Broken

Chapter Ten I Have To Get Out

Mikey swiftly grabs my wrist as Kyle runs his hands up my dress until he reaches my panties. Instead of pulling them down, he rips them off. 

"Please stop," Tears streaming down my face, I try to move away from his touch.

"Shhh. It's okay. We're just gonna have fun and then everyone can go on about their day," Alex steps forwards and grabs a handful of my hair, jerking my head back. Kyle begins touching me as he kisses my neck, "So wet. I'm sure I'll have a good time with you." 

"What's going on here?" Mikey, Alex, and Kyle step away just as Danny steps through the crowd of boys," Lana? Okay. someone better start explaining something to me right now before I get pissed."

"Mikey steps towards Danny, " Lana said she wanted to have a little fun so I took her back here for a little alone time."

"Yeah, and when we came in to change for practice Lana said she wanted to take on all of us," Alex says.

"No I didn't Danny," I try to defend myself but Danny cuts me off. 

"Shut up Lana," Danny looks to Kyle and gestures for him to go on.

"Well, you know how she's had a thing for me for a long time. She said she wanted me to go first. I mean, I know she's your sister but do you really think anyone would turn down some p***y," Kyle's bullshit lie seems to make Danny believe their side of the story instead of mine. 

"Take your ass to the house now!" Danny screams as he points to the locker room doors. 

"Danny please believe me," I start walking towards Danny but he pushes me away. 

"Don't touch me. Your nothing but a w***e in my eyes," Danny couldn't even look at me. My own brother believes those... Those MONSTERS... Over me... 

I run all the way home. I don't stop until I get home. After I unlock the door I run up the stairs and to my room. I grab my gym bag from the closet. Throwing two sets of clothes, some undergarments, socks, and two pairs of shoes into the bag, I walk over to my desk. In one of the top drawers, I hid 750 dollars in it. I've saved this money for years. It's all I have but it's going to have to do. I stash it in one of the shoes in my bag and head downstairs to the kitchen. Placing the bag on the counter I grab a couple of bottles of water and any food that won't spoil for a while. I have to be smart about this because it may take me some time to find a place to stay. 

I thought about leaving a note to say goodbye but I know Danny wouldn't read it. He hates me. Mom and Dad are hardly home so it's not like they would miss me anyway. 

Now that I have everything packed I need to go take a shower and change. I probably won't get another warm shower for a while. Danny will be at practice for two hours and mom will not be home until eight. Dad works all week and only comes in on weekends so I'll have time to get ready and leave the house before anyone will be home. 

Now that I think of it, I'll need to change my appearance a little to keep some from recognizing me. I run down the hall to my moms' bathroom and rummage through the cabinets until I find a box of black hair color. Think will do the trick. Everyone will be looking for a little blonde girl and I'll be dressing as a graduated eighteen-year-old girl with black hair. I run back to my room with the box in hand. I rip the box open and dump everything out on the bathroom counter. I've colored my hair before so I know exactly what to mix together. I open the cap of the larger bottle and pour the second bottle in there. I start smelling the Color application so I open up a window because I do not want any of the smell to linger when I'm gone. That will be a huge sign to my family that I changed my appearance. Danny will say I ran to Mikeys' house. I can guarantee that's the first place he'll go. 

I play on my phone while I wait for the color to take effect. Always wait 35 to 40 minutes when you have light hair as I do. 

When the timer on my phone goes off, I lay it on my bed to go take a shower. I do my normal routine as quickly as I can and let dressed to run for miles. I pull my long black hair up into a high ponytail. I don't bother drying my hair. I know. I know. You'll get sick running in the cold with a wet head... I've heard it before... When you're in the situation I'm in, the last thing you think about is blowdrying your hair. 

