Hero

Chapter 21 - "I never thought you were evil enough."

Chapter 21 "I never thought you were evil enough."

“Rhylee…Rhylee, can you hear me?”

Justin was sitting right next to me, still holding my hands, but he seemed so far away. Like a dark tunnel with him on the other end; his voice seemed to echo around me, replaying what he had just confessed to and what he was saying now. Can I hear him? Well…that’s a good question. Am I really hearing him, or is my mind playing tricks on me? Am I honestly that tired? I hadn’t slept well for the past few days; the fear of seeing my parents keeping me awake. The past two times I’d tried to sleep I had horrible visions of them turning me away, telling me I was a filthy drug addict, not their precious Rhylee.

My mind could never make this up; it could never imagine him saying those awful things. My face burned, anger bubbling rapidly in my veins. I looked down at our hands, still intertwined, and now I realized why he had been looking at his palms that way; I now found them utterly disgusting. Non-too-gently, I ripped my hands from his and jumped off the bed. He now looked horrified; his fears confirmed…I would probably hate him now. And I did.

“You did what?” I hissed darkly, hovering over him. My hands clenched and unclenched, barely able to hold still – I wanted to reach out and smack him. No, I wanted to punch him; I wanted to watch his nose bleed.

“Rhylee, please, you promised me you wouldn’t hate me–”

“Because I never thought you were evil enough to do something like this!”

His face fell in hurt, “Okay, I deserved that.”

“No, you deserve this!” I pulled back my hand and did exactly what I’d been envisioning since the words escaped his mouth; I landed my fist right in between his eyes, probably shattering his nose, causing blood to gush out of his nostrils. “But that’s not enough either.” I snapped down at his squirming body. Clutching at his face, Justin held his other hand out to stop me from causing further damage.

“Rhylee! I understand you’re angry, and upset, and I deserve every bit of this, I swear I do!” He looked out from behind his hand, which was already covered in blood. Angry, bitter tears stung my eyes, making my vision blurred. “But you need to let me explain – killing me in your parents’ guest room isn’t going to solve anything.”

“At least I’ll have peace of mind knowing the bastard who took six years of my life paid for what he did.” My words were harsh, and even I was shocked by what I was saying, but anger flowed freely out of me; I had to speak my mind. My filtering system was shattered, and every cruel thing I’ve wanted to say, every painful thing I’ve wanted to do to whoever put me in that place all came out at once.

This was the moment I had been dreaming about in that four-by-eight cell, dreaming of torturing the sick, sadistic person who could have done this. However, the person, the one, the man I thought cared about me…it made this hard. If he were Dr. Allen, he would be dead by now. Instead of wailing on him, like I really should be doing, I gripped viciously at the roots of my hair and turned away from him, unable to look at his face.

Soft whimpers and outrageous screams escaped my throat, a tug-of-war raging inside of me between the good angel and the evil devil. I wanted nothing more than to see just how strong this pill was making me and rip him limb from limb. I didn’t care what my parents thought, I didn’t care if they heard me right now – I had every right to this tantrum, this meltdown. Part of me worried if they were frightened, but since no one had come to the door yet, I wondered if they even heard me in this giant house.

“Rhylee…” Justin’s soft voice pleaded. “You need to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me I need to calm down!” I screamed at him. My throat already felt hoarse from yelling so loudly, yet the screaming continued. “You’re the reason I’m a freak now! You’re the reason I’ve been trapped in that Hell-hole for six years! I missed five years of my little sister’s life because of you, and now you’re telling me to calm down? Fuck you, Justin!” My breathing came out in shallow gasps, but I had managed to spat and scream every word I said.

I turned away again and looked out the window, looking at the bright sunlight. I had to get away from him – no, I had to get far away from him. “I’m going for a walk.” I blurted, unable to put any grace in my words. Without waiting for him to respond, I spun on my heel and ran out the door, continuing down the stairs, and managed to find my way to the front door.

When Mom’s panicking face came around the corner, I knew she had heard every word. My face glowed bright red; I wondered if Piper had heard my foul language. “Honey, what happened?” She asked.

Tears escaped my eyes, “Mom, I’m going for a walk. Justin and I had a…a fight. I need to get away for a minute.”

I didn’t wait for her to answer either; I opened the door and bound across the front lawn; hitting the ground running when I reached the sidewalk. Behind me I heard her yelling my name, but I continued. Tears flowed down my cheeks, making it hard to see where I was going, but I ran and ran…

How could he do this to me?