Page 133 of From Me to You

I sighed in relief as I brought up my hands to wave to him. “Mi—”

But my relief was short-lived when a rough hand clamped around my mouth and pulled me to the back of the alley.

I saw Mikey dial on his phone with a confused look on his face.

My phone started ringing.Oh, God, he must be calling me.

I fought against whoever was holding me back. But it was no use. He was stronger than me. I struggled. If he pulled metoward the end, then I would be hidden from the view of the road.

Mikey could never find me.

Panic set in as the man holding me pushed me against the far, dark wall. The breath knocked out of me as I hit the floor with a thud.

I looked up to see two men in very dark clothes hovering over me.

Fear ran through my spine. “Who are you? Let me go!” I croaked. My phone was still ringing on the floor.

“Stup up, bitch,” the one that carried me yelled.

I cowered at his voice. I was scared. I was very, very scared.

“Please,” I begged. I didn’t know what they wanted from me.

Hands gripped my hair and dragged me to my feet. My teeth rattled as he gave me a hard slap in the face.

I screamed in pain.

“What do you want?” I croaked in pain. “Take anything you want. But please let me go, please.”

The hands that gripped my hair pulled it so hard that I felt the roots ripping from my scalp.

“I said shut the fuck up, bitch.” He sneered, pushing me down so hard that I landed on my right knee. I screamed as excruciating pain overtook my senses. I could hear the sound of my knee shattering and my ankle twisting. The same one that I had previously sprained.

“I think that’s enough. Let’s go,” the two men whispered as they rushed out.

Why?

My entire right leg burned in so much pain that I thought it was on fire. I gasped for air as my cheek lay smashed on the dirty alley floor. Through my peripheral vision, I saw my phone blinking. I slowly tried to reach for it. But it was too far away.

I moved my body inch by inch– each inch felt like a hundred painful spikes running through my leg. I gasped in silent relief when my fingers finally reached it, and I pulled my phone over to me.

I hit the first number on my speed dial. Jay.Please pick it up.It never rang. It only went straight to voicemail.

I fought hard to stay awake. The pain completely slithered all over my body.

It went to voicemail again. His beautiful voice asked me to leave a message after the beep, and I opened my mouth with the last ounce of energy that I had.

“Jay, please save me.” I choked on my tears. “Pleas-se I am sca-ar-red, it hu-urts”

And that was the last thing I remembered before my world clouded in endless darkness.

CHAPTER 27

Present.

Age 26: six years, two months, and twenty-three days later.

Peter did lose Wendy. Romeo did die for Juliet. Keats did write poems for Fanny until the day he died. All the greatest love stories did end in tragedy. At least I told myself that to make me feel better.