Scars

"Miss Rachel, you ready to get your stitches out?" The nurse walks in and asks.

My mom runs her hands through my curls and turns to face the nurse and answers for me. "She most definitely is."

I've been in the hospital for a week, because of what happened to me last Friday, after my volleyball practice. I learned a lot after last week, especially when it comes to trust.

How to start? Oh, well for starters, let's talk about scars. Now they run deep and are a sign of incomplete healing, either physically or emotionally. I got three that day: one physical and two emotional. I learned my lesson...to be more vigilant and that the people I least suspect are out there to betray me.

That Friday night, after practice, I stood alone. I was outside in the dark, waiting for my mom to pick me up, but she was late…She was too late, because he was there, lurking beside the building in the shadows, waiting for me. Immediately, I tossed my bags to the ground and raced away from my school grounds. I ran hard, pounding my feet against the slippery, wet, cement ground. Thud, splash, thud, were the sounds my shoes made as they alternated between stepping in the shallow dirt puddles and the hard cement. I gazed down at my new pair of sneakers, that no longer appeared brand new. The laces were drenched in chunks of mud and the parts of my shoes that were once white were brown, but that wasn’t my biggest concern. I thought to myself. If I made it out of there alive then I could worry about my mom yelling at me for getting my new shoes dirty. 

It was dark out, with only the moon’s illumination and a couple of street lamps being the only light sources around. There wasn’t a car nor a person in sight. Jane and Finch was more quiet at that time. People were afraid, so no one dared stayed out past 8, making the neighbourhood quiet. There was solely the sounds of the clashing lightning; that startled me each time I saw it appear and the rain as it pitter pattered hard against the ground and seeped into my sponge like dark hair. My basketball shorts and t-shirt were wet, making it much harder to run, as more weight was added. However, once again that wasn’t my biggest problem. Now my biggest problem was behind me, trying hard to catch up to me. His name was Nathaniel and he’d been harassing me for months. There were three people that were aware of this, me, Nathaniel and my so-called best friend, who’s name is irrelevant, since she is no longer my best friend. She was the only one who could have vouched for me and told the principal that there really was someone after me, who watched me and touched me, but when it came down to it, she was nowhere to be found. Once Nathaniel, her and I were all in the same room she told him that I was just looking for attention and that I was delusional. In the end it was two against one and I ended up with a warning. 

“I’m sorry girl but I couldn’t snitch or he would come for me too,” my best friend said. 

“I trusted you!” I shouted. “Now he is going to beat me.” 

“Better you than me.” She had the audacity to say, giving me my first scar of the day. 

A knife, that’s what she was, when not handled carefully it can cut you deep. I learned that the hard way and now there I was running for my life. I turned around while I was still running to see how far this older boy was and he was just meters behind, gaining fast. Even though it was nearly pitch black outside, I remember seeing his eyes bloodshot as they were forever an image I could never get out of my head. I also remember his pale skin that made him stand out in the dark, making him easy to see, unlike me. 

“There is nowhere to hide!” He yelled. I wanted to scream but my throat ached too much. A fence came into sight a few meters in from of me, keeping me from the other side. 

“Shit!” I cursed to myself as I ran. I could hear Nathan gain up on me as I began to slow down. My feet are tired, my chest is rising and falling and rising and falling. My throat is throbbing as the cool air rushes through my nose and mouth. I eventually reach the fence and I did not waist any time, I immediately leaped at the fence and began to climb. The metal wires were wet and my feet slipped off a couple of times, but I held on with all my might, in order not to fall back and break a couple of bones. Once I was 3/4 of the way up the fence, I looked down to check to see where Nathaniel was and he had just began climbing. The fence was very high and it led to what looked like a tennis court. I eventually arrived at the top and Nathaniel was close, I tried to position myself to climb down but my hands slipped off the wires and I scraped my right ass cheek against an open wire and next thing I know, I landed ass first against the cement ground, followed by my back. A gust of air forces its way out of my chapped lips. There was no way that I was going to be able to get up, so I just laid there waiting for my fate. A combination of sweat, rain and tears oozed from my face and into my puffy hair that was pressed against the ground. Suddenly, I heard footsteps began to approach my half conscious body. For a male the steps sounded lighter and slower. Their shadow appeared and it most definitely wasn’t Nathaniel because the shadow was of a girl.