Ok I ran out of random things to put up here, but have I mentioned lately how much you guys rock:)
Missing
Sunday morning came and Ever found herself motionless in the large bed that she once felt safe in. With what strength she had left she pulled herself to the edge of her queen sized bed, a shaky hand reaching for the drawer that was beside her, pulling it open with a quick thrust she stared in at the shiny blade that called to her.
That was until the light on her cell phone flashed from across the room; reminding her of the conversation she had the day prior with Tyler. His words replaying in her mind like a recording.
"I want you to call me, anytime… if something is wrong… or you just want to talk… ok?"
She tiredly swung her legs over the side of the bed, resting her feet on to the floor beneath her, shifting her weight unsteadily back and forth until she got to her bag. She pulled out the small piece of technology and glanced around the room looking for the pants that had been literally ripped from her body.
She spotted them by the drawer she had just opened and slowly brought herself to them, she kneeled down on the ground feeling the soreness all over her body. The pain was too much for her and tears sprung to her green eyes.
She pulled out the receipt he had jotted his number on and punched in the 978 area code followed by the seven digit number that accompanied the white piece of paper in her shaky grasp.
Spelling out Tyler's name in to her new contacts, with tears escaping her eyes she stared at the green button wondering if she should call the blue eyed boy or not. Sitting there contemplating she found herself drifting in to thought about what happened the day before.
Thoughts began whirling around in her mind. He probably thinks you're a freak. She thought to herself thinking of the blonde boy that she had quarreled with yesterday. He doesn't want anything to do with you now. She talked down to herself. David was probably right about him anyway. Tears fell from her eyes without warrant. David. A scowl placed itself on her usually lovely features. That bastard, what did he do? She asked herself wondering what he had meant by his comment before he assaulted her the night before.
Without another thought she dropped the cell phone and slipped her hand in to the drawer. She pulled out the shiny blade and her green eyes surveyed over the metal. She glanced down at her wrists and sighed, now that Reid and Tyler both knew about her secret it would be much harder to hide.
She glanced down at her naked body and sighed; glancing down at her meaty thighs she held the blade in her unsteady grasp and with one swift movement cut the skin on her inner thigh. She felt the sharp pain at first, but it was almost relaxing afterward, not feeling a hundred percent relieved she took the blade in her opposite hand and in another quick gesture there was a matching gash on her opposing leg.
Her tears had stopped and she laid back on the cold hardwood floor letting the crimson colored blood flow freely down her legs as she stared up at the plain white ceiling. Her breathing was shallow as she felt her anger, her pain, and her emotions slip from her reality. Closing her eyes she found herself in a place where no one could hurt her.
Not even her new friends.
Reid woke up Sunday afternoon wishing that everything that he remembered from yesterday was just a sick and twisted dream. His blue eyes focused on his surroundings, Tyler was sprawled out on his bed, and his navy blue comforter was strategically placed over his half naked body.
He let a small smirk fall on to his lips until his eyes settled on the pictures on the desk, they called to him, almost like they had a neon sign above it that read 'Don't be an idiot, it wasn't a dream'.
He shook his head and rolled on to his side staring at the clock; it read 1:15 PM. He had tossed and turned the entire night, not able to sleep. He was thinking too much, analyzing everything that happened the day before over and over again in his head.
He and Tyler had stayed up until midnight talking, and then he laid in bed thinking until at least five o'clock that morning. He ran a hand through his messy blonde hair and sat up, his bare feet hitting the carpeted floor of his dorm room.
He felt the urge to do something he hadn't done in awhile, getting off of his bed he went to his drawers and pulled out a pair of black track pants, a white t-shirt and a navy blue and black zip-up hoodie that read 'Spencer' in very faded black letters.
He pulled on his socks and his favorite pair of Nike running shoes. He stretched his legs out and glanced over at Tyler who was still sound asleep. He grabbed the pictures in his grasp and tossed them in the trashcan not bothering to look back at them. And with that he took off out of the dorm room, taking the stairs and leaving campus for a morning, or afternoon jog.
Sarah sat tapping her pen relentlessly against the paper she was staring at aimlessly. She had been having a bad feeling since Friday night when Ever left the bar. She hadn't heard from the brunette girl all weekend and she was beginning to get worried.
