It Happened Last Year

My heart races relentlessly in my chest as I pull up to Jana’s house, my fingers tapping on the steering wheel and my bottom lip between my grinding teeth. I watch as she flees through the front door and hurries into the car, her tight, black dress catching me off guard. “We aren’t actually going to the party,” I tell her and pull back onto the road.

“I know, I just want to blend in,” she says while pulling her seatbelt on and glancing over at me, “and I see you don’t.”

“I’m more focused on getting the flash drive. God I hope he hasn’t smashed it or thrown it away. Just thinking about it… It makes me all anxious. And the fact that we’re going to his party isn’t helping either. The last thing I need is flashbacks.”

“You’ll be fine,” she encourages me. “You’ve healed so much the past few months.”

“You think so? Because I told Daniel that I’ve gotten worse.”

Jana abruptly sits up. “Why? Why would you say that? Did something happen? Is this that thing you didn’t want to talk about?”

“Yeah. I just-Maybe I regret saying what I did, I don’t know. I was all messed up that day an-and… I don’t know. I told him I wasn’t in the right mindset to be in a relationship. I felt like I was taking him down with me… but none of this matters until I know that Daniel didn’t tell Daphne anything.”

“He would never do that, Hailey. He’s not inhumane.”

I keep my eyes on the road, my hands squeezing the wheel. “How did Daphne know then? How? It was only me, Sam, and Daniel.”

“And you really trust this Sam kid? More than you trust Daniel?”

I glance to her. “Sam has no reason to tell her.”

“Stop trying to convince yourself that Daniel is a bad guy. Let’s just get the USB and get out of there, okay? One thing at a time.”

His street is cluttered with cars, so we park a block away and walk up to the house. My heart has gone beyond racing at this point, and my body has reached some unknown state of determination. All my mind can focus on is the USB and avoiding Harrison. Two goals.

Jana grabs my hand as we brace for impact, climbing up the porch steps and diving into the crowd. The door is held open by a cinder block and people slip out like a leaking faucet. We are jabbed and prodded by shoulders and elbows as we venture to the stairs. I am reliving my worst memory, only it’s Jana ahead of me and not him. The music grows quiet as I take lead and head straight for his bedroom door at the end of the hallway, but Jana quickly grabs me. “What if he’s in there? You can’t just burst in.”

My eyes dart around, losing focus. “Well, now what? You should go check. He won’t think much if you were to accidentally open his door when looking for the bathroom.”

Jana reluctantly nods. “Okay, just don’t move.” I watch as she makes her way down the hall. She quickly grabs the handle and abruptly peaks inside. “Jesus,” she mutters with a immediate step back. Thinking it’s Harrison, I hide around the corner, but instead two young people rush out past her, a guy and a girl.

Her face is red as she runs past me. “I told you we shouldn’t have gone in his room!” She yells back at the boy. “Everyone knows it’s off limits! He’s going to kill you!”

My eyes shoot to Jana as the two disappear down the stairs. She motions for me and we hurry inside, shutting and locking the door behind us. Jana immediately starts rummaging through his bedside table while I stand before his bedroom like it’s the edge of a cliff. She holds up a few small, silver packets and cringes. “What a pig-are you okay? You can go in the hall if you want. You don’t have to be in here.”

“No,” I mumble, pushing myself off of the door, “I’m fine. Let’s just make this quick.”

I spot his backpack on his desk chair and promptly snatch it, dumping all of its holdings onto the bed before searching through that and the small pockets. I groan, finding nothing, and Jana moves to his desk, yanking out drawers and tossing random things out of them. “Is this it?” She shouts, holing up a black USB.

“No. It’s a grey USB drive with the, uh, the SanDisk logo in red.”

I peak into his closet and scavenge through drawers, looking through socks when a sudden knock hits the door. We both freeze, waiting for the person to leave, but another knock strikes and his voice brings my stomach to an uprise. “Hey, no one’s allowed in here,” he calls, not sounding pleased. “Get out.”

My heart hurtles forward, my eyes glued to Jana. She slowly gets up as the handle jiggles, motioning for me to as well. She looks out the window and whispers to me, “There’s nothing to climb down. It’s just a straight wall. I-I don’t know what to do.”

“Hey! Seriously, get out man,” Harrison shouts again, making my hands shake. “I’m not playing.”

Jana grabs her phone from her pocket, sloppily taping around before bringing it to her ear. “Yes, I need to make a noise complaint. There is a party happening on my street and I believe there is also underage drinking occurring. Yes. The address is 7865 East Melton Drive. Than-thank you.”

“Did you-” I breathe out, frantic.

