me. And that's when I ran."
"Hey," I say. "You're okay. We have to find Kate, though, and then I'm going to find Nate."
Alex nods and swallows, wiping her tears.
We meet up with Kate on a hill. That way, she can see from all sides if Henry were to approach them. I don't want to take them back in the neighbourhood area, because he was hanging out around there.
I turn to Kate. "You two stay here, and call me if shit goes south. I'm going to go find Nate, okay?"
She nods and strokes Alex's hair. "Don't get killed," she says.
YOU ARE READING
Right Where You Left Me
Romance𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 "What?" I ask. He brings his hand to my face. His fingertips brush my lips. "What would you do," he says, "If I kissed you right now?" "I'd probably push you away," I say, and huff out a nervous laugh. I've never been a good liar, and...
