Us

Chapter one

Different day, same s**t. I told myself as I lay on my back with my eyes tracing the Greek detailing on the ceiling of my bedroom. Insomnia kept me up most of the night which was the norm on any day and I forced myself to throw open the covers, slipping my bare feet on the Persian rug my parents had sent me for my birthday last week. Ah, I almost forgot. I was eighteen now and could do absolutely anything I wanted, which consisted of sugar rushes from chocolate shakes and running until my head spun. Yeah, my life was perfect. I stretched and went to grab a shower that would hopefully make my life more exciting. The water was hot against my skin and the stinging sensation helped the fogginess my brain had developed after the lack of sleep last night.

I got dressed in what I was most comfortable in, jeans and loose shirt and it was a bit chilly outside so I decided to splurge by throwing on a cardigan. Hope no one is offended, I thought sarcastically and slipped on some sneakers before clipping my wet hair on the top of my head with a clasp. I looked at myself in the mirror that was another gift from my absent parents; just this one came from India. I looked a lot like her from the photos that still hung around the house. I had chocolate brown hair that hung down my lower back and a short figure with some curves in the good places. One would think I’d have dozens of boys swooning to be with me, but the truth was I had never been with one before. Unless you count the time when I was eleven and the kid who asked me to be his girlfriend kissed another girl the same day at lunch. For an eleven year old, that was a very traumatizing.

Other than that, boys felt threatened by the fact my parents were wealthy and the whole male race refused to pay me any attention. Which led me to my second embarrassing statement; I was still very much a virgin. It added on to my stress because all the girls I knew were getting down and dirty way before I even knew what an o****m was. I was forced to be in this loop of never ending stress and anxiety, trying to make my parents proud when all I wanted was to find something different, out of the routine I’d been living in for as long as I could remember. Shaking the negative thoughts away, I grabbed my bag and made my way down the glass steps, my feet echoing in the empty house. I had been alone for the past five years, with the occasional visit from my parents and I decided that this was not a good way to start the day. I made myself a cup of coffee and a slice of toast before making my way to the university that was only two blocks away. I made sure the door was tightly locked and made my way down the street as the sun made its way over the hill that the houses this side of town rested on. I had one class early in the morning and three later on in the day which meant I could sit and finish some notes after my first class. I walked down the road and soon enough the university building came into view. It was after nine when I sat down in class and let the day slowly begin.

I ran over my notes while sitting in the coffee shop that was given on campus and took a sip of the smooth coffee before typing away at my laptop. I took up journalism as one of my majors and although it forced me to wake up at what I called an ungodly time, the adrenaline I felt when sitting in the class made up for it. My parents didn’t know I took up the subject and I wasn’t planning on telling them either because I did not want to deal with the disappointment in their eyes when they found out. My fingers tapped away at the keyboard as I finished up my assignment and sent it away to my lecturer. “Savannah David.” My senses went into overdrive as the only person who paid me any attention said my name. “Henry.” I bit out. The ginger haired prick had been trying to get into my pants since I started here. He was big, built like an ego filled jock that felt that every woman should bow at their feet. I scoffed at the thought; I wouldn’t want to be caught dead with that a-hole.

I ignored his presence and pretended to be occupied on my laptop, praying that he left me alone. I heard a screeching of a chair on polished tile as he pulled one out for himself and sat luxuriously across from me. No sure, no one was sitting there. I told myself sarcastically. He leaned over the small table while his eyes bore into my skull, forcing me to look at him. He wouldn’t try something in public, not with so many people around. It would ruin his rich, playboy cover he put on for everyone else. His icy blue eyes held a look that had my spine shivering, and not a good way. I swallowed the bile that rose up my throat; this could not be good at all. “You have no other classes till this afternoon. Why don’t we go for a drive? Just me and you in my beautiful convertible.” His voice was dangerously smooth and one of his big hands reached out to touch mine. I tried pulling it away but I wasn’t fast enough and he grabbed rather tightly on my wrist, cautiously not drawing attention to himself. My heart beat quicker now and I looked between my trapped hand and his steely gaze, realisation that he might get away with whatever he wanted to do hit me.