Kate had found out from Pogue who had spoken to Tyler that Reid had asked her to meet him at the park yesterday, but no one had heard anything from any of the participants other than that. She knew Caleb was mad yesterday because one of the boys was using and it had woken Caleb up at seven in the morning.
The girl had been left in the dark about much else; she grabbed her messenger bag and dug for a few minutes trying to find her cell phone. Her long slender fingers grasped the black piece of technology and pulled it out.
She scanned through all of the names in her phone book and settled on Ever's name. She pressed the green talk button and held it up to her ear, waiting for the green-eyed girl to answer. After three rings the phone went directly to Ever's voicemail.
"Hey Ever, it's me... Sarah... I was just a bit worried about you, haven't heard from you since Friday. I was thinking about going to grab some coffee later, if you want... call me later. Bye."
Sighing heavily to herself Sarah slipped the phone back in to her bag and went back to staring at the confusing math equations that seemed to be dancing on the page in front of her. She raked her fingers through her stringy blonde hair before slamming the book closed and holding her head in her hands not being able to think properly.
The sound of an infant waling startled Ever, she sat straight up ignoring the unimaginable pain that was shooting throughout her entire body. She glanced up at the clock and saw that she had been out for quite a few hours. She took a deep breath before gathering herself up off of the floor and pulling on the black terry cloth robe that laid at the edge of her bed.
She held on to the post of the bed making her way steadily around to the car seat that held her class project, Ruby. She pulled the infant out of the car seat and rocked it gently; she was going to be in huge trouble in class if she did not start paying more attention to the doll.
She grabbed the diaper bag and brought the baby over to the bed, she remembered when Declan was as small as this doll. It was only about two or three months ago but he had grown so much lately.
She felt tears in her eyes at the thought of her son, she was thankful that Richard or David had never laid a hand on her son, but she was so worried with the way that they handled him. Though it wasn't often the two men were brutes to say the least, not gentle or kind in any way, shape or form.
She couldn't' wit until she turned eighteen, she only had one more year left and she would be out of this place for good. She was going to leave Ipswich and never look back. That was another reason that she didn't let herself fall for one of the many boys in her school.
She felt that if she was attached it would be harder for her to let go of Ipswich and her past. She didn't want this life for her son, she wanted so much more for him than this.
She changed the doll's diaper, her clothes and fed her rocking her lovingly in her arms. A small smile placed itself on her face, nothing in this world made her smile than a baby; she had found that out the day Declan was born.
Anytime she was sad she would just have to look at the baby she had brought in to this world, and smile. Knowing that one day, one day everything was going to be alright.
Reid felt his chest heaving up and down heavily; he hadn't run this much since… since she left him. That's how he got her off his mind; this was how he cleared his mind. Many people didn't know that Reid Garwin was a runner, but there were a lot of things about Reid Garwin that people didn't know.
Reid stopped running for a minute, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. He could feel the sun beating down on him and was glad that it wasn't raining, he hated getting wet in the rain, it was an immaculate feeling that he couldn't seem to grasp. Why people would just stand in the rain, much like he had the day previous was beyond him.
Yesterday, however, Reid found himself with an excuse for standing alone, in the middle of a field in the rain. He sighed, that sounded so cliché, and he hated it.
A scowl placed itself on his face as he thought about it, a girl… the one girl that he could actually see himself having feelings for was something completely different than what she appeared to be. He felt betrayed, and wronged for the false information that she gave him, how did he know that anything she said was true.
He hated not knowing, he hated it terribly. If there was something in this world that Reid Garwin couldn't stand more than anything, even more than Caleb's constant badgering it was not being in control. And at this very minute he felt control slowly slipping out of his grasp, and he didn't like it.
It all started with her. Reid thought bitterly. That blood sucking tramp. He growled heartlessly. She took me for a fool, and I was stupid enough to fall in to her temptations… Reid shook his head as his jogging turning in to sprinting. He was traveling where ever his long toned legs were taking him, as the angry, hateful and bitter thoughts ran through his head. Between her and my mother, it's no wonder I am the way I am… His eyes were squinted as he zeroed in on the path before him.