With my bag thrown across my shoulder, I quickly grab my shampoo and conditioner and shove them into my bag. The less I have to buy the better off I'll be. I leave my room, heading straight to the front door. I have no clue how long it will take me to run out of this town. I know Danny will be home in 35 to 40 minutes. I should get some time back if I can make it past Mikeys' house. Knowing Danny as I do, he'll waste time looking for me in the house, texting Kyle and Mikey, driving to Mikeys' house to see if he's lying or not. At that point, I'm sure he'll start looking for me close by just like he did the last time. If I had my phone I'd call the service bus and get them to take me as far as it can go. 

Now I'm glad I took trace all those years. I pace myself as I run through the neighbors' yard. I can hear Mikeys' Dodge coming down the road behind me. Oh no... They got home early. I guess the coach let them out early since they have a big game tomorrow. I am so f****d right now. I run across the street and hide behind one of the incomplete privacy fences. Mikeys' truck cuts off so I know he's going to go inside the house with Danny. That'll be my chance to run towards the woods. It's a two-mile run to the closest one but taking a short cut through all of the yards and staying off the road will give me better odds with not getting caught this time. Okay, here they go. 

One... 

Two...

THREE...  

I jump up as soon as The door closes behind them. I'll only have a couple of minutes before they start looking for me out here. I jump over a fence and run across the yawn to their back yard. I startle a woman, causing her to scream and drop everything she has in her hands. 

"I'm so sorry," I say to her before I take off again. I can't stop. I know they're coming for me. I may have track lessons but that doesn't compare to their football training. 

One mile down... One more mile to go... My lungs feel like they're on fire. My legs are burning so much I feel like they're going to give out on me. I can't let that happen. I know if I make it to the woods, They'll have to get out of the truck and follow me on foot. Jokes on them, I've been hiking up here for years. I know my surroundings when it comes to this area. Beyond the one mile train, I have no clue what lies there. But... The bits and pieces that I do know will give me an upper hand on them. 

I feel like Mikeys' truck keeps getting closer and closer without them knowing the general direction I'm headed in. The mountain comes in sight but so does Mikeys' truck. I push myself as hard as I can to get to the edge of the woods. If I wasn't carrying this bag, I could run faster. I jump over a rotten log laying on the ground, branches hit my body as I run without care. I can't slow down because of a bunch of briars and tree limbs. As I start to see the top, I can hear their footsteps behind me. If I can make it over the top I can grab that old swinging rope and swing farther away from them. I'll just have to secure it on the other side so they'll have no other option but run after me. 

As soon as I get to the top of the mountain, someone grabs my arms and turns me to face them. 

Mikey...

I kick him as hard as I can in his private area before Danny tackles me to the ground. He pins my arms to the ground before trying to catch his breath. 

"Why? Why would you try to run away over the whole locker room thing?" He leans closer to me with my arms still pinned down, "You're running away because I caught you trying to f**k the football team at one time? You're really good at being overdramatic aren't you?" 

He leans his head down as he heavily breaths in oxygen. I look over to see Mikey starting to try to get up. I know I have to act fast or they'll take me back home. Mikey might even try to throw himself on me. He might even take me back to Kyles' place so he can finish what he started in the lockerroom. 

No...

I won't let that happen. I will not be any of their playthings. I will NOT be HIS plaything. I'm tired of being used over and over again and then acting like nothing happened because I love Mikey. 

I WILL NOT FORGIVE HIM! 

EVER!

My rage takes over and my adrenalin kicks in. I headbutt Danny as hard as I can. His hands let go of my wrist as he grabs his head. I take that opportunity to push Danny off of me. Mikey is sitting on his knees while holding his private area. He sits there and looks at both of us as Danny stands up.

"Dude I think she busted one of my nuts," Mikey groans out. 

"This is bullshit, Lana. You're just pissed because everyone at school knows what a big w***e you are. Now you can't handle the gossip so you're going to pretend to be the victim? It's horse s**t, Lana." I punch Danny in the throat when he gets close enough to hit. He starts coughing and holding his throat.

