Home Not so Sweet Home

Spencer's POV

Our class got back to Rosewood at 3pm. When I got to the airport, I wasn`t surprised to see that nobody from my family cared to show up. Hanna's mom showed up with a shopping bag filled with new clothes for her. Emily's parents showed up with flowers. Aria's dad came to pick up Aria and her mom. It seems like most of my class got picked up by their parents. My family is too busy with Melissa planning her wedding. God forbid they take twenty minutes out of their time to come pick up their other daughter.

I watched all the students leave with their families, while I sat on a bench trying to get a hold of someone from my family. Before I left for Washington, my car started making a funny noise, so I had to take it in to get fixed. Otherwise I would`ve driven myself here and I would`ve had a way to get home. After the tenth time of trying to get ahold of somebody, I finally gave up. I`ll just have to get a cab. The line for renting a cab looks really long. I sighed and took my place in the back of the line.

"Spencer."

I turned around and saw Toby standing to the side. His bag was strapped over his shoulder and he was wearing the hat that he bought in Washington. I'm surprised he's still here. He has a car, so I don't know why he would still be here. Everyone else went home an hour ago. He walked over to me and stood next to me in line.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm waiting in line for a cab. My car is in the shop and my parents didn't show up."

"Your house is thirty minutes away from the airport. Do you know how much a cab will cost?"

"I know it's a lot of money, but I have to find a way to get home."

He tugged on my sleeve and said, "Come on."

I fallowed him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to give you a ride home."

"You don't have to do that Toby, I'm okay with just waiting for a cab."

"The wait for a cab can be hours and the cost is absurd."

"Its fine I'll just use whatever money I have left on the card my parents gave me."

"Spencer," he mumbled. "You cannot sit here for two hours waiting for a ride home. Your house is only a few minutes away from mine, so it's really no trouble."

"Well if you`re sure."

"Get your stuff and let's go," he ordered.

I picked up my bag and flew it over my shoulder. Then I fallowed him out to his car. When we got to his car, he opened the passenger door for me. I didn't know Toby could be such a gentleman. I always thought a man opening a door and pushing chairs in for a lady only happened in olds movies.

The drive home was silent. Neither one of us knew what to say. I guess we decided that driving in silence would be better. The only sound you could hear was the radio playing on a low volume. Toby looked over at me a couple times. He would try to hide it by turning his head whenever I looked at him. But I knew he was looking at me. I'm wondering what is going through his head right now. Is he ready to be home? Probably not, since he told me that he's tired of his family and that he's ready to be out of there.

` I'm not ready to be home either. The house of Hasting's isn`t exactly my safe place to land right now. For most people after they get home from a long trip they would say "home sweet home." For me it`s more like "home not so sweet home." Too many things have happened to me in that house. No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to erase those memories from my head. All those times I would come home from school with a grade that wasn`t good enough for the Hastings standard and the look of disappointment. Melissa always being the big star of the family and the center of everybody`s attention. Her stupid fiancé that has tried to hurt me in a way no man should ever hurt a woman.

We pulled up into my driveway moments later. He stopped the car then turned his head to look at me. I looked at him. What could he possibly be thinking about? He is giving me a look as if he understands. How could he understand? Has he been reading my thoughts the whole time? Toby`s always been the type of person who could read someone just by simple looking at him. That may have been one of the reasons why I used to be friends with him.

"Why are you looking at me?" I asked.

He gestured with his head towards my house. "I'm wondering if you`re going to get out of the car or if you want me to carry you."

I snapped my head up. "Oh right sorry."

I took off my seat belt then climbed out of the car. I shut the door behind me then stuck my head through the car window.

"Thanks for the ride."

"No problem besides," He smirked. "I`m sure you wouldn't have done the same thing for me."

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Goodbye idiot."

He smirked and put his car in reverse. I back away from his car allowing him to drive out. He honked once before taking off down the road. Once again I smiled and shook my head. He is such an idiot sometimes. When I walked through the front door, nobody was home. There was a note on the kitchen table that someone wrote for me. Spencer, Melissa and I went to go pick out her wedding dress. Afterwards we`re going to meet your father for dinner, so we will not be home tonight. I left you some money on the kitchen counter If you want to order something for dinner. Melissa's wedding invitations are on the desk in my office. Make sure to send them out tonight. I will not have you ruining Melissa's wedding!- Mom.

I rolled my eyes and threw my mom`s note in the trash. Of course they would all be busy with Melissa. Now they're putting me in charge of mailing the invitations. I went up to my room to change into my sweatpants and a black tank-top. Then I ordered a pizza and sat down on the couch watching T.V, while I worked on mailing the invitations. I was just finishing one of the invitations when there was a knock on the front door. When I opened the door, nobody was there.