His sprint slowly tuned down to running, which then turned in to jogging and finally a swift walk. He let out a growl as he let himself fall in to the cushiony grass that accented Spencer Academy's grounds.
He had things running through his head that he never even thought were possible for him, again. He thought that he had shunned that entire part of his thought process, but his sudden interest in one Ever Carmichael, change all of that.
Monday arrived and no one had heard or seen Ever, some since Friday, others since Saturday. Reid walked in to Home Ec just like in English, Ever's seat was empty. He received a questioning glance from Sarah who held her slender finger up to halt Jacob from talking.
The blonde maneuvered her way over to the boy and leaned on his desk, "What happened on Saturday?" She asked glancing at the boy.
"Nothing, why?" Reid asked brushing it off, not wanting to let Sarah know about Ever.
"From what I hear you and Tyler were the last to talk to her, I called her yesterday and invited her out for coffee but she never returned my call, and now she's not at school." Sarah gave him an accusing glare.
"So you instinctively think it's me that caused this?" Reid asked offended, though it was probably the truth. "Tyler talked to her last," Reid huffed glaring up at the blonde haired blue eyed girl.
"For some reason I don't think any girl could be so mad at Tyler that she didn't come to school, you on the other hand…." She stated her hands finding their way to her narrow hips.
Class started and Sarah was directed back to her seat by the teacher, Reid shot her a short glance before rolling his icy blue eyes and turned his attention to the Professor who was dragging on about their projects and how pleasantly they were going.
The day moved on quickly, but Reid found himself not getting anything done. His mind was set on Ever and how she hadn't shown up for school; the entire group was starting to show concern, him and Tyler more so than the rest.
"Why didn't she come to school today?" Reid questioned out loud as he shot a paper ball in to the waste basket in his and Tyler's room.
"Maybe she got sick," Tyler reasoned.
"I doubt that," Reid shook his head.
"Perhaps, Declan got sick?" Tyler questioned not looking up from his homework.
Reid nearly cringed at the sound of the six month old baby's name, "Plausible…" Reid shook his head.
"Or she could just not want to face you," Tyler mumbled under his breath sighing heavily.
He wasn't going to lie, he was worried. He saw Ever as a friend and knew that she probably wasn't sick, and Declan probably wasn't either… he could feel it in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong with the young girl.
He drowned out Reid's babbling and stared down at the page before him, he couldn't even concentrate on his homework, let alone half of his school work that day. He turned in his seat and stared at Reid who was rambling on and on.
He hadn't heard Reid talk this much about anything since her. She had really turned Reid's world upside down, Tyler was there to see the destruction she caused. He witnessed his best friend go from the sweetest, caring boyfriend in town to a cold hearted, careless playboy.
She had toyed with him and played with him, and Reid fell more for her than any other girl before. Tyler had even bare witness to him saying the 'L' word, as Reid referred to it. Never again Reid swore, Tyler couldn't blame him though, she had been as cold as ice towards the boy.
For the last two years his best friend had done the same thing to girls that had been done to him. He would use them for his own personal pleasures and toss them aside once he was done with them, which to Tyler's surprise most girls at Spencer didn't mind. They begged to be another 'notch' on Reid Garwin's bed post, to be able to claim you shared a wild night with Ipswich's bad boy was something they looked forward to.
"Ty, are you even listening to me?" Reid huffed; Tyler's blue eyes snapped up to meet the bitter blue eyes that stared back at him. When had Reid come to his side of the room? He questioned himself trying to replay things in his mind.
"Yes?" Tyler answered his tone questioning.
"Jesus," Reid sighed rolling his eyes and giving his friend a push in the shoulder for his lack of attention span. "I was saying that maybe I should go over to her house tomorrow, if she doesn't show up to school…" Reid stated biting his lip.
"Do you really think that would be the best thing for you?" Tyler asked raising an eyebrow.
"Why would it be bad?" Reid questioned.
"Only because you criticized her and made her cry… two days ago…" Tyler stated looking over his shoulder at his best friend. "I'll go over to her house…" He suggested.
Reid gave him a suspicious look, "Why would you do that?"
"Because she's my friend too…" Tyler answered, defending himself.
Reid rubbed his tired eyes and looked at his best friend, "Call me as soon as you hear something?" He questioned his friend.
"Of course," Tyler nodded his head.