"You know what's bullshit, Danny? The fact that I love Mikey and he took advantage of that. He's had me every day on our lunch break. I've snuck out of the house to see him and all that happened was his making me climb on top of him. As soon as he was done with me, he'd tell me to go home. He said he didn't want me to get in trouble but now I realize I was being so naive to think he really cared about me. All he wanted was a piece of ass and that's it," As Danny stops coughing and stands up to face me, I grab the rope. 

He starts to move but I stop him, "I'm not done just yet, brother...  You think all I'm doing is whoring around when Mikey was telling me we were going to get married. My future was with him. I was doing it with HIM because he was supposed to be my soulmate. Now I realize soulmates don't exist. LOVE... Doesn't exist Danny. Not even from your own family.  And today... Today he told me he wanted to make it up to me for releasing my video to the whole school. Because I love him or should I say LOVED him, I went with him. 

"Don't listen to her Danny. She's trash. Even you said that on the way home from practice," Mikey tries to change the subject. I look back at Danny with my brows raised. He holds his hands up as he steps towards me.

"Stop. Since I'm such trash to you now I guess I should have let them have their way with me." 

Danny looks away from me as his brows furrow together, "I don't understand."

"When I went to the locker room with Mikey, we started to kiss and the other football players showed up. Mikey grabbed me and held me against himself while Kyle ripped my panties off and started touching me. Around that time you came in and everyone backed away as you can into view. You believed them as soon as the words came out of their mouths. You probably still believe them over me. We were supposed to be there for each other. You made a promise to always protect me or at least that's how I remember it, you carving your initials in my palm... Taking up for me... And then you joined the football team and started treating every girl in school like they're a waste of space, even me, Danny... How could you?" I can feel myself starting to break down all over again. 

"Lana, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't know. You BOYS are way more important than me."

"You know that's not true," Danny is starting to get angry but I don't care. I tired of everyone backstabbing me and then turning around to me and acting as if nothing happened. 

"You know what, Danny? I don't even care anymore. You won't have to worry about me. I won't be such a burden to you anymore," I wrap my other hand around the rope as I prepare for the ride. 

"Lana wait. Let's go home so we can talk about this. Just you and me, okay?" He slowly steps towards me. 

"I'm done talking," I jump into the air, wrapping my legs around the rope. As I look back, I can see Danny running to catch me before it's too late. But it was. The rope takes me across the valley before he has time to even blink his eyes. I can see the other mountain coming up quickly. As I prepare for the dismount, I hear a gunshot. I lose my grip and fall before it's time to let go. I don't know how long I rolled down the mountain but I remember the stop. My rib cage comes into contact with a tree trunk. It knocks the breath out of me but I know Danny will be making his way down to me soon. I get up and start running again. My rib, lungs, legs, and back hurt. I need to rest but I can't slow down. I have no clue how close they are to me. I'm making too much noise to hear them but I can't risk stopping just to hear them gain on me. 

I've crossed two mountains and still haven't seen Danny or Mikey. I think I lost them when I fell down the mountain. One thing is for sure, I didn't secure the rope so that's going to mess me up in the long run. I'm sure of it. 

*****

I've been in the woods for two months now. These mountains seem to go so miles. I feel lost out here. Yeah, I literally am lost but I don't mind that. If I'm lost then that means they can't find me. 

I've hiked three mountains this morning and still going even though my back is starting to hurt again. I just don't get it. It seemed fine after eleven days but it's recently started hurting again. I don't have a way of looking at it or even touching it so I can't check to see if something is seriously wrong. 

On top of that, I ran out of food three weeks after I ran away. So much for packing enough to do me a while. All I've eaten are blackberries and drank from the creek. 

And let me tell you something, That's the nastiest thing I've ever had to put in my body. 

I'm about to give up when I get to the bottom of this mountain but I catch something I haven't seen in a while. I move a little closer to make sure my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. I can see a couple of houses through the trees. I pick up the pace again when I see a taxi driver with passengers getting out. 

As soon as they clear the way I jump into the back seat, "How far can you take me?"