Did I just get ding-dong ditched? Stupid immature kids. I close the door and went back to sit on the couch. When I was about to sit down, I heard the back door creak open. I walked into the kitchen and heard the door creak once more.

"Hello," I called out. "Is someone there?"

Bang! A loud noise coming from outside made, me jump. Someone`s out there messing with me. Did Melissa come home early? Small cracking noises came from outside.

"If someone is out there you need to come out now!" I shouted. "Seriously, this is not funny."

My body started shaking as I moved closer towards the back door. It was crack open, but there was nobody out there. That means somebody`s in here. I grabbed a knife off the kitchen counter and gazed around the kitchen for intruders. If somebody is in here I'm ready for them, even though I'm scared as hell. I heard another sound coming from outside, but I didn't know who or what it was. I held up the knife with my shaky hand and slowly started heading for the door. Whoever's out there will be barging through the door any second. In three two…

"Boo!"

I jumped up and screamed when somebody touched my waist. When I spun around my face turned a bright shade of red at who is there. On the other hand I'm also kind of glad it's just him. If it was a killer sneaking up behind me I'd be in trouble.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" I hissed.

Toby held up my jacket and said. "You forgot this."

"Couldn't you have just given it to me at school on Monday?"

He shook his head. "Nope, I wanted to give it back to you now."

I rolled my eyes. "If you came here, because you think you`re getting any tonight, you minus well just go home now."

He shook his head. "That's not why I'm here. Anyway what are you doing?"

Crack! There was another sound coming from outside. Crap, it's not just Toby messing with me. Someone is really out there. I snapped my head up and stared at the back door. Toby came up behind me, so that means he came through the front door. If he came in the front door, who's outside the back door?

Toby looked to see what I was looking at. "Spencer, what are you doing?"

"Shush," I held my hands up to his chest to get him to be quiet.

"What's going on?"

"Somebody`s out there," I whispered.

He opened his mouth to say something, but another loud noise came from outside. It sounded like someone was walking around on a pile of twigs. Who's out there? I felt Toby's hands tighten around my waist, but not in a sexual way. It seemed like he was protecting me. He slowly pulled my back away from the back door as if someone could pop through there with a chainsaw any second. There was another loud banging noise that made me move closer to Toby. Right now my back is pressed against his chest and his arms are wrapped around my waist in a protective way. My hands are holding on to his arms.

"Stay here." He slipped his arms from around my waist then walked towards the door.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"I'm going to go look around outside. Stay here," he instructed.

I didn't fight him on that one. I stayed back behind the kitchen counter while he looked around outside. Hopefully he doesn't get hacked up by a crazy person with a chainsaw. Toby disappeared out in the darkness of the night. After that I didn't hear anymore noises. Not hearing any noises for a long period of time is almost as scary as hearing them. How can it go from loud to quite? I waited a few more minutes, but Toby still hasn't come back yet.

"Toby, are you still out there? I called out.

I walked over toward the door, but before I could walk out, somebody grabbed me from behind and roughly slammed me back against the wall. I screamed and tried to fight this person off. The person who grabbed me is wearing a black hoodie and a mask. The figure tightened his grip around me and through me roughly on the ground. Then the figure picked up a knife and came towards me. I screamed and tried to stop this person from stabbing me. This person was a lot stronger than me. I was only strong enough to push his hands back.

"No, please don't!" I screamed when the figure held the blade of the knife against my neck.

If they make one wrong move, they could kill me. The struggle to keep this person off me is difficult. I would try to push him away, but he kept adding more force to try and kill me. All of a sudden the weight of the person was thrown off of me. I looked up and saw that Toby ripped the guy off me and is now wrestling him for the knife. The figure dropped the knife right next to Toby's feet. Once he dropped the knife, I snatched it up and held it out in front of me. Just in case the broke loose and came at me again. Toby punched the figure then chased them out the back door.

Toby walked back though the door and looked at me. I just sat on the kitchen floor clenching the knife in my hand. My whole body is shaking. Goose bumps climbed up all over my body. I almost died.

"Spencer," Toby called out. "It's okay, he's gone."

I stood up and dropped the knife on the counter. Gigantic sobs rocked through my body. I walked over to Toby and threw my arms around him. He didn't push me away like I expected him to. Instead he wrapped his arms around me in a comforting way and held me while I cried.

Another close call for Spencer, but luckily Toby was there to save her. A cute and emotional Spoby scene will take place next chapter. Thanks for reading please review.