The next day the group found themselves talking amongst themselves in English Literature, the subject at the moment, Ever. They were all really concerned now that the young girl had missed two days in a row, something just wasn't right.
Sarah had offered to ride with Tyler, but he stated that he would go alone. Ever felt more comfortable without a crowd, he had explained this to everyone and had opted to leave right after English.
Tyler had noticed that Reid was more fidgety than usual, there was something plaguing the boy but he didn't think anything of it. He figured that he was a bit more perplexed about the situation than everyone else, because he and Tyler both knew about her.
Tyler's mind raced as he sped out to his Hummer which was awaiting him in the first parking spot in front of the school. What if she had gone home on Saturday and cut herself? What if this time she cut too deep? What if she was in the hospital and had no one to call them and let them know?
A million questions ran through his mind as he remembered the directions Reid had given him. He pulled up to a large manor minutes later seeing the drive way empty except for her sleek vehicle. He let out a small breath and pulled his keys out of the ignition stuffing them in to his pockets.
He stood outside the front door and rung the door bell. He waited for a few seconds before the large door swung open and a middle-aged woman answered the door holding a baby in her arms. Tyler recognized the child as Declan, and a small smile appeared on his lips.
"Can I help you sir?" She asked her accent was thick and Tyler picked up that it was European, probably French.
"I'm here to see Ever, is she home?" He asked knowing the answer but decided to be polite.
"Yes, Miss Ever is in her room… studying…" The woman quipped back sharply.
"May I come in?" Tyler asked looking around the outside of the house.
The woman was hesitant but let the young boy in to the house, "Up the stairs, to the left, first door on the right…" The woman instructed jabbing her finger in the direction of the stairs.
Tyler nodded his head at her and took the stairs two at a time as he tried to get to the young girl quicker; he was relived to know that she was at least at her house and not in some hospital. He stood outside of her door, taking a deep breath before knocking.
Ever sighed to herself, she hadn't found the motivation to get out of bed, especially after the assaults she had been through the last two days. As if David's sexual assaults weren't bad enough, she had to endure the physical and emotional abuse from Richard, his father. He would get belligerently drunk once a month and just lash out at her, and David.
She believes that's what always trigged David, his father's physical abuse and degrading of character, though she didn't see it as an excuse for anything.
She had cut herself more yesterday, and the bruises that were forming on her face and body were to dark to hide just yet with some simple make up, so she didn't want to be seen at school. Though she could make up some stupid excuse, but no one would question her other wise, because half of them didn't care. Well more than half.
She was startled by the sound of someone knocking, she pulled herself up on her bed and glanced at the door nervously, she muttered a 'Come In.' Once the large oak door swung open her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
She pulled one of her large pillows to her body, wanted to suffocate herself terribly right in front of the blue eyed boy that stood before her.
"Tyler, what are you doing here?" She asked her voice muffled by the large pillow that she was hoping she would choke on.
"We were all worried about you, and I offered to come check up on you…" Tyler explained closing the door behind him gently.
"Worried, about me?" She asked bringing her green eyes up from the pillow, her voice showing her disbelief.
"Whether you want to believe it or not, we do care about you…" Tyler pressed as he stood by the door, not wanting to completely intrude on her privacy.
"Well I'm fine, thank you… just feeling ill…" She whispered trying to hide her face in the pillow.
"Well, I'm already here, mind if I hang out for a bit?" He asked casually motioning to her large room.
"Um, well…" She was about to object when Tyler sauntered over to the bed and sat down on it.
"Thanks," He grinned at her, interrupting her rudely.
Ever's puzzled look turned to a short scowl, his actions reminded her so much of Reid. Tyler was supposed to be the sweet, considerate one, where the heck was this coming from?
"You're not acting like your usual self…" She retorted.
"I figured if I was going to come here, you were going to brush me off…" Tyler shrugged his shoulders trying to tug the pillow from her grasp. "So I have to play hard ball…" His grin was almost contagious and Ever wanted to give in to the handsome boy, but she would be risking too much.
"Tyler, really I'm fine… I'll be back at school tomorrow…" She stated pressing her bruised cheek in to the pillow and showing off her normal, not so injured side of her face to the blue eyed heartthrob.
