The Girl on the Bus (REWRITE/ON HOLD)

10

CHAPTER 10

BLAKE

As soon as the bell rang I gathered my things and rushed to my car, Monty and Wyatt were calling my name but I didn't pay any attention to them. I only had one thing on my mind.

Once I reach my car, I toss my things in the backseat before clicking on my seatbelt and speeding out of the parking lot.

A few minutes later I'm at the street I dropped Van off at. I slow down as the scan the houses looking the one I dropped her at. When the white pillars come into view I slow to a stop and turn off the engine.

I let out a breath, I didn't know why I was so nervous. This was just Van.

The girl that you fell for almost instantly.

No big deal.

I pace my steps up to the house, until the front door was looming over me. Taking another breath, I raise my fist and knock.

A few tantalizingly slow minutes pass before a middle aged lady answers. She didn't look anything like Van. She had blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Can I help you dear?"

"Yeah sorry, I'm Uh looking for Vanessa."

The sadness that took over her face concerned me.

"Darling who is it?" Another voice speaks coming up behind the woman.

That voice belonged to a man, he was over six feet tall with graying hair and piercing green eyes, his readers were perched on the tip of his nose.

"He's looking for Vanessa" the woman whispers to him.

"Why don't you come in son" the man says.

I hesitate slightly before stepping into the house.

Nice Blake, haven't you even watched a horror movie before?

"Would you like some water? We also have tea, and coffee brewing." The woman says as she leads me into what I assume is the living room.

"I'm fine thank you, can you guys tell me where Vanessa is?"

The couple share a look before the man sits down and wraps his arm around his wife.

"She's at home, but her father doesn't take well to visitors" the woman states.

I glance at the man sitting next to her and raise an eyebrow.

"Poor girl has had it rough. We've been her neighbors since her dad bought that place" the woman adds.

I furrow my brows at them.

"She doesn't live here?" I ask. "She had me drop her off here the other day."

"No dear, she lives across the street"

"You mean the shit shack?" I say with an edge to my voice.

"Yes. That house used to be beautiful until Darleen moved out." The husband says.

"Who's Darleen?"

"Her mother, once they got divorced she left. Didn't take Vanessa with her. Poor girl has been stuck there for that last six years with nobody"

"Why hasn't she left? I mean she's 18 now she can leave"

"She won't, despite everything he does to her, she won't leave him by himself. He's a drunk that blackouts for days at a time, then when he's not passed out he takes his anger out on her."

"Has anyone called the cops"

"Trust us dear we've done everything we can, the cops won't do anything because Vanessa refuses to say anything. We've offered her a place to stay, money to leave. We've done everything we could and she won't budge"

"I don't get it" I mumble.

"She's such a sweet girl, she has such a big heart, and she actually has goals and wants to do something with her life. That blasted man holds her back." The woman says as she clutches her husbands hand.

"I need to go get her"

"She won't listen to you, I told you she won't leave him"

"Well I'm not giving her a choice"

The couple share another look before glancing back at me.

"Just take care of her son, she needs someone that she can rely on" the man says.

"I will. Thank you for your help" I tell them before leaving their living room and making my way to the door.

How the hell am I going to get Van out of there? She needs to leave and if she won't, I'll drag her out myself. She can't keep living like that.

My feet stop at the rickety steps of Van's house.

This place gives me the creeps.

The steps are cracked, the shutters are broken, and the once -I'm assuming- white pillars are now a dark grey.

How can someone like her live like this?

I take a deep steadying breath and force my feet to move closer to the house. I didn't know what I was going to see or find on the other side of the door.

But I prepared myself for whatever I would find.

I let out the air, and raise my fist before knocking on the door.