A Heart Still

1 New arrivals

I was running through the trees, my feet hitting the cold ground. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all.

Turning back I looked behind me to find the very thing I was running from catching up with me. Come on, Becca, run! I told myself, forcing my feet to move faster. The sun was almost set and there wasn’t a lot of light left, making it hard for me to move through the trees.

Come on Becca, run. He’s not that fast, you can run away. I tried to persuade myself but tripped on a root. I yelped in pain but stood up again, running as fast as I could.

No, this wasn’t happening. My legs were burning from how fast I was going but he was too fast, nearing me with each second. f*****g hell!

Alright, wait up, that wasn’t the best place to start. You wouldn’t understand anything if I started there. How about I start from how it all began? Get comfortable, it may take a while.

*****

“Rebecca!” The voice of my mother called, making me stir in my sleep.

“Rebecca, you better be in the bathroom right now, I swear to God if you are still in bed…!”

The sound of feet hitting the stairs made me jolt out of my bed. It was almost impossible to wake me up, but the sound of my mother calling my name always seemed to work.

She yelled it in such a way that made my pupils automatically roll back into my skull.

I groaned and wiped my face with my hands, my eyes still closed. “I’m up, stop yelling.”

After dragging my feet to the bathroom, I looked into the mirror and groaned again.

“I’m not yelling, but you better get down here, we’re leaving in twenty.” My mother shouted from downstairs.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom but she can be so annoying sometimes. I splashed my face with cold water, hoping to wake myself up, I had no such luck.

My eyes looked dead, maybe from the lack of sleep and I should probably wash my hair pretty soon, but I just refuse to wash it every day.

After putting some jeans and a hoodie on, I headed downstairs.

“Morning mum.” I greeted, still yawning. She sighed and put my morning coffee on the table. I looked up at her with a grateful expression, coffee being the bright side of my day.

After fixing some breakfast, I sat down at the table right next to my little brother Jake. When I say little, I guess I just pretend for him to still be the little boy. He’s sixteen now, being two years younger than me.

He was stuffing his face with pancakes and chocolate. Yeah, he eats like that and the worst thing is he can eat whatever he wants and doesn’t get fat. I am so jealous of that metabolism of his.

“Hey, Jake.” I greeted but he just nodded at me, his mouth full at that moment.

“Mum, I’m gonna stay at Claire’s after school, we have a project we need to finish.”

“Sure, just take your phone with you.” I shook my phone in the air, making her nod. I take that thing everywhere with me. I know I probably shouldn’t, but she’s my baby.

Her name is Phebe Olivia Newman. You get it right? PHebe O. NEwman. Phone for short. But where was I? Oh, right.

After my mum drove me and Jake to school, I stepped out of the car, smiling at her one more time before I closed the door.

Welcome to Pineridge high, the only high school in Pineridge Lake.

This was my final year and then I would get far away from this small town, going to college. Our town was great, just small. It was the typical small town where nothing ever happens. The only exciting thing that happened in the last few weeks was that the snow started to melt.

The town is quite far north, which means there’s a lot of snow and it stays for quite some time, making it hard to go to the woods. The woods are all around the place, and there’s a giant lake, which makes it a great place for tourists, who….don't come here, ever.

I have no idea why but I don’t think someone new ever comes here. Everyone simply knows everyone and that’s how it’s always been.

“Bye Jake, see you home.” I had told my brother before he walked off. He was in his second year and quite popular, unlike me.

I was not an outcast or something, I just prefer to keep out of the spotlight if you know what I mean. Walking to my locker, I took my books. Suddenly someone brushed against me, making me almost hit the locker with my head.

“Hey, you i***t!” I turned to him, prepared to tell him to watch it, but I didn’t expect what I saw. A new guy.

Did I say everyone knows everyone? Well, I take that back, I’d never seen him before. I think I would remember that.

He had short dark brown, almost black hair and he was at least a foot taller than me. He had broad shoulders, which his leather jacket emphasized even more.

He looked down at me with an annoyed expression and waited for me to say something, which I didn’t. Stupid brain malfunction. It’s not my fault, you don’t meet someone new in Pineridge Lake every day. Also, his eyes were hypnotic, deep dark green and his eyelashes were so long.

Why did boys always get pretty eyelashes? It’s not like they need them. I snapped out of it and coughed a bit to get my voice working again. “Watch where you’re going,” I mumbled, making him sigh.

“Sure,” he said back and turned around to walk off. I kept looking after him and noticed a tattoo on his arms and also on his nape. Who the hell was this guy?

“Hey, Becca.” Molly greets and I turned to her. She was that chirpy kind of girl, which I don’t get. Where does she take all of that energy from?

“Hey, Molly,” I said and started walking in my math class' direction and Molly followed right behind. “Did you just talk to the new hot guy?” she asked excitedly, making me sigh.

“No, you can’t even call that a conversation, but….who is he?”

Molly walked to the classroom with me and we sat down in our usual seats. “I have no idea, people say he moved to the town yesterday with his dad, they live in the creepy old house at the end of your block.”

I frowned at her at that. That house had been empty for as long as I can remember because no one wanted to buy it.

It was old as hell and there were countless renovations needed if it was to look like someone's home again.

The bell rang and Ms Kelly walked into the class, starting the lesson. I looked at the empty seat next to me and frowned. Claire was not there, which was weird because she never ditches school.

Claire is my best friend, the only real friend I can remember. I looked at my phone and found no texts from her, also weird.

“Where r u?” 

I texted her and put my phone down because Ms Kelly looked in my direction. The day went by pretty fast, given I had only a few classes but it was after my last lesson and I should go to Claire’s place.

We didn’t really have any projects right now, but we did have plans and she never turned down a movie night before. I looked at my phone and tried calling her, but it went to voicemail, making me sigh.

“Hi Claire, where are you? I thought we were supposed to hang out. Anyway, I’m going home so call me back when you get this.”

I fixed my jacket and decided to walk home today. It wasn’t too far and although it was kind of cold, I’m used to worse.

I headed in my house's direction and looked at my phone’s screen one more time, nothing. Where the hell are you Claire?