Your Worst Fears

Chapter 11: Alone

As I lie here in my bed, which is all I've done for the past three days, all I can think about is how pathetic my life is. My one and only true friend moved away two months ago to go to college, leaving me here to fend for myself. I couldn't blame her, though. If I had been accepted into a top ranked school, I would've gone, too. Of course, I wasn't, which is why I'm going to the local community college. We probably couldn't have afforded it, anyway.

I tried to hang out with Tanya some, but she had her own set of friends, which I don't seem to be a part of. And Alyssa, from school, has her head so far up her boyfriend's butt that she can't make a move unless he does. So, that left me pretty much alone, except for Nick, and when I was lucky, Erik, but they both had lives, too... lives that didn't include babysitting a haunted girl.

The way my life has been lately, though, it's probably a good thing I was alone.

The swelling in my face has finally started to go down, so I don't look like a freak show, at least not as much. When I first looked in a mirror, which was the morning after I fell, I about died. The left side of my face was swollen so bad that it was one big lump, my cheekbone undetectable. Mom had also forgotten to mention that I had stitches around my eye, since that bench not only broke my face, but also busted it open. I had dark cuts across what I assumed would be my brow bone, once the swelling went away, as well as under my eye. Yeah, she'd definitely done a number on me this time.

Aside from the physical, I was pretty damaged inside, too. I tried to deny it, but I couldn't any longer. I couldn't sleep, because when I did she was there. She had awoken a fear in me that I felt no release from, her hold getting tighter and tighter. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, under my bed, in my closet... everywhere. And even though I hadn't seen her, I knew she was there... waiting.

After lying in my bed for way too long, my muscles getting weak and sore, I decided to venture downstairs, a decision I'd soon regret. "Hey, Kylie."

My sister looked up from the potatoes she was cutting when she heard me. "Well, look who finally decided to get up and join the living."

I got a bowl out of the dishwasher and sat it down on the counter in front of her, then grabbed the milk out of the fridge with my good arm and opened the cabinet, pulling out the Cocoa Puffs. "Dang it, Kylie! Why do you put empty boxes back in the cabinet? There's nothing like opening up a big box of disappointment." I threw the empty cereal box into the recycle bin. "Thanks."

"Man, someone's grumpy," she said, her chipperness already getting on my nerves. Maybe I was grumpy.

"Look at my face. I think you'd be a little grumpy, too."

"Yeah, it does look pretty gross, still." She squinched her nose up at me as she assessed my face.

"Thanks, I know." I sat down in front of her, sulking in my empty cereal bowl.

"Wonder when you'll look normal again?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Just stop talking." Yes, I was grumpy.

"Ouch!" Kylie yelled, grabbing hold of her finger.

"I did that with my super powers," I teased, trying to make up for being mean to her. When she moved her hand away from her finger, it was covered in blood. "Lord, Kylie, did you cut your finger off?" I got up and pulled the towel off the handle of the stove and wrapped it around her finger. "You need to rinse it off so we can look at it. You may need stitches."

Her face suddenly turned pale. "I don't feel so good."

"Okay, let's go up to the bathroom. We can rinse it off there."