Shivering from the cold air, I quickened my pace. Looking around, I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching me. Something wasn't right. Usually, Jay would wait for me before we would cross the bridge together, sort of like a tradition.
"I spit in the river! Bug! Alex! Amber, ple-!"
Looking around frantically, I ran the rest of the way towards the bridge.
"Jay! JAY!" I yelled, trying to make my legs move faster.
As soon as I reached the middle of the bridge, my eyes caught onto something shimmering in the pale moonlight.
"What the hell?" I mumbled, placing my hand on one of the bridge's supports beams. Pulling it away, I looked at it closely. "What is this?" I was starting to feel hysterical. I was sure that Jay's screams were coming from here.
Without warning, rain started to pour, washing the liquid from my hand. Shaking my head, lighting crashed above me, lighting the entire bridge with violent light.
Gasping, I fell on my back, pushing myself farther away from the support beam.
Blood.
Coughing violently, I stared as the red was washed from the steel, making its way into the river.
Shakily standing, I started to run, not stopping until I made it a safe distance from the bridge.
"What the fuck is going on?" I spluttered, fear coursing through my body. Shivering, I pulled myself through the window of my room as soon as I reached my house.
"Amber? Is that you? You better not be just getting home, you fucking bitch!"
Freezing halfway through the window, I looked up to see light shining through from beneath my door.
"Shit," I whispered, jumping the rest of the way through before jumping into the sheets of my bed.
My plan was soon forgotten though as I fell off my bed as the door slammed against the wall.
"The fuck are yah doin', yah little shit?"
Christian Henderson, number one asshole, ex-con, and foster father to the one and only, me.
"I was just… getting ready for bed, Chris."
Growling, he stumbled over with a beer bottle in hand. Grabbing my hair he pulled me off the floor before slamming me into the wall.
"Don't lie to me, you fuck! What did I tell you about lyin' to me? Huh?" He screamed, pressing an arm against my throat.
Scoffing, I turned my head away, "Not to?"
"Don't fuck with me, girl," he yelled in my face, the smell of alcohol overtaking my senses, "I'll fuck you up!"
Smashing the glass bottle against the wall next to my face, he held it against my cheek.
"Why don't you go fuck another one of your whores and leave me the fuck alone?"
Digging the sharp glass into my cheek, I winced. I could feel blood running down my chin.
He sneered before throwing my into my nightstand. "Whatever, you little shit-head. If I found you out late again, I'll kill you!" He slammed my door shut.
I stood there, resting against the nightstand until I heard his door shut.
I moved over to the mirror resting against the wall, looking at the deep wound on my face. It rand from the middle of my right cheek almost to my ear.
Biting back a moan of pain, I rested my palm against it. It was deeper than I thought, blood rushing down the side of my face onto the floor.
"Fuck," I sighed, grabbing a t-shirt off the floor and holding it against my face.
Stumbling back over to my bed, I flopped down on top of the covers, not even bothering to cover myself with them.
I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. I shivered violently, thinking back on the blood that once stained my fingers. I looked out my window at the dark streets, only being lit by the occasional car that would pass by.
"Jay… God, I hope you're alright." Even as the words left my lips, somehow I knew that I was never going to see him again.