C.R.E.W

Chapter 9 ~ Riley

        My mom is the closest family member I have. When my dads is out, she's there for me, when I'm alone, she's there for me. It only took one incident for all of that to change.

"Yes...thank you." She hung up the phone and set it down on the counter.

"Honey," she set her arm on the counter and looked at me, "I was thinking, why don't you and I go to the mall together, just us two."

"I don't like going to the mall." I said in an obvious way. What was also obvious was that she just wanted to spent time with me.

"There's a new store that opened up. I think you'll like it." She smiled.

"Sure, I'll go." I agreed since there wasn't much I was going to do anyway.

I ate my breakfast of waffles with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. It was like ordering from a restaurant. They were fluffy, yummy, chocolatey, and Heaven goodness. My mom made the waffles in our waffle maker and the rest just happened to be in either the pantry or the refrigerator.

I went back upstairs and put on a blue romper with my white and blue high tops. I put my money in my pocket and went downstairs to wait for my mom. She came downstairs with a red flannel and jeans.

"You ready? She asked as she jingled her keys.

"Yup." I replied as we walked out the door.

~~~

We walked into store after store, after store, and it was starting to get really tiring. We went into one of my favorite clothing shops and I got a few things. My mom had to go to the bathroom, so I waited outside for her. As I was waiting, I noticed a kid from my school, and it wasn't just a friendly old classmate. It was Riley, Riley the Detention Kid, Riley the Bully, Riley Neelson, and he was walking with his mother. He took a glance over at me and I looked away. He looked like he was telling his mom something, but right after that, she walked into a store without him. He made his way over to me. I looked away and stared down at my bag as I started inching away from the wall.

"Hey!" He called.

I inched away more but he caught up to me, grabbing my shoulders and gripping his hands tightly onto them.

"That stunt you pulled at school," he shook his head and made a clicking noise with his mouth, "were you trying to get me in trouble? Well, congratulations, you did. Now, I have to have face expulsion because your little note just had to be the cherry on top."

"My note? You wrote it first and I just wrote a reply." He tightened his grip on my shoulders.

He became furious and kept one of his hands clenched onto my shoulder and the other one became a fist as he shot it into my stomach. I put my hand on my stomach but was too late because, he had already thrown a punch at my nose. I just felt pain fill throughout my body. He backed up and saw the damage he'd done.

"Maybe that will teach you a lesson," he said, acting tough.

I held one hand on my stomach and the other on my nose. I didn't think it was broken, but it felt like it. I started to cry in pain. I saw my mom walk out and she was saying something but I couldn't hear her because, the minute she walked out, I ran right in. There was only one more person in the bathroom other than me. I stared at myself in the mirror and saw the blood dripping out my nose and the red marks on the side of it. I grabbed tons of napkins that now filled my arms, I grabbed some toilet paper for the softer touch and piled all of it into the sink. I took one of the brown napkins from the dispenser and wiped my top lip, cleaning it from the blood dripping down. I looked at the thick red streak on the paper and started to worry. I threw it out with a little bit of hesitation that was bottled up inside of me.

I stroked the side of my nose and there was a delayed pain. My nose was starting to grow and more blood started dripping out of it. I took some toilet paper and stuffed it up my nose. I started coughing as I bent over the sink. I opened my tightly squeezed eyes and looked up at the mirror. I felt queasy, uneasy, cold, freezing, my body started to ache and I started to quiver, I was in indescribable terror. I looked behind me and there was no one, nothing. Just an open stall that used to be closed. I stared down at the sink filled with napkins. I was breathing insanely heavy and my heart was pounding out of my chest so fast that my whole body was hurting. I looked up at the mirror again, but before my eyes met the mirror, I felt someone grab me. I screamed at the top of my lungs and shot my body back and saw no one, yet, again. I dropped down to the floor and started sobbing. I kept my eyes closed as tears escaped my eyes.

"Don't cry.." I heard a robotic, childish voice say.

I opened my eyes as I instantly recognized the voice. I saw the robotic woman staring at me. I panicked and started scooting myself away from under the sink. I scooted myself through the wet floors that seemed to be rising and water seemed like it was never angrier.

I backed up into a wall and the woman called, "Don't run..."

My life flashed before my eyes and before I knew it, I was in the air being choked by her robotic arm. I clutched my hands onto her metallic wrist and felt my life slipping away. I couldn't feel my throat anymore and her grip was getting tighter.

She was looking me dead in the eye as she said, "We only want to have some fun."

Her eyes sparked and her head fell to the left. She let go of me and I banged the back of my head onto the sink.

                                          ~~~

I found myself laying on the wet bathroom floor. The blue tile glaring back at me. I was woozy and could barely keep my eyes open. I squeezed them together and used all my might to pick myself up. I leaned back-to-back with the wall and looked up at the slightly flickering light. My mom came rushing into the bathroom and kneeled down onto the floor to meet my gaze.

She put her hand against my cheek, "Oh, honey." She reached in her bag and pulled out a napkin. She started dabbing my face and wiping it clean from the water.

I started breathing a little bit heavier and looked at my mom. I put my hands on her wrist and looked her in the eye. I was overthinking every decision I've ever made, remembering every single time I've almost died in my life, this one was just added to the list.

"Can we leave, please?" I whimpered.

"Of course, sweetie." She said in sympathy.

She took her napkin down and folded it into her bag. She helped me up and hugged me.

"You know I love you, right." She shed a tear.

"Of course." I replied, smushing my head into her shoulder, sniffling and holding back all of my years worth of tears.