Chapter 9: I COULDN'T MANAGE TO BREATHE ANYMORE!

Sarah’s POV:

I kept looking to see who he was when suddenly he turned around and I gulped, realizing that it was none other than my stepbrother, Zayn, who was following me behind. He was wearing blue shades which looked terrific on his perfectly shaped face. I breathed heavily and moved back as he walked hastily towards me and took off his shades.

“You?” I asked anxiously.

“Listen to me carefully…” He started bitterly and I took a step back.

“Stay still” He added loudly and I skipped a beat.

“I – I…” I started.

“I said, listen to me carefully…” He added sharply and continued, “I won’t let you or your mother to stay in my house for long. I will make sure you leave because I hate you and I’ll do whatever I want to give you a reason to leave that house and even… To leave this town, Sarah Thompson…”

He glared at me before walking away from there while I stood there still in shock and couldn’t digest down his words. I could feel having difficulty in breathing as he walked to the car.

Before getting back in, he turned and added loudly, “And one more thing… Stop running into me deliberately…”

Before I could say anything in my defense, he got into the car and drove away leaving me there in anxiety and fear. I couldn’t understand the reason of his hatred towards me. It was very distressing to see him behave so badly with me after everything I felt for him. He was my first crush and I could feel my heart breaking just to realize about how wrong I was to think that he could be my man. I stood there, looking at his car taking a turn towards the road and a tear fell down on my cheek. Snuffling and wiping the tear off of my face, I took a deep breath and continued to walk towards my house.

Upon reaching the house, I entered in and took a deep sigh. It was good to be home. It was good to be somewhere where I felt safe. I climbed up the stairs to my bedroom and threw myself on the bed but didn’t realize when I went to sleep.

I was happy, walking in a garden, surrounded by beautiful and colorful flowers with bees and butterflies over them when suddenly something began to ring in the air. I couldn’t figure out what it was but it was disturbing my peace and I couldn’t help but shake my head when I realized that I wasn’t in a garden and instead I was sleeping on my bed. I swung my eyes open and saw my phone ringing on my side. Jumping up on the bed, I glanced at the wall clock to see it was 8 pm.

“Oh my God…” I whispered and grabbed my phone to see Mom calling.

“Yes, mom?” I answered the call.

“Sarah, honey, where were you? I called you almost five times…” Mom said and I glanced at my phone to see if she did while she continued, “Where are you? When are you coming back?”

I began to think for a while wondering if I should go back to that house. I didn’t want to face him. I couldn’t stand the sight of my first crush being callous towards me once again and therefore, I started, “Mom, um I think I won’t be coming there tonight”

“What?” She started and after a slight pause, she continued, “What are you saying?”

“Actually ah, I – I’ll be staying at El’s place tonight… We – we are having this girl’s night before school starts” I explained.

“Oh… But you should have told me, Sarah… You stormed out of the house like that and didn’t call me once” She complained.

“Yeah, I am sorry…” I said, rubbing my forehead.

“Okay, but take care honey. But where are you right now?” She asked me.  

“Ah, El’s place…” I said and took a deep breath.

“Okay, sweetheart. Stay safe. Oh yes, we’ll shift our stuff tomorrow, okay?” She asked.

“Yeah okay…” I said and nodded before hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, I realized that mom might call Eloise to confirm about the girl’s night which made me call her immediately.

“El… Listen to me” I started restlessly as she answered the call.

“What happened?” She asked anxiously.

“If my mom calls you, just tell her that I am staying at your place tonight. Okay?” I told her restlessly.

“What? Why do I have to lie? Where are you?” She asked me hastily.

“I’m – I am here… At my house. I didn’t want to go to that house, at least for tonight. So you have to lie to her, okay?” I asked her.

“Wait – wait, Sar… You are going to stay at your place, alone?” She asked me.

“Yes…” I replied.

“You can’t… You come over here, right now…” She ordered.

“No, El… Please” I started.

“Sarah, listen to me. We can actually have a girl’s night. We have only one day before school starts, so it’ll be a great thing, no?” She said and I began to think about it for a while.

“Um, okay, fine then” I said lazily.

“Okay, so you come over. I’ll call Gene” She said excitedly.

“No… You guys come over to my place, please” I insisted.

“No, Sar…” She started.

“El, please… Just come over… Please” I said lazily.

“Okay, we’ll be there” She said and hung up the call while I threw myself again on the bed.  

