YOU'RE SAFE NOW

YOU’RE SAFE NOW

I’d promised myself that no one would ever know. No one could ever know.

But his eyes, so wide and gentle, begged me to tell him. To trust him. 

I did trust him, he just couldn’t see it. I’d told Rayan more than I’d ever told anyone, I just wasn’t too open with anyone, really. I wasn’t very good at talking about myself. I didn’t like talking about myself.

“Tell me.” 

Rayan wrapped my hand in his, filling me with the light that shone through the window and gave his soft green eyes a magical glow.

“I’m afraid of being alone, Ray,” I said quietly. “When Thomas is at work, and the house is empty, I panic. I just need someone with me.”

His brow furrowed. “That’s it?”

“Well—” I paused, a little thrown off by his disinterest. “It’s a fear!”

“I know, Sam, I was just expecting something a little deeper.” He shrugged. “You were being awfully dramatic about it.”

There was a story behind that. A story about being left alone. A story about being unwanted. But that was a story for another day.

“You’re being awfully unsupportive.”

He smiled lightly. “Sorry,” he said, squeezing my hand before gently releasing it. “Thank you for telling me.”

I flushed, looking down at the bed beneath us. We sat in the middle, textbooks and pencils lying all around us. I picked up a small one, which had been sharpened so much that it was no larger than my pinky, and pretended to examine it.

“Look at me.” Rayan stayed quiet until my eyes met his, then he smiled sweetly. “I love you, Sammy.”

“I love you too.”

A silence fell as my cheeks burned. Luckily, Rayan was much better at talking than I was. “So, are you nervous about the big game tomorrow night?”

My soccer team, one of the best in the league, was going up against our greatest rivals tomorrow night. That team, The Flames, was ruthless. Not only did they play dirty on the field, but they weren’t known for their manners off the field either.

“I’m not nervous,” I said. “They wouldn’t dare do anything. Not after what happened last time.”

Sylvie, one of my teammates, had gotten jumped by The Flames the night before our game last time we’d played them. No one had been able to prove it was them, but everyone knew.

Their school had made it very clear that if they gave one of our team members so much as a bruise, their team would lose its funding. “They won’t try anything, Ray.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Without another word, we resumed our school work, and the silence was quickly filled by groans and complaints. Rayan and I worked well together though; I was good with numbers, and he was good with words. We could usually piece schoolwork together if we both worked on it.

We were soon interrupted by the buzzing of Rayan’s phone.

“Who’s that?”

“Some guy who wants to try out for the team.”

Rayan was captain of the hockey team, so he had to help the coach with tryouts and such.

“Is he any good?”

“Don’t know. Haven’t seen him play yet.”

I nodded and went back to math.

Rayan did not.

Ring. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Ring. Tap, tap, tap.

Ten minutes passed, and Rayan was still texting.

“You don’t even text with your actual team this much, let alone random wannabes,” I noted. “Is he someone important or something?”

Rayan met my gaze and immediately clicked his phone off. “Not more than you.”

I smiled and shut the textbook. “I’m bored of math. Can we watch a movie?”

“I’d love that.”

We moved our mess of school supplies from Rayan’s bed to his desk chair, making room on the bed to watch comfortably.

We sat against the headrest, and Rayan opened his laptop and began browsing Netflix for an interesting movie. I was sitting closest to the nightstand, so I leaned over to turn off the lamp. As I reached for the small switch, a shiny red piece of paper caught my eye, sticking out from beneath Rayan’s alarm clock.

“Where’d you get fifty bucks?”

Rayan looked up at me. “Took down the neighbour’s Christmas lights.”

“It’s May.”

“Yeah, but no one wants to do that in the freezing cold.”

“Right, ’course.”

We spent a few more minutes picking out a movie before finally settling on a comedy with one of our favourite actors in it. We’d seen it before, but I didn’t mind.

“Hey, can you run out and grab some popcorn quickly?”

My eyebrows flew up. “Huh?”

“You know movies are better with popcorn, Sam,” Rayan told me. “I don’t have any. There’s a corner store five minutes down the road, right near the school. Can you please pick some up? I’ll give you money.” He pulled a five-dollar bill from his pocket and held it out to me.

“Why do I have to get your popcorn?”

“Because you love me?”

I glared at him.

“Because you can buy those gross chips that you love so much.”

I snatched the money with a huff and got to my feet. “Be back in ten.” I made my way over to the window, pushing it open and climbing onto the sill. I pushed off smoothly and landed in a crouch next to the purple bush in the garden.

