My Sweet Liana

4

It took me a while to find my way home, it was dark out by then. I opened the door carefully and as quietly as I could, sneaking past a passed out Jeff on the couch, his black sleeping mask covering his unblinking eyes. I made it to my room and slammed the door shut, no longer caring about whether or not I woke him up. I locked the door and collapsed on my bed, sobbing into the ashy pillow. After a few minutes I could hear Jeff knocking on my door, waiting, then banging on it. I knew the routine; next he would kick the door down and I would have to face him. Of course he would apologize for getting so mad, then he would promise not to again. And I would be stuck putting the door back. He did kick the door down, he had a wild, crazed look in his eyes. One that reminded me of the night he had explained to me why he does what he does. I cowered back on my bed, a sudden rush of fear and adrenaline rushing through my body as I pressed my back tightly against the cool wall. "What the hell?" He yelled, "where have you been? I knew I never should have taken you in! I should have killed you or left you for dead!" The words stung me like a slap, I could feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes again. "Then why didn't you? My life would have been so much easier if you had never come into it! I wish you would just kill me already!" I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut and tears pouring down my face. I pushed past him and left for the woods again. I wish he would, I never asked him to keep me. I never asked him to kill my dad. I never asked to come here." That thought made me stop, if I had never come here... Then I would never have met Masky, never would have fallen in love with him. But I could have led a better life. I could hear footsteps behind me and I whirled around, expecting to see Jeff, but instead, I saw a concerned Masky. There were still tears falling down my face, Masky reacted immediately, stepping forward and hugging me tightly. He let go and looked into my eyes. "Who did it?" The anger in his voice startled me and made me scared of what he might do. "Jeffery. We just got into an argument... It's nothing!" I said, brushing his hands off and forcing myself to smile, knowing I looked pathetic and there was no way he would ever fall for it. He studied my face for a minute before pushing his mask up and kissing me. This time I didn't pull away, this time I actually enjoyed it. There was such hunger and passion in the way he did so. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood up on my tippy toes, trying to get closer to him. I could feel his hands on my hips, then moving up as if he felt he didn't have the right to be holding me like that, instead they hovered at my small waist. After a while we pulled away, I looked into his masked eyes, wondering yet again what his face looked like. I reached up, and hesitated. He didn't move, but remained completely silent as I moved the mask up. Revealing a small perfect nose, big clear blue eyes and light brown hair. I took the mask off of him completely and tossed it to the ground. Masky flinched and held my gaze, I peered deep into his blue eyes. He looked away and grabbed his mask. Brushing the dirt off of it carefully, he readjusted it and looked at me for a little bit before running off. Leaving me standing there. Sighing to myself, I continued out of the forest. I eventually reached the edge, I hesitated. Looking up at the house I had once lived in, stepping out of the woods for the first time in years.