That night we actually had great fun, gossiping and playing games, eating pizza and drinking smoothies made by Gene. It was good to be around them and not talk about mom or her husband or my so called step brother for even once. I didn’t prefer to tell them about Zayn threatening me that day on the way to my house. I wanted a few hours, avoiding all of that drama and just be with my friends, spending some quality time with them and I succeeded in that. We didn’t talk about anything else except for school and our senior year which was about to start after a day. It was exciting to think about being a senior and finally being on the way to be done with high school and move onto college but there was a whole year to pass and I wondered if I would be able to get through that smoothly.

The next morning, I woke up next to someone’s feet and as I looked up, I saw Eloise still sleeping and Gene on her side. I tried to think about last night and wondered when we went to sleep while talking. Getting up on the bed, I looked around the mess in my room after which I began to clean it up, quietly, trying not to wake them.

“You woke up…?” Eloise’s voice came and I turned to look at her groaning and stretching, pushing Gene down from the bed.

“El…” I called her out as Gene grunted in pain.

“Sorry, G…” Eloise said to her and they both got up when suddenly my phone began to ring.

“It’s your mom…” Melissa said as she glanced at my phone. I quickly walked towards her and grabbed the phone to answer the call.

“Sarah, honey, I am heading to home, right now. I have Rowen’s men with me. They are going to help us shift our stuff to the house. You are still at El’s?” Mom said and I panicked.

“Um, no, mom actually I am home. We ah, we spent the night at our place” I told her.

“Oh okay… No worries. I am about to reach home. You just start gathering your stuff, okay?” She said.

I shut my eyes in frustration and added distressfully, “Okay, mom”

As I hung up the call, I looked around the room and started distressfully, “I don’t want to leave this house…”

“Sar… It’s okay… You can come here whenever you like. It’s your own house” Eloise said and hugged me and so did Gene.

After a few minutes, mom reached there and we began to gather the stuff and put it in the van while Eloise and Gene helped us through. Before getting into the car, I looked at my house and tears formed up in my eyes. Mom was quite happy as she was moving in with someone she loves but there was no reason for me to be happy about that. I felt like everything was going far away from me. First my dad, then my mom and then our home. Everything was getting away from me and I couldn’t help but be okay with that. Looking at the house for the last time and waving goodbye to my friends, I got in the car to head back to the house where I knew I was never going to be happy.

All the way to Rowen’s house, mom kept telling me about how I should love that house and be proud of her for marrying a man who could give me a luxurious life but I couldn’t manage to tell her that I never wanted such life. I wanted a peaceful and happy life even if it was to come without any luxuries. I wanted a home where I could feel safe and where I could head to after a tiring day, knowing that I would be de-stressed. I didn’t tell her my feelings because I knew she would never understand me as always.

As we reached the house, I got out of the car and gulped while looking at the door. I knew I would have to face him and his hatred once again and I couldn’t even tell about that to mom because I didn’t want to ruin her happy marriage. I knew I had to bear that.

Walking into the house, Rowen’s men began to carry my stuff up to my room while mom made me walk towards Rowen to greet him.

“Sarah… My dear…” Rowen started politely and added, “Now I am going to welcome you here properly. Welcome to this house. It’s your house, dear. Stay however you like…”

“Thanks…” I said, smiling. But your son won’t let me live however I like! I added in my mind while looking at Rowen.

“My son…” Rowen said loudly and I quivered. Gulping down while turning around, I saw Zayn standing in front of me along with his intense glare.

Rowen walked towards him and placed his hand on Zayn’s shoulder after which they both walked a little forward towards us.

“Dad, I need to go…” Zayn stopped and said.

“Wait, I need to tell you all something…” Rowen said and I looked at him in confusion.

“I heard from Sophia that Sarah finds it hard to make friends easily…” Rowen said and then looked at me, making me confused and nervous.

“Um, ah… I - I ah…” I started and then looked at my mom wondering where the conversation was going.

“I know dear… But Zayn… He can make friends very easily. He is an extrovert” Rowen said, proudly looking at his son.

“What are you trying to say?” Zayn asked him arrogantly.

Rowen turned to Zayn and started, “I have asked your school principal to cancel your admission there so that you can complete your senior year with Sarah… At St. Xavier’s…”

My eyes widened in shock and I couldn’t manage to breathe anymore…