Chapter 57

-"You did WHAT?"- Alice whisper yells. I lower my head and look at my hands twisting in my lap.

–"He touched me Alice. What was I supposed to do?"- I whisper back.

We are sitting in 5th period Biology class. I'm 14 and I've been very bad.

My newest foster family moved us to Forks, Washington. We'd been here for 4 days when I meet Alice. She is in foster care too, we are neighbors, she lives with the Hale-Whitlock's, they have two children and are trying to adopt Alice, -She is also 14.

I live with Charlie and Renee they applied for foster care and had been very nice and all but since I've been in the system for such a long time and they hadn't had anyone in years they decided to take me in.

I'm odd to them. I don't speak or anything, I'm quiet and shy; I don't get into trouble and practically take care of myself. They love that. I wish they'd keep me, even if they only want me because the state pays them to have me here.

A few years ago, I started going out at night. I suffer from insomnia since I can remember; I would walk around the woods at night always keeping close to the yard, looking for rocks or branches. I have a fascination with ordinary things; I collect them or make them into something else. I love writing and painting, I draw and sculpt. I've been doing it since I was very young. For me it's a way to express my feelings, since I normally don't talk that much.

Two months ago, I met a guy while I was at La Push beach over at the reservation, he is tanned and tall and muscular, he is a native Quileute, he is much older then I am. I was frightened at first but he seamed harmless. We've meet several times over there and we had become friends, he would talk and I would listen and scan the sand for colored crystals. I hadn't told Alice or anyone about my friendship with Jacob, more so because I know he's married and because it would start the gossip. We are just friends, he's nice to me, and I like listening to him talk. He tells the coolest stories. He knows so much about his tribe's history.

A week ago I was walking to the beach to meet up with Jacob; I wasn't paying attention since I was scanning the sand for pebbled rocks that I didn't feel him behind me. He grabbed me by the waist and lifted me towards him, I screamed and he covered my mouth with his big hand. I was afraid of who this was, so I struggled kicking and flailing my arms and trying to hurt him so that he would let me go. But before I knew it I was punched in the stomach, the air leaving my lungs and my body doubled over in pain. He dragged me to the woods that over looked the ocean and guessing by all of this, the foul smell of liquor on his breath and his following words he definitely wasn't planning on walking around the beach and have one of our usual one-sided conversations.

–"Now your going to get it, you little tease.., Come on, you know you want me…I know you do, all those smiles and you always hang on my every word, you want me…You want me to fuck you, Don't you? You little cock slut"- He slurred against my ear as he groped me roughly. He had gotten my blouse ripped open and my jeans unbuckled then a surge of adrenaline and fear came over me. The rush of painful memories from my childhood came rushing back, things I had blocked out to protect my sanity. The disgusting man's fingers touching me, his foul breath washing over my face making me dizzy. The pain in my stomach as I empty it all over the car, his bitter laughter and the pain that shot through my scull as he slapped my face.

I closed my eyes and willed him to leave me alone. I felt his rough hands over my legs, parting them eagerly and as he moved closer to my body, I touched his chest with the tips of my fingers.

Before I knew it as if he was a drowning man, he doubled over in pain and the area where I had touched his chest turned gray, and it started spreading rapidly over the rest of his skin covering it completely.

His eyes rolled back and his mouth was left open as if he was gasping for air. The wind picked up and pushed the gray skin, disintegrating it into a pile of dirt. I moved away quickly too stunned to scream or cry.

And today I told Alice about it, she is staring at me as if I have lost my mind.