"You remember what I told you the other day right?" He asked his eyes instinctively searching her arms for new lacerations, but was relieved to find none.
"Yes," She nodded simply.
"I can tell there is something bothering you," Tyler stated after a long silence between the two.
"How-how can you tell?" She asked him.
"As much as you don't want to admit it, your eyes give you away…" He answered softly.
"Ok, but Tyler…" Ever stated in a serious tone. "You can't say anything to anyone, ok?" She asked him cautiously.
Tyler gave her a concerned look and Ever looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Promise me." She breathed looking him dead in the eye, her face still pressed against the pillow.
Tyler was concerned, he had no choice but to promise not to say anything, but his may concern was what she was about to tell him, or show him. What if he couldn't keep his promise?
"I-I promise, Ever…" He nodded his head carefully selecting his words.
Ever chewed on her bottom lip as she pressed her entire face in to the soft pillow, she slowly pulled it away letting her light brown hair fall over her face. She took a deep breath and turned to look at Tyler.
Tyler's face fell in complete shock there was a deep purple bruise forming in the corner of her left eye, a large red and brown bruise on her left cheek and her lip was scabbed from an obvious busted lip.
"Ever, what happened?" He asked leaning forward; he took her chin in his grasp gently turning her face to the side to inspect the damage.
"I-I…" Ever couldn't bring herself to say it, she shook her head and felt the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Someone's hurting you, aren't they?" He asked letting his hand fall from her chin to her shoulder, bringing her closer to him.
She didn't say anything else as her silent tears turned in to sobs. Tyler wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug, she clutched on to the boy as if her life depended on it. Ever scolded herself internally, she hated for people to see her cry, let alone see her like this, at her complete worst.
"Hey it's ok…" Tyler rubbed her back gingerly. "Ever, you have to tell me who it is… or I can't help you…" Tyler whispered in to her hair.
"I-I can't…" She cried through her short breaths.
"Ever, please…" Tyler was begging.
He wanted to help her; he wanted to stop who ever was hurting her. She shook her head against his chest and Tyler sighed heavily rubbing her back until she had calmed down a bit.
"We want to help you," Tyler stated softly. "Reid wants to help…" He whispered.
"I don't want his help; he probably just pities me because he thinks I'm a psychopath…" Ever stated her tone deep.
"Ever, does Reid look like the kind of person who would pity someone?" Tyler asked.
Ever sighed, he had a good point. Reid Garwin wasn't exactly known for his kindness, and he usually could careless how anyone else in the world was feeling. He was always his own number one priority.
"He's scared." Tyler assured her. "He doesn't think you're a psycho…" Ok, so maybe that part was a lie, but Tyler knew that Reid didn't mean the things he had said the days following his tiff with the young girl.
"Scared?" Ever asked shaking her head. "He doesn't know what scared is…" She whispered.
"Ever…" Tyler started but she cut him off by pulling away from him.
"Tyler, please… please don't press the issue…" She said softly.
"Fine." He stated shortly. "But I swear to god if I see a fresh bruise…" Tyler bit his lip trying to hold back his frustrations. He generally was not a confrontational person, but someone was hurting this innocent girl and she was letting them get away with it.
She bit her lip and nodded slightly understanding, or at least pretending she did. She didn't know why they cared so much, but she was tired of thinking. Since she had become friends with the Sons and their girlfriends she had been doing an awful lot of thinking, and it was really starting to give her a headache she didn't want.
"We are your friends you know," Tyler stated calmly. "You should have seen Pogue this morning when he walked in to English." Tyler finally got a look from her that wasn't sad or full of anger, it was a look of curiosity. "He saw your seat empty and he marched over to Reid and gave him a hard smack up side the head saying it was his fault because he scared you away." Tyler laughed remembering the sight; it was quite entertaining from his seat next to the blonde.
"He did?" Ever asked a small smile playing on her dry, cracked lips.
"Yeah he did no lie…" Tyler shook his head, "Sarah nearly mauled him on Monday, asking him what the hell he did to you," He smirked at her. "She said she called you Sunday but you never called back."
"I haven't touched it since Saturday…" She whispered looking over at the phone that was lying where it had fallen out of her hand Sunday when she contemplated calling him.