Jana shoves the phone back in her pocket. “Call the police? Yes.”

“Do I have to knock down the damn door? Get the hell out. I know someone’s in here!”

I grab Jana’s arm. “They won’t get here fast enough. H-He’s gonna… He’s gonna break down the door.” Jana reaches for her phone again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to call for help, people that can protect us. I’m texting Jordan and Daniel.”

My grip on her tightens. “No. Don’t.”

Harrison begins to jiggle the handle again and I jump. “Can someone unlock this door?” He calls out into the house, and my eyes shoot to possible hiding places.

“We have to hide.”

“He’s going to find us, Hailey. It’s a bedroom. There’s only so many places a person could be.”

I let go of her. “Well, sorry. At least I’m trying to do something now and not wait here like a sitting duck. He’s going to get the door open any second,” I whisper harshly. “We have to go out the window.”

“And break our legs?”

The handle begins to shake again, but it sounds as if something is prodding at its insides. Suddenly the door swings open and Harrison appears standing above a crouched guy with a straightened bobby-pin. I watch, paralyzed, as he shoves the crouched guy out-of-frame and crosses his arms. “Hailey Fonte? I never thought I would see you here again.”

Jana swiftly steps in front of me. “We’re leaving, so if you’d get out of the way…”

“Oh really? You think you can search through my room and just leave?” His eyes scan the floor, shifting from each pile of tossed nothings to the next.

“We know you have it,” Jana fights back.

“Do I?” He says, somewhat amused. “Well, I guess you’ll never know now, huh?”

“Do you think this is some joke?” I blurt, fueled and overwhelmed.

“No. I think you’re the joke. You should have never come back to Coldgrove. You should just run back to Florida and leave all of us alone because it’s much better here without you, and I think the entire town agrees with me.”

Jana snaps, “you’re a monst-”

“Move,” I tell him smoothly.

“Move?”

My eyes harden. “Get out of our way.”

His eyebrows lift up. “You think you can talk to me like that?”Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

I move in front of Jana and steadily walk towards him. “What are you going to do about it? Fight me? Push me back? Yell? What are you going to do, Harrison? Nothing. You’re not going to do a thing.” I look back to Jana. “Come on, let’s go.”

She hurries to me and I grab her hand, pushing past Harrison and heading down the hall, not looking back. I feel his eyes glaring into the back of my head, and it’s not until we’re downstairs and pushing towards the door that I feel high. Once we’re out, I let go of Jana and stumble down the steps, my legs like jello. “Oh my God Hailey, that was-you just-his face,” she breathes out, drinking in the victory, but all I can do is lean against the house. “He looked so mad but you just walked out! Did you see his face!”

The ground is blurry, and I bend over as if I am out of breath.

“You just told him off,” she lets out a laugh. “He’s all talk. That was badass, Hailey. Hailey?”

“I don’t know what I just did,” I murmur, falling to my butt, hugging my knees. A few people walk by and glance down at me, probably assuming I’m too drunk to function.

“You took control.”

I sigh and look up at her. “I was just-I was just so done with him. I’m tired of his stupid face and… I don’t know. He just sucks, you know? I’m tired of being scared of him. You’re right, he is all talk. All he does is threaten people and act tough, but he’s not. He’s weak.”

The sound of a car pulling up to the house plays in the back of my mind, but I don’t look up until I hear a car door shut and Jana calls, “Daniel!”

I tense up and watch as he jogs towards us, his car in the middle of the street. The sight of him makes my chest grow tight, and I’m not sure what to do. The last time we spoke… I’m not sure what to do. He looks down at me and helps me up without my asking. His touch brings back an anxious feeling, but it’s a good one. “Why are you guys here? Did he do something? Hailey, did he do something to you?”

I shake my head, my eyes threatening to release tears. Everything happened so quickly and now…

Daniel brings his arms around me and I rest my head on his shoulder, my arms loosely hanging onto him, my hands gripping his shirt. “I-I was in his bedroom,” I mumble as if I need to hear it myself to make it all real.

Daniel looks to Jana and police sirens sound in the distance, growing louder. “We have to go,” she says, rushed, but I don’t want to let go of him. Thankfully Daniel grabs my keys from my pocket and hands them to her.

“I’ll take her home,” he says and Jana’s off.

Daniel grabs my hand as we head for his car. He opens the door for me and closes it once I’m reaching for the seatbelt, hurrying around to the drivers seat. As he starts the car, my eyes turn to the house, and Harrison stands at the porch steps, staring at me.

We keep eye contact until Daniel drives off, and Harrison disappears in the distance.