The night air was cool, sending goosebumps crawling up my arms, but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t cold enough to keep people inside, so they roamed around on the sidewalks, their hoods casting shadows over their faces as they walked beneath the bright streetlights.

I slipped the five-dollar bill into the back pocket of my jeans and set off. I knew my way to the school, and I remembered the little corner store just down the road, so directions weren’t a problem. Besides, even if I got lost—

I’d left my phone inside. No Google Maps. I knew my way though, so that wouldn’t be a problem. I kept walking.

Rayan was right; the walk wasn’t long. I passed the school and had eyes on the corner store within the first five minutes. I was just a few feet away when I heard my name.

“Sam!”

The voice came from across the road, a little ways past the corner store, but I didn’t recognize it. I ignored it, assuming they were shouting for another Sam.

But they wanted me.

“Hey, Sam!”

A different voice.

“Oh, come on, Sammy, you scared of us?”

A third one. I recognized that one.

Alex. Captain of The Flames.

My heart plummeted to my stomach, images of bruises and blood flashing through my mind.

Get away, get away, get away.

My feet moved faster than my head, and I spun around and began walking hastily in the other direction. Laughter erupted from across the road, but I didn’t look at them.

Leave me be, leave me be.

They didn’t. The footsteps picked up speed behind me, and that was all it took—I broke into a run, my feet flying as my heart hammered in my chest. I ran past the shocked walkers on the sidewalk and the moon-eyed drivers as fast as I could manage. Some called out to my attackers, but we were too fast. I bolted down the road, driven by the taunts that rang through the air as The Flames ran after me, like tigers chasing their prey.

I hadn’t been thinking, but, by chance, I’d run in the right direction—towards the school; full of rooms and hallways where I might find a place to hide.

My feet slammed against the ground, my footsteps echoing across the pavement as I raced through the parking lot and threw open the large metal doors. With my heart moving as fast as my feet, I ran down the hallway, hearing the doors shut behind me only briefly before flying open again, and the hallways filled with loud laughter.

I tried door after door, but the classrooms were locked. All of them. I flew down hallway after hallway before finally finding it; the janitor’s closet.

I ran to it, silently praying that it was open as I grabbed at the cold metal handle, and, luckily, it spun. I shoved the door open and fell inside, closing the door behind me with an unnervingly loud thump. I slumped, letting out a huge breath as I leaned back against the door.

A few minutes later, I heard footsteps outside the door. I didn’t dare breathe as The Flames walked through the hallway, filling it with stifled laughter. I silently prayed for them to leave, but I was not so lucky. The footsteps approached the door, and I heard the unmistakable screech of a chair against the floor.

My heart dropped to my feet, and I spun around to face the door. “No,” I murmured. “No… No, no, no, no, no.”

I tried the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. “No, no, no, please!” I called out, causing another round of laughter. “Please!”

The Flames had no sympathy for me, and I listened to their footsteps slowly grow fainter and fainter until they disappeared completely, and I was left alone. My heart filled with ice-cold air, inflating until I thought it might burst. I clutched my chest, whimpering.

I wasn’t sure how long I stood there. I cried, I pleaded to the empty hallways, and I banged on the door with shaking hands for as long as I could bear it before finally collapsing into a corner next to a mop and letting myself sob.

By the time the chair screeched again, sunlight had already snuck through the cracks of the door. The handle spun, and the door almost hit me as the janitor slowly pushed it open, but I was immediately on my feet. I scrambled past him without a word, my legs shaking but not slowing as I raced through the hallways a second time.

I burst through the doors of the school and kept running. Tears filled my eyes, and the pounding of my feet on the ground and my gasping breath filled my ears as my lungs begged my heart to slow down. It didn’t. I ran all the way back to Rayan’s house, climbing through the window to find him lying on the bed with a textbook.

“Ray!”

He was immediately on his feet, and I jumped into his arms, burying my tear-covered face into the warmth of his neck. “Ray, they trapped me. The Flames trapped me in the school,” I sobbed, grabbing at his shirt. “Ray, they left me all alone.”

He squeezed me tightly. “That’s awful, Sammy.”

“It was so scary,” I whimpered. “I was so scared.”

“I know, Sammy, I know.” He rubbed my back gently. “You’re safe now.”

I know.

Every muscle in my body turned to ice.

“What are you afraid of, Sammy?”

He was the only one who knew.

“I’m afraid of being alone, Ray.”

The money.

“Took down the neighbour’s Christmas lights.”

The texts.

“Some guy who wants to try out for the team.”

It was all a setup.

“Hey, can you run out and grab some popcorn quickly?”

“You’re safe now, Sammy,” Rayan repeated.

But it was a lie.