“You can go f**k yourself in daddy’s convertible.” I bit out and his eyes flamed dangerously, his raging anger distracted him enough for me to pull my hand out from his grasp. I moved back and quickly shoved my laptop in its bag before making a swift exit. He grabbed my hand and tugged my down hard enough to have me stumble. “One day Savannah, I’m going to f**k you so hard that you’d beg me to f**k you over and over.” He whispered darkly before shoving me away from him. My hands were shaking as I left the café and rubbed my wrist that had a red ring around it from his hard grip. “Two more months.” I told myself, a reminder that it would be over soon enough and I would get to leave this hole along with the prick behind.

I passed Henry’s friends as I walked down the street, watched them slip into the café I’d just escaped from. I decided to slip off campus to a park around the corner until my other classes of the day. I grabbed a cold juice from a shop on the way and once there, sat on the bench that knew my butt all too well. I started coming here after my parents got rid of the nanny that looked after me and felt that the trees and fresh air brought some tranquillity to my ever boring life. I scrolled through my social media feed, looking for something to entertain me. Ten cat videos later, I made my way back to the university so I could get this day over with and caught sight of moving trucks turning into my street. I felt my curiosity get the best of me and turned into my street stopping to watch as they offloaded furniture and boxes into the second biggest house in the street. My parent’s house being the biggest.

I turned and walked back to the school before I got into trouble and thought about who could be moving in. The last people who moved in were an old couple who passed away roughly five years ago. I didn’t really care who moved in because my life would never change out of its never ending cycle. Once I was on campus again, I slipped into the building that held my last of my lectures for the day and prayed that the day would just speed up so I could go home and crawl into my bed. I loved reading and my father had a whole library of books that he adjoined to my room so I would probably lose myself in the world of fake boyfriends and dragons when I got home. Yes, that sounded like the best thing that came to my mind today.

After my last lecture was finished, I called an Uber because I did not want to be caught dead alone with that prick Henry again, especially since he lived in a slightly smaller mansion than mine next door. I swear I’d see that guy peeking through his curtains to watch me get dressed or something and the thought made my nerves in my stomach tighten. Once I was home after the short ride, I paid the driver and as the moving truck continued to offload more things into the big house two houses down from me. Whoever would be living there was rich as hell to be able to afford the house and the contents that never seemed to stop piling in there. I bit my lip, maybe a boy would be moving in? I let the thought drift away, I was not pretty enough to be a girlfriend, especially to someone who was clearly rich.

It was after three when I got home and I heard the distant sound of sweeping and I went up the stairs as I saw Camilla, our maid pick up some dirt. “Afternoon Camilla.” I said and she smiled at me in return. She didn’t talk much because her English was not perfected yet. I made my way to my room and dropped my bag on my neatly made bed and closed the door before sitting on my bay window, curious about the people down the street. I hadn’t seen the residents yet, the moving guys loading all the things in the house. I sighed and unclasped my hair, the brown waves rolling down my back. Walking through the small hallway to the library made my heart stung. When I was younger, before my parents left, my father used to with me on the exact chair I was going to sit on and read all kinds of stories from dragons to blue people on a planet. The unexpected memory made my eyes sting and I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my cream cardigan and kicked off my shoes by the doorway. I ran my hands over the different spines of the old books that Camilla kept in good condition.

