The Girl With Tattoos • Original Version

The Girl With Tattoos (35)

The drive home was quite short. Somewhere in the back of my mind I kept telling myself right when I get Dustin back to normal, I would help him find an apartment or even a house and we would go our separate ways. Than, another part of me keeps telling myself to let him crash here and live happy ever after.

I was being pulled two ways and I couldn't understand why.

Jason met me in the driveway as I pulled in. He leaned against his freshly cleaned mustang with his sunglasses reflecting the brightness of his screen. I peered at his concentrated face as I pulled off my helmet and chuckled when I noticed the headphones in his ears.

Pulling out my phone, I texted him and he looked up with a blank expression, taking his earphones out.

"I didn't hear you," he said while tucking in his phone into the pocket of his shorts.

"No shit Sherlock," I responded with the sarcasm dripping off every word. He rolled his eyes as he took off his glasses and threw them into the car messily. "You could break them you know."

"I don't really give a fuck," he muttered and walked away with his attitude.

"What's got your panties in a knot?" I asked while hanging up my jacket on the hook. He sighed while kicking his heel against the ground like a child. "Stop whining and tell me."

He rolled his eyes, never once looking up as he spoke. "Milo just told off my ass for not bringing you in."

I laughed a little but stopped when his cold face peered up at me through his growing hair. "You're serious? How bad was the lecture?"

He shrugged off my question as he shuffled over to my refrigerator and stole a beer from inside.

"Answer the goddamn question."

He rolled his eyes as he took massive gulps before smashing it into the island, little droplets splattering everywhere.

"Does it even matter? It's not like he killed me," he went to drink more of the beer but I stepped forward and swatted the blue can away, watching as he still pretended to have a drink filling the empty spot in his hand. "I really wanted that."

"And I really want you to tell me what the fuck he said. You're worrying me," I went to place my hand on his shoulder but he grabbed my wrist and pushed it away forcefully, practically breaking it in the process. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Sighing, he looked down at the ground, almost in shame. "Why do you even care! It's not like you care about me. All you worry about is yourself and no one around you. Someone could die because of you and the only thing you would think is 'woah, lucky it wasn't me.' You understand that other people have feelings too, right? That you're not the only person living on this earth?"

My mouth was left wide open as he stepped closer to me with each word. His alcohol-stained breath entered my senses and I held my breath as he continued to ramble on with an unknown emotion swimming in his features.

"How about you go to your little pretty boys and stop 'worrying' because all you need from me is to distract a dude that could easily slice my throat open if he finds out I'm betraying him," He breathed heavily into my face as I fought for the right words to say. I there trying to understand what I did to deserve this, as half of it wasn't even true for the most part, but seconds later he shook his head and backed away from. He picked up his beer can and threw it away with an unneeded attitude. "You're proving my point right now."

"How? By standing here trying to comprehend all the shit you just said? I don't know exactly what your hinting at."

He laughed so menacingly it almost sounded fake and leaned forward on the island still covered in beer and let the words spill from his mouth like they poisoned him.

Like they hurt him, not me.

"That blank face you have on tells me everything I need to know. How what I just said didn't even make you wince. You know what I said is true and you're not letting it affect you because you know if it does, you'll only feel even more guilty over all the shit you've done."

I gulped as a sudden chill ran down my spine as his eyes dug into mine with such force, I wanted to cower.

"What's gotten into you? Stop pretending to be all big and bad when we've done practically the same things that could easily get us both the death sentences," He sighed again and stood up, walking past me and towards the door, but almost as if he was dragging his body there.

"Just stay in the shadows and stop ruining every life you bump into," and with that, he took a deep breath that was hardly noticeable and slammed the front door. I heard the engine of his car start and the sound of him speeding off after a few beats of silence. As if on cue, I felt the stinging in the back of my eyes become stronger and stronger by the second. I fought off the wetness starting to overflow and blinked rapidly, still thinking about what just happened and how fast it occurred.

'Just stay in the shadows and stop ruining every life you bump into.'

But everyone I know is perfectly fine.

Right?

✦✧✦

It was 2:37 a.m. when my phone rang beside me. I sat up groggily and confused as I stared at the caller ID.

Bann.

I answered the phone and immediately heard the sound of sirens in the background.

"Bann? What's going on? I hear ambulances. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Can't say the same for my mom though," I heard voices but couldn't understand what most of them were saying besides 'crime scene' and 'everyone back away.'

"What's going on? Is she okay."

He sighed over the phone and I could tell he was having trouble repeating the story.

"Some guy tried to break in and didn't realize someone was home. My mom tried to keep him away but he had a . . ." his voice trailed off as he started the sentence and I waited for him to continue but he never did.

"Bann?"

"Um," he said moments later, obviously fighting off some tears with the scratchiness of his voice coming through the speaker. "He had a gun and shot her in the shoulder. My dad heard it and got his gun, which was illegal may I add, and shot the intruder like . . . 3 times maybe. My ears still hurt," He sighed again and remained silent. He spoke up again before I could. "After I bailed my dad out of jail for owning a gun without a permit, they told us we had to move into a different apartment since ours was not safe to live in because the water was contaminated by something but I forget what it was."

And in that moment, I understood everything Jason told me just hours ago.