PLEASE REVIEW
I sit in the darkest corner of Tony's, pretending to be interested in my French fries I ordered. The place is almost empty but they don't close for another hour. Twenty four hours since my best friend ran away. My whole body hurts and so does my head. I don't know if it's from the lack of sleep and food, or because my heart is broken into a million pieces.
Trish comes in then, and I'm not surprised. I have decided to tell her the truth. There's no way I can hide everything from her now that Austin's gone. She's going to find out quickly of his absence. She walks over and sits across from me, her face full of worry.
"You look horrible." She says simply, grabbing one of my French fries.
"Austin left." I say simply.
She chews her fry slower now and looks confused, "What?"
"He ran away yesterday." I say blankly.
"What?"
"I have something to tell you." She says.
"Okay." She says.
And so I tell her about the mystery goo did to us, and how Austin has had a hard time dealing with it. And then he saved my life, and he's afraid that someone is coming after him so he left. I left out the part about us kissing.
"Why didn't you guys tell me?" She says, raising her voice.
I turn my head to the side and bite my lip, "Please don't be mad. I already lost one of my best friends." I say.
She puts her hand on mine, "I'm sorry."
I nod and we sit in silence for a while until she speaks, "This is crazy. But Ally, what if they come after you too?"
I shake my head, "I don't know. I guess I never thought of that. But right now they have no proof I have any powers."
She nods, "Are we going to tell Dez?"
"He deserves to know."
So we go to his house and I explain everything yet again. My heart hurts more after each time I tell it and I feel so alone without Austin here. The three of us have a sleepover and eat junk food to try and preoccupy our minds but it's no use as I cry myself to sleep that night.
As I sit at breakfast with my parents a week later, I catch my father looking at me every time I look up. I mix around my soggy cereal and he sets his paper down, "Where's Austin been?" he asks suddenly.
My stomach leaps at his name and I look up at him, "What do you mean?"
He shrugs, "Usually you guys are hanging out. And I heard his father hasn't been showing up to work the next couple days."
"Oh, I don't know." I say.
He looks at me suspiciously and my mom clears her throat, "You okay honey?"
I nod, "Just not hungry." I say and excuse myself from the table. It's odd that my father was questioning me like that, especially about Austin. But I must be reading too much into this. He's my dad; he wouldn't have anything to do with this.
\/\/\/\/
I text Austin for the fifth time but he doesn't respond. Did he even take his phone with him? Is he just avoiding me? How could he just leave all of us that love him behind? We could have helped him, protected him.
It's late and Trish and I are going through her closet to get rid of old clothes when I decide it's time for me to go home. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" She asks.
"I'm sure." I say.
I walk down the street towards my house, with only the street lights guiding my way. It's quieter than usual and I keep looking behind me, that feeling of being watched. A part of me hopes that it's Austin, returning to talk to me. But when I start walking again and hear a noise behind me, I turn around to see two large men, wearing all black with ski masks.
I hesitate for just a second and start to run, only to be grabbed by my pony tail and pulled backwards, making me scream. A hand covers my mouth quickly, and an arm wraps around my shoulder, "You got powers too girl, like your little boyfriend?" a harsh voice whispers in my ear.
I mumble through their hand and they let go of my mouth, "Scream again and I'll kill you." The other one says.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cry.
"Yeah, you better not." The one behind me says, throwing me down hard on the ground and I land on my arm. I hear a crack and scream out in pain.
"I told you not to scream!" One says and I get kicked hard in the ribs, causing me to start coughing.
"Use your powers to kick our asses!"
"I don't have any!" I say, crying hard.
"Where's your friend?" They ask, followed by a kick to the back.
"What's your powers, huh?"
A kick to the back of the head.
I will not give myself away. I am not full of powers. I am a normal girl I think to myself. They will never find Austin, not on my account. Another kick and everything goes black.
I wake up to the sounds of beeping machines and feel slight pain. I open my eyes and the room is white and bright and I squint my eyes to get a better look. My mother is seated in a chair next to me, holding my hand. My other arm is in a cast, lying across my chest. I swallow hard and remember what happened to me. I was attacked, by those people that Austin was worried about, and now they came after me. Hopefully I played weak enough to make them back off.
My mother notices my eyes open and squeezes my hand gently, "Hi honey."
"Hi." I say softly.
"How are you feeling?"
"Sore." I say.
"Your arm is broken, and a few of your ribs. You also have a concussion."
"Okay." I say.
"Do you know what happened? We found you lying like this on the sidewalk when you hadn't come home."
"I was attacked by two men in masks. I don't know." I say.
"Just rest dear, we will talk later." She says. I fall asleep a few minutes later.
A week later and I am out of the hospital and back home, my arm in a sling and my ribs still aching. I sit up on my bed in my room and look through a photo album of Austin, Trish, Dez and I until Trish comes in, carrying a tray of food she made me.
"Thanks." I say as she sets it in front of me.
"You're welcome. I even cut the crust off of the PB and J." She says and we both laugh.
About half way through the sandwich she sits at the end of my bed and watches me, "What?" I ask.
"You never told me what really happened to you that night." She says.
"I was attacked by two men…"
"Yes, but I know there's something you left out to your parents."
I sigh, "They asked me where Austin was and told me if I have powers to use them against them. So I didn't fight back."
"Ally…"
"I wasn't going to fight back and give myself away, they could have killed me. Anyways, I'm not like Austin, I'm not strong, I wouldn't have won."
"This isn't good."
"They won't bother me again. They know I'm weak and know nothing."
"I sure hope so." She says.
"I miss Austin." I admit.
"I know. I hope he's okay." She says.
"Me too."