I pulled out a romance novel that was tucked away; I hadn’t read one of those in a while and went to sit on the leather chair, tucking my short legs underneath me. My father’s scent hit my nose and I smiled sadly because as much as I hated them for leaving, I missed them. I decided not to think about that and flipped open the beautiful book and began reading. When I opened my eyes, Camilla was standing over me and I stretched. I hadn’t realised that I had fallen asleep and smiled at the old woman. “Is everything okay Camilla?” I asked and she nodded. “Ma’am, your food is in the microwave.” She said with a smile and I stood up, marking my page in the book I was reading. It was dark outside and I followed Camilla down the stairs where she showed me a lovely plate of spaghetti and locked the door when she left. My parents paid for her Uber to and from work even though she lived further away in town. I grabbed the food and a fork, walking up the shining glass stairs to my room. I had a massive queen sized, four poster bed. Like a fairy tale theme. I also had my very own bathroom and a wardrobe that held more jeans than underwear, which reminded me that I had to buy some more soon.

I dimmed the lights and opened my laptop to aimlessly watch a series while I ate. When I was done, I took it back to the kitchen and turned off all the lights downstairs before going upstairs again and running a well-deserved bath. I stripped and climbed in, allowing the hot water to soak into my skin. I picked up some aromatherapy bath scrub and exfoliated my skin before using the soapy sponge on my skin. My soap was the same scent as the scrub and I hoped it would help with the insomnia that I knew too well. I needed to sleep, especially after the conversation I had with Henry and I refused to let that guy ruin my good night’s rest. I wrapped the towel tightly around my body and walked into my closet that was adjoined to the bathroom and found some cotton pyjamas. I slipped those on and didn’t bother with underwear, I was all alone anyway.

The smell of the soap and body scrub did its job by making me feel slightly tired, causing me to yawn. I turned off my lights and plugged in my phone, leaving me in darkness. The street lights shone through my silver curtains and I closed my eyes. I tossed and turned for the next four hours, the street was quiet now. It was after two in the morning and I heard the loud roaring of an engine. Not the broken down kind of roar, but the smoother, brand new car kind of roar. I got up, rubbing my eyes and peeped out window that I always left open for fresh air, sitting on the bay window as the roaring grew louder. A car raced up the road before making a dangerous U-turn and driving into the garage of the house where they were piling all those things into. The doors closed before I had any chance to take peep at who was driving so recklessly at two in the morning. Sighing, I got down from the window and climbed back into my bed that welcomed me, trying to figure out the model of the car from the shape I’d seen.

The type of car wasn’t important, I told myself and neither was whoever was driving it. I closed my eyes and sighed when I finally felt the blissful feeling of sleep consume me. That was, until the music from that specific house started blaring so hard that I felt my bed vibrate to the bass of the music. When I said I wanted to spice up my life, I did not mean having my insomnia worsen. I bit my lip hard and when the clock continued to tick as the hours went by, I found myself grow very angry with whoever ran that household. If this had to continue, I would be forced to see myself over there and confront them, not that I was very confident I’d actually do it. I sat up rather and made my way down the stairs and straight to the coffee machine which I happily turned on. I poured myself a cup and added some sugar and milk before walking to the sofa in the lounge, turning on the TV to watch whatever was on, as long as it drowned out the horrible bass of the party down the road. It was already six in the morning and I was exhausted. I couldn’t help the fact that I had insomnia or I stressed about living next door to a psycho who’d probably r**e me if he had the chance.

My feet stung from the cold tiles and I lay down on the soft cushions that decorated the sofa. I watched as pictures flashed on the TV, I’d muted the screen because my ears were ringing and didn’t even know what I was watching because I was too tired to concentrate. I thought about phoning my parents and picked up my phone, looking for their contacts. My finger hovered on my mom’s name and I groaned, switching the device off and tossing it at my feet on the far side of the sofa. It wasn’t worth it, not when they rarely picked up when I phoned and I almost wanted to cry again and bit down on those tears. I was a big girl and didn’t need the comfort and support of my parents. I’d find another way of comforting myself. My heart stung at my lazy attempt of self-motivation and eventually I rolled over. The back of the black sofa stared back at me and I didn’t know why I felt so threated by the thing. I sighed and my eyes felt droopy and I let them fall as darkness consumed my vision and relief filled my body and mind.