Alexia tied her hair back into a long pony tail and applied a thin coat of mascara to her long eyelashes. Makeup wasn’t important to Alexia but she always wore a little bit of mascara and a glossy lip balm. Ava was always begging to give her a makeover but Alexia would politely decline stating that she wasn’t trying to attract attention. This was a small lie however. There was one guy that Alexia would like to attract. Joey Myers. Everyday Alexia got dressed she would wonder what Joey would think of her outfit and then feel silly. Alexia felt her cheeks growing red just thinking about Joey. She left the bathroom and picked up her backpack which she had left sitting on the floor outside the door and left for school.
The ride to Falls High was pleasant as the air was warm and the wind was calm. However, Alexia’s mind was cloudy. She had stayed up until 3am finishing her self portrait. She only stayed up so late so that she had one less assignment to worry about. English was bothering Alexia the most. Writing essays on boring movies had nothing to do with being a vet and didn’t interest her at all. She had been putting off an essay for a week but knew she would have to write it sooner or later.
Karla was standing outside the school gates when Alexia arrived. A large smile adorned her cupid like face. “Alexia! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“How come?” Alexia sounded puzzled.
“Well I want to thank you. I am so happy after breaking up with Price.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Actually I was wondering if you could tell him that I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t want to make you break up with him. I just wanted him to stop treating you like a slave.”
“Alexia it was worse than that. He hit me.”
“What?”
“About a week ago. He went crazy. He threatened to burn me with that stupid lighter!” Karla’s smile had faded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you could tell. You seemed to know how mean he was to me,” Karla said.
Alexia shrugged and said, “I just guessed. I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“I used to think he was so cute. Anyway if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have had the courage to leave him. You really helped me.” The smile had returned to Karla’s face.
“I’m glad that I helped you, Karla. Aren’t you worried that he might try and hurt you again?”
“No. Well I was worried at first. That’s why I broke up with him on the phone. That way he couldn’t go crazy and hit me again.”
“Somebody told me that he thinks I told you to leave him.”
“Oh yeah, hey, I’m sorry. When I broke up with him your name accidentally came up. Don’t worry, he knows I broke up with him because he hit me. He can’t seriously blame you.”
“I hope not. I have enough on my mind as it is.” Alexia wished she could just forget about all of her school work. It seemed to be resting on her shoulders heavily.
“Sorry, Alexia. I didn’t mean to get you involved. But mentioning your name seemed to give me more strength. It’s weird.”
“That is weird. I don’t feel very strong myself,” Alexia admitted.
“Hey sorry to dump all of this on you. I know things aren’t great for you at home.”
“Things have never been better. I love being alone with Mom. My dad is a jerk.”
“Okay, well I better run. Thank you again, Alexia,” Karla said as she wrapped her arms around her hugging her tightly. Alexia smiled at Karla and watched her walk away cheerfully. Alexia walked to the bike sheds and locked her bike up next to the only other bike there and hurried to class.
Alexia held her breath as Price walked in half way through English. He stared right at her with an expressionless face. Alexia continued to work on her essay although she couldn’t quite get the image of Price’s cold stare out of her head.
When the teacher finally let them go Alexia rushed out of the classroom before Price could talk to her.
At lunch time Alexia entered the cafeteria searching the room for a friendly face. She spotted Ava an Ronda sitting at a table loaded with food. They waved out to her.
“Alexia over here!” Ava yelled out. Alexia hurried over.
“Hey guys.” Alexia was glad to see them.
“Sorry I didn’t call last night, Alexia. Dad took me for a driving lesson and I didn’t get back until late.”
“Oh that’s okay. I just worked on my art project anyway.”
“The self portrait?”
“Yip, all done.”
“You’re kidding?” Ava looked surprised if not a touch jealous.
“No.”
“You can’t be that surprised, Ave,” Ronda chimed in. “She’s an ar-teest.”
“No I’m not.” Alexia blushed.
“Can we see it?” Ronda loved to see Alexia’s creations.
“Oh I left it at…” Alexia stopped talking. Joey Myers had entered the cafeteria. Ronda looked in the direction where Alexia was staring and smiled knowingly. She nudged Ava.
“Look, Ave. It’s that guy that Alexia doesn’t like.”
“Oh yeah he's hot.”
“Guys, come on.”
“What? I didn’t say anything.” Ronda sipped her orange juice and smiled. Alexia raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t like him that much.”
“I saw that picture you drew of him,” Ava said. “You should totally give it to him.”
“No way!” Alexia exclaimed. “He’d think I was a stalker freak!”
“If you stand there staring at him for much longer he will think you are a freak,” Ronda pointed out.
“Oh good point.” Alexia laughed and sat down frowning after touching the sticky seat.
“Aren’t you going to get some food?” Ava asked.
“Not really hungry. I talked to Karla earlier.”
