The After School Secret {ON HIATUS}

Chapter Ten

The man holding the gun couldn't be older than twenty. His light, piercing blue eyes were young, but tinged with red. He had either been crying, or he was high. I think we all know which was the correct answer.

He had light blonde hair, a strong jaw, and full, pink lips. I was afraid to look down, but I could tell he was built by the muscles in his arms that flexed and unflexed as he struggled with the gun.

"Oh, my god." Raven whispered. I was desperate to turn around, but the man kept a tight grip on my shoulder. When Raven spoke, his grip tightened even more.

I whimpered as his nails dug into my skin through the thin fabric of my flimsy shirt. I regretted not wearing a sweatshirt today.

"R- Raven," I winced as the man growled and dug his nails farther into my skin.

"Shut up." The man's voice was surprisingly smooth, with a slight edge to it as he grumbled through his teeth. "Give me everything on you."

I moved to grab my phone and wallet out of my pocket, but the man stopped me by taking my arm in his hand and squeezing it.

"Not you," He responded gruffly, "Him." He pointed at Raven, momentarily letting go of my shoulder. I made a move to get away, but he took me in his arms and wrapped me close to his chest, his forearm under my neck. His arms perspired slightly against my chin, and I struggled to maintain my breathing with his strong grip.

"Now." He commanded. Raven stood there dumbfounded before sticking his hands in his pockets and throwing his wallet, an old receipt, and the half empty pack of cigarettes.

"That's all I have, man," Raven shook his head, eyes wide and innocent. "Look, just drop the gun and we can talk this through. I don't have my phone or anything-- I won't call the cops."

The man faltered a bit, I could tell as his grip loosened ever so slightly. It was obviously due to whatever he was on-- a normal criminal wouldn't even think of loosening with the word of a man he was threatening. As if my thoughts were linked to his, his arm around my neck tightened and I was raised above the floor slightly. I swung my feet out and clawed at his arm as my face had to have been turning purple. He was relentless, however, and black spots began coating my vision. The last thing I saw was Raven lunging at the man, knife in his hand, before I blacked out completely.

~*~

In my dreams, I was safe. There was no odd stranger threatening me. There was no drugs, no cigarette-trying. There was no Oliver cheating on Faun, no Faun getting back together with him. 

There was no Raven.

In my sleep, I was angry. It was Raven's fault. It was his fault that Oliver was here in the first place, it was his fault I tried a cigarette. It was his fault that I nearly died.

I nearly died.

I tried to force my eyes to open, but they fell heavy against my skull. My head pounded heavily and I was weak and tired, the main reason why I was not able to raise my eyelids to be able to see. 

Perhaps knowing that I was extraordinarily weak and tired was a warning sign that I shouldn't go back to sleep. However, I never paid much attention to warning signs (the main reason why I don't have my license yet) and I succumbed to a deep, restless, dreamless sleep.

~*~

"Wake up." My head felt like someone was on the inside of my skull, repeatedly hitting it with a sledgehammer, over and over again. I could barely hear the voice that woke me up, but I was gracious it did. The pounding slowly dulled, until I could hear everything clearly. I wished I couldn't.

"Wake up, goddamnit. Wake up!" The voice shouted. I tried desperately to force my eyes open, but they refused. I could hear the speaker going around the room, smashing something made of glass and cursing repeatedly. Something cold and wet rained over my face and I shot straight up, my eyes finally snapping open.

"Finally. I was getting--" Raven, who stood before me in nothing but sweatpants, paused. 

"Were you going to say 'worried'?" My voice sounded rough and manly, with the sweet raspiness of someone who had slept for more than fifteen hours. Nevertheless, I continued with my teasing. "Who knew that the Raven Anderson could actually care about someone?" 

"Shut up." His voice was firm and he looked angry, but his cheeks were tinted red and he refused to make eye contact with me. 

"Awe, is wittle Raven embarrassed?" I joked, moving so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"You know, I should've just let you die." Raven growled, coming and sitting next to me on the bed as well, "I did save your life, though. After that bastard had you passed out in his arms, I came after him with my pocket knife. I didn't kill him, 'course, but I got him good in the arm. Then I took you to my car, drove a couple miles, and gave you a little mouth to mouth." He winked at me seductively, as if the fact that I was passed out didn't mean anything to him, and that I chose to have him do mouth to mouth on me.

"Wait a minute, you drove a couple miles before you decided to give me mouth to mouth?" I glared at him. I could've died. 

"Sweetheart, my baby gets up to one hundred twenty miles an hour. Trust me, it wasn't much time that you were out." I was startled; I mean, he calls his car his baby? Now that was just weird.

"Oh." I stated simply, nodding my head. 

"So, right now, we're in a hotel about two hundred miles away from Faun and Oliver. I called them about an hour ago. Can I just say that Faun is not fun when she's pissed? I mean, I knew Oliver wasn't, but Faun just looks so sweet I didn't---"

"Wait," I growled, "We're two hundred miles away from Sunny Valley?"

In answer to my question, Raven just sent me an award-winning grin.

"Welcome to Vegas, baby."

~*~*~

Author's Note

That was a mess from start to finish. I couldn't remember if I gave Raven a last name or whether I had mentioned where they live, so I made up a nice little spot called Sunny Valley, Arizona. Let's just pretend that it's about two hundred miles away from Los Vegas.

I have absolutely no idea where this story is going.  

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I'm sorry guys. I've barely written a thing, and it's been forever since I last updated. I wrote about 700 words just now, and it's nearly midnight. I'm exhausted-- there will probably be a lot of grammatical and spelling errors, but remember that it's late and I'm tired and I just wanted to get something out there for those of you who are still reading this. I thought the story itself was written better than usual tonight, I guess? But then again, I'm tired and have no idea what I'm talking about anymore.

I love you guys so much, okay?

Krista

Word Count: 1245