I didn’t bother responding. I’d already told her several times that I wasn’t hungry. A hunger strike probably was a good move at this point. But that wasn’t why I left all my food untouched. I just…wasn’t hungry. Not when my stomach was so twisted up inside.
She wrote something down in a notebook.
Screw you too.“Can I please have my phone now?”
“We’ve already been over this. You don’t have a phone.”
I hated this bitch. “Then can I please use your phone? Or the house phone? Or the phone wherever we are?”
“That’s just not a possibility. Now make sure you eat every bite.”
If I’d still had the IV cord I would have tried to strangle her with it. “Please,” I said.
“See you in the morning.” She hurried away, ignoring my very reasonable request.
All I ever saw were her and the two big nurses who liked to inject me with something whenever I misbehaved. Which I’d stoppeddoing, for the record. All I did was sit here all day. I eyed the food on the tray and then turned away from it.
Each day that went by made me more and more hopeless.
I sighed and stared at the white wall.
Kennedy had been right. For just a few seconds I’d had everything. My life had seemed like a fairytale. But it had all been a façade. Kennedy was the one that had everything. Everything that I’d lost. She had a loving mother. Someone who was always on her side. An unconditional kind of love I’d never have again. I just wanted to go back home to Delaware. I wanted another chance to do everything differently.
My life was no fairytale. Which meant Matthew Caldwell wasn’t my knight in shining armor. He wasn’t going to show up and save me. He’d always been good at not showing up when I needed him most.
Runaway - Chapter 5
Wednesday
Please, Matt. I’m sorry. Don’t leave me here.All I could feel was the wetness on my cheeks.
I closed my eyes, praying to a God I didn’t believe in that this was all a terrible dream. I begged him to let me wake up from it.
But there was no waking up.
The scar on my stomach and the ring missing from my finger were both permanent reminders.
I’m sorry I lied, Matt. I’m so sorry. Please save me.
Runaway - Chapter 6
Thursday
I was mad at Matt for leaving me at the Pruitts’ apartment when he knew they were dangerous. I was mad at him for not answering my calls before the surgery. And I was mad at him for not having my back.
What was he even upset about, anyway?
Isabella was the worst. No, she probably didn’t deserve to be covered in pudding. But it was funny.
Or was he upset about my hanging out with James and Rob? I was trying to fix his friendship. Was he jealous? Was that it? Because that was ridiculous. I loved him and only him. He knew that. And just thinking about him being mad at me made me furious at him.
I’d apologized to him immediately. And his response? That I belonged with the crazy Pruitts. That I was officially one of them. And that stung. I’d always thought he’d seen me for me. That my new last name didn’t define me. He’d been lying to me the whole time. All he saw when he looked at me was my last name.
But just because I was mad didn’t mean I stopped loving him. My anger didn’t take away all the good memories we’d shared. And that we’d share again as soon as I got out of my cage.
I was going to fix us. All I needed to do was get out of here. I sat up when the nurse came in with my food.
She sighed as she saw my previous untouched plate.