“Oh how is she?” Ronda sensed gossip.
“She’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”
“That’s good isn’t it?” Ava said after shoving a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth.
“She told me that Price hit her.”
“What? That’s nuts.” Ronda looked excited. Her eyes glistened.
“Yip. About a week ago.”
“So that’s why she left him.” Ronda sounded as though she had solved a complex puzzle.
“He still thinks it was because of me.”
“Well that’s stupid. He can’t think he can go around hitting girls and get away with it,” Ava said angrily.
“I’m scared, guys. What if he comes after me?”
“Would he really be that stupid?” Ava asked.
“No way,” Ronda answered.
“He was stupid enough to hit Karla.” Out of the corner of her eye Alexia noticed Joey was looking at her. She looked away quickly pretending not to notice.
“If he does anything to you he’ll have me to deal with!” Ronda said as she placed a protective hand on Alexia’s shoulder. She was a good friend and was always there when Alexia needed her.
“Thanks guys,” Alexia smiled weakly.
The three girls waited for lunch to be over and headed to their separate classes promising to ring each other that night.
Alexia sat through periods that seemed to last forever of biology and maths distractedly and hurried to the bike sheds once school was over.
It was darker than usual for three in the afternoon. The skies threatened to rain boasting thick dark clouds. Alexia shivered, she hadn’t dressed for rain she would have to bike fast if she didn’t want to get drenched.
When she arrived at the bike sheds she gasped. The lock was still intact but the bike was gone. “What…” She noticed a wheel belonging to her bike was sitting around the corner of the shed. Alexia took a deep breath and noticed there was a trail of bike parts. Cautiously she followed the bike parts looking around suspiciously. Who would take the time to dismantle her bike? Price, Alexia thought bitterly.
The trail of bike parts stopped
at a tree stump. Raindrops had started to fall but Alexia hadn’t noticed. Goosebumps formed on her bare arms not from the cold but from fear. Sitting on the ground was an envelope.
Alexia bit her lip. She slowly bent down and picked up the envelope. It was heavier than she expected. She carefully opened it up and looked inside. What she saw made her scream. Blood.
Alexia dropped the envelope and ran. She didn't stop running until she got home. Feeling exhausted from running she fell onto her living room couch and caught her breath. Her Mom came in from the kitchen. She was wearing a flour stained apron. “Alexia? What’s wrong?”
“I just ran home from school.” Alexia puffed. “Somebody dismantled my bike and…”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’s in pieces. There was blood.”
“Blood… Who’s blood?” Cynthia looked concerned.
“I don’t know who’s blood. It was in an envelope.”
“Let’s go. We’re driving there. I want to see this and then call the police.”
“Okay.” Alexia followed Cynthia outside and they both hopped into her mini van.
When they arrived at the school Alexia burst out of the car and led her mother toward the bike sheds. “It was over here.”
“It’s cold out here,” Cynthia said suddenly realizing she hadn’t taken off her apron. She looked embarrassed but Alexia was going too fast for her to worry about her state of dress now.
“What the hell…” Alexia sounded dismayed. The bike was chained up to the pole and in great condition.
“Alexia…”
“This isn’t how I found it!”
“Are you sure you it wasn't a different bike?”
“No. It was my bike! I’m going to show you the blood.” Alexia hurried to the tree stump and dropped to her knees. The envelope was nowhere to be seen. “Mom, I know I sound crazy but I’m not.”
“Well maybe you're under too much stress.”
“I know what I saw.”
“Come on, lets get your bike and go home. You can have a nice warm bath and warm up. I’ll make you some dinner.” A warm bath wasn’t going to help anything but she had to listen to her Mom.
“Okay. Mom, I’m sorry. I’m not making this up.”
“Okay, dear. Let’s just go home.”
The ride home was silent. Nobody quite knew the right thing to say. Cynthia wanted to believe Alexia but she couldn’t. Names of psychologists she knew of had already come to mind. She wanted to get help for Alexia.
Rain pelted the windscreen so hard that the car’s window wipers couldn’t keep up. This pleased Alexia. Somehow the rain always made her feel better. Still she couldn’t shake the same thought from circling inside her head over an over. Price Delany is mad.
Once they arrived at home Alexia ran up to her room and shut the door. A funny tickling feeling made Alexia’s right ear twitch. Suddenly her left ear itched almost painfully. “What the…” Alexia jammed a finger into each ear and waited for the feeling to go away. Once the itching finally stopped, Alexia thought that the stress was making her react strangely and decided that she would have a bath after all.
Her Mom had run her a bath and put some lavender oil in the water to calm her. Alexia soaked in the water taking care not to wet her hair, she didn’t want to have to wait for it to dry before she went to bed.
That night Alexia slept like a hibernating bear. She slept so well she didn’t notice that for the whole night she was being watched.