Tyler followed her gaze and saw the phone laying on the ground, he bent down and snatched it up in his grasp and stared at the screen, it still was highlighting his number that she had programmed in. Tyler looked at her with a furrowed brow.
"You were going to call?" He asked.
"I was." She nodded simply.
"Why didn't you?" He asked her folding his left leg under his body.
"I-I…" Before she could answer the door to her bedroom swung open and a spastic looking Esther stared at her in horror. "Esther what's wrong?" She asked hoping there was nothing wrong with Declan.
"Sirs, are home…" She stated hurriedly.
"Oh god," Ever's eyes grew as she hopped off of the bed and looked at Tyler. "This is bad," She whispered.
"Ever, what's wrong?" Tyler asked standing up from her bed.
"My stepfather, he doesn't like guests, his very private…" Ever stated trying to cover up the fear in her voice.
"I think it's a bit late to hide me…" Tyler stated noticing that she was looking around the room a bit frantically.
"Well if you didn't have such a huge car that took up the entire drive way," She mused with a bit of humor behind her tone.
She wasn't as nervous as she had been when Reid was with her, and she wasn't sure why. It may have been because she felt safe with Tyler, like he was the big brother that she never had. She didn't see him romantically, all though the boy was very good looking.
"EVER!" A loud voice boomed from downstairs, his tone wasn't angry just authoritative.
"Um, yes Richard?" Ever asked appearing in her doorway, running a hand through her hair so the left side of her face was covered graciously with her long light brown hair.
"Who's car is in the drive way?" Richard asked politely knowing the person was still in the house.
"My friend, Tyler… he came to uh-uh…" She was trying to get an excuse out but nothing was working.
"I came to bring her, her school assignments, sir…" Tyler stated in a gentleman like tone. "I have most of my classes with Ever sir, and the Provost asked that I stop by on my lunch and bring her the work she missed yesterday, and this morning…" Tyler lied smoothly.
"Alright then, thank you..." Richard nodded his head.
Tyler continued to smile innocently as Richard looked away and Ever looked on quite curiously, neither of them were looking at him directly and he let his eyes flash, a circle of fire engulfing his irises as a small stack of papers appeared on Ever's bed.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school Ever, get some rest and I hope you feel better…" Tyler stated before he brushed past Richard and gave Ever a small smile and wink.
"Bye Tyler, thank you…" She waved to him and looked up at Richard. "I had no idea the Provost asked him to come over Richard, I'm sorry…" She said softly hearing the front door close.
"I'm not so sure that he came by to drop off her home work, pops…" David seethed coming up the stairs, he had a nice black eye and busted lip as well. "That's the same boy she was with in the car on Saturday…" He added.
Richard glared at her, "Is that true Ever?" He asked his temper beginning to flair.
"No, I mean yes sir…" Ever stated backing in to her room carefully.
"No, yes… make up your god for saken mind Ever…" he growled coming in to her room.
"He did come by to drop of my homework," She nodded. "And he is the boy that I saw on Saturday…" She whispered the last part.
"If he brought you your homework, where is it?" Richard asked as David walked around her room expecting every surface looking for some kind of school work.
Ever gulped looking around the room, she walked over to her bed and saw a stack of papers that she didn't recall on her bed before. She grabbed them and felt herself smile; she didn't remember Tyler bringing them in with him.
"Right here," She stated shoving the papers out to Richard.
Richard grabbed the papers and scanned them over; they were in fact work sheets, notes and homework selections for her classes. He pushed them back to her and she took them with a small smile on her face, she didn't know how Tyler had done it, but she was forever in his debt.
"I better not catch anymore of those boys in my house, do you understand?" Richard asked grabbing her wrist roughly.
"Yes sir," She squeaked nodding her head as he and left the room, David however looming behind.
"Very slick…" David stated tapping his fingers to his chin in a thoughtful manner, the action reminding her of the blonde boy. "I'm watching you Ever, carefully… Just remember I have the power to take away the one thing that means the most to you…" He growled lowly before leaving her room and slamming the door shut behind him.
Ever's eyes filled with tears again at his threat, the one thing that she loved the most, was her one true weakness. The one thing that both of those men could hold over her head and get away with anything, even murder.
Declan.
Please remember to R&R:)