on a dining chair across from them. Part of me feels like I’m intruding, especially since Becca is getting her comfort from someone else. But if I’m going to help her get through this, I have to know what’s going on, what’s being done to protect her, and make her feel safe.
There’s a wooden rocking chair on the other side of Becca, so I quietly walk over and sit in it. Once I’m seated, Rich looks around at all of us, sucks in a deep breath, then sighs out, “Okay. Here’s what happened…”
Chapter Thirteen
Becca
Since I slept almost the entire day away, I can’t sleep now. I’m still feeling totally wiped out, but my brain just won’t shut off. What if Trip finds me? What if he hurts me? What if he hurts Asher? Or my parents, or my sister…I can’t let that happen. But how on earth would I stop him?
The tears start to drip down my face, one at a time. After all of the crying I’ve done today, I can’t imagine how there are any tears left inside my body.
Pressing charges . Those were the words my dad spoke to Trip’s parents just before he made me block Trip in every way possible. He even called the cell phone company and had my phone number changed. He’s threatening your life , he said. Which we apparently need to take seriously. When Dad called Trip’s parents to let them know what was going on, they actually searched his room. And what they found…it gives me the heebie jeebies.
After Trip and I weren’t together anymore, I didn’t see him. Ever. Not even in the hallways at school. He never tried to talk to me. Or contact me in any other way.
But he was watching me. He keeps a journal; I didn’t know that. When his parents read through it today, they got worried…for me.
When I first separated myself from Trip in April, he wrote in his journal that he was very depressed, questioning whether or not he wanted to live. Then he started writing ways he thought he could get me back. Things he could say or do to convince me that we should be together. That in itself wouldn’t seem so bad. But then he started expressing his hatred toward me for not only leaving him, but because he believed that I was spending time with other guys; specifically, that I had been spending a lot of time with Asher. One day he even wrote the first stanza of the lyrics from “Run for Your Life” by the Beatles. I wouldn’t even have known that was of any significance…but my dad has the Rubber Soul album on vinyl, and I’ve been listening to it for most of my life.
In Trip’s desk, they found, printed out, everything that was posted on my Facebook wall, and my Twitter feed, highlighting anything to or from a member of the opposite sex, from April 11th to yesterday, which is the day before he left to move into the dorms at UW. Which is only an hour away from here.
Trip. Here. That possibility is almost more than I can handle.
And then, when I found out what he'd done to Livvie? I wanted to go find him myself and murder him in his sleep. There was a reason Livvie said she didn't want to get involved if she didn't have to. And it makes me sick.
Back in February, Trip gave Livvie a ride home from school one day when I had to stay late for an extra band rehearsal. When they were a few blocks from our house, Trip put his hand on her thigh, and made a move toward more inappropriate places. Livvie flung his hand from her, and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing.
When he pulled into the driveway, he grabbed her face with his hand, and told her if she ever told anyone about it, he would kill her. And she believed him...as she probably should.
I haven’t said anything aloud, or made any other indication that I’m even awake. But as if Asher could hear every one of my thoughts, he reaches his arm over the edge of his bunk and hangs his hand down to me, silently offering me a lifeline. I look to the other side of the room where my sister is in bed. It’s obvious she is out like a light,
There’s a wooden rocking chair on the other side of Becca, so I quietly walk over and sit in it. Once I’m seated, Rich looks around at all of us, sucks in a deep breath, then sighs out, “Okay. Here’s what happened…”
Chapter Thirteen
Becca
Since I slept almost the entire day away, I can’t sleep now. I’m still feeling totally wiped out, but my brain just won’t shut off. What if Trip finds me? What if he hurts me? What if he hurts Asher? Or my parents, or my sister…I can’t let that happen. But how on earth would I stop him?
The tears start to drip down my face, one at a time. After all of the crying I’ve done today, I can’t imagine how there are any tears left inside my body.
Pressing charges . Those were the words my dad spoke to Trip’s parents just before he made me block Trip in every way possible. He even called the cell phone company and had my phone number changed. He’s threatening your life , he said. Which we apparently need to take seriously. When Dad called Trip’s parents to let them know what was going on, they actually searched his room. And what they found…it gives me the heebie jeebies.
After Trip and I weren’t together anymore, I didn’t see him. Ever. Not even in the hallways at school. He never tried to talk to me. Or contact me in any other way.
But he was watching me. He keeps a journal; I didn’t know that. When his parents read through it today, they got worried…for me.
When I first separated myself from Trip in April, he wrote in his journal that he was very depressed, questioning whether or not he wanted to live. Then he started writing ways he thought he could get me back. Things he could say or do to convince me that we should be together. That in itself wouldn’t seem so bad. But then he started expressing his hatred toward me for not only leaving him, but because he believed that I was spending time with other guys; specifically, that I had been spending a lot of time with Asher. One day he even wrote the first stanza of the lyrics from “Run for Your Life” by the Beatles. I wouldn’t even have known that was of any significance…but my dad has the Rubber Soul album on vinyl, and I’ve been listening to it for most of my life.
In Trip’s desk, they found, printed out, everything that was posted on my Facebook wall, and my Twitter feed, highlighting anything to or from a member of the opposite sex, from April 11th to yesterday, which is the day before he left to move into the dorms at UW. Which is only an hour away from here.
Trip. Here. That possibility is almost more than I can handle.
And then, when I found out what he'd done to Livvie? I wanted to go find him myself and murder him in his sleep. There was a reason Livvie said she didn't want to get involved if she didn't have to. And it makes me sick.
Back in February, Trip gave Livvie a ride home from school one day when I had to stay late for an extra band rehearsal. When they were a few blocks from our house, Trip put his hand on her thigh, and made a move toward more inappropriate places. Livvie flung his hand from her, and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing.
When he pulled into the driveway, he grabbed her face with his hand, and told her if she ever told anyone about it, he would kill her. And she believed him...as she probably should.
I haven’t said anything aloud, or made any other indication that I’m even awake. But as if Asher could hear every one of my thoughts, he reaches his arm over the edge of his bunk and hangs his hand down to me, silently offering me a lifeline. I look to the other side of the room where my sister is in bed. It’s obvious she is out like a light,
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