Cold Hands

Chapter One

Hailey

1 year ago

Today is one of the worst days in the world, my birthday, also the day my mom died. I was 11 when she died. I came home from school and found her lying limp on the floor with a needle sticking out of her arm. My alarm blares, though I've been up for hours. Too scared to go to sleep or leave my room, though I know I have too. He was here again last night, he came in around nine-ish, he was drunk, I was able to smell it off of his clothes. I hate when he's drunk, he is always too mad.

Things haven't been the same, not since I was little. I had hope, so much hope after my mom died that he had changed because he didn't do it for a while. He didn't scare me, it only took me a month to realize it was because he met someone new and didn't want to scare her. Once they got married he was right back to scaring me, right back into the same pattern. I got a lock for my door, but he just broke the door down, so I learned to stop trying to stop him.

I changed into a baggie black sweater and light blue jeans and put my converses on and grabbed my phone and bag and walked out of my room and went to the bathroom adjacent to my room and shut the door. I threw my hair into a messy bun and brushed my teeth, not bothering to put on any makeup.

"Hailey Grace get your ass outside and go to school before you're late." My stepmom Jenny says knocking on the door. I walk out and stride past her, not sparing her a single glance.

"Hey princess." My dad's menacing voice says once I walk into the kitchen. I glance over to where he is seated at the breakfast table staring at me. I grab an apple, completely ignoring him and walking out the door and to my car.

Once I pull up to my school and get out, is when I finally take a deep, proper breath. I feel like I am being suffocated when I am in that house, even when I am home alone, I still fear that he will come. When I walk into the building I see my two best friends Mads and Em.

"Hey girlie!!" Em says with a bright smile. I force a smile as I open up my locker.

"So tonight, there is this party Colton is throwing, and we really think you should come with us." Mads says with a bright smile. Colton James, the infamous bad boy, throws a party almost every day just because his parents are almost never home. And with his parties, means alcohol, and with alcohol means angry teenage boys that want to hurt you. No thank you, parties are not my scene.

"I think I'll pass on the party." I say grabbing my psych book and closing my locker.

"But Hail we really want you to come. Pleaseeeeee." Em asks with her best puppy dog eyes.

"I'll think about it okay?" I reply, though I already know what my answer is gonna be. "Now I have to go, bye."

"Text me after psych!" Em yells as I make my way to the classroom, the smile immediately falling off my face. I glanced down at my phone to see my dad had texted me, and because I was so freaking distracted that I didn't look up in time, I walked right into Colton James.

"I-I'm sorry." I stutter out bending down to grab my book that had fallen. I glance up and see Colton and his best friend Marcus standing there, Marcus is staring at me with some unreadable expression on his face, and Colton is glaring at me.

"Are you new or something?" Marcus asks, biting his lip seductively. After grabbing my book I stand up only to still have to look up at Marcus and Colton. When I'm at my full height, I am up to their chests.

"I'm not new." I whisper out, glancing around to see that almost everyone has left the hallway. It's just me, Colton, Marcus and now that I looked around Mads and Emilie are still watching this entire interaction.

"Wait a second, your Maddie's friend, Cathryn or something." Marcus says, glancing at his sister.

"It's Hailey you idiot." Mads says glaring at her brother and standing by me, Em on my other side.

"Yeah yeah same difference, you're a pretty thing aren't you." He says putting his hand on my cheek. At this point I'm frozen in my spot, thrusted back into the memories of last night.

Last Night:

I was sitting at my desk in a pair of shorts and an oversized hoodie, trying to finish the rest of my homework. My dad walked in smelling of too much whiskey and cigars.

"Hailey, open this damned door right this second." my dad Dave says to me.

I freeze up, terrified of what he will do to me so instead I just sit there and act like I'm not home. The handle starts to jiggle, I tense, prepared to try and defend myself.

"Not again, " I hear him mutter to himself.

He walks away and I take a deep breath, I go back to my psych homework. An hour later he's back and he brought reinforcements. I hear metal on the wood and know that there's no point in running now. He smashes the door frame and is able to now get in.

"Hailey Grace, you're a pretty little thing aren't you?" Dave says. He springs himself on to me and I have to fight myself not to try and fight back. I learned that fighting back only makes it worse.

Dave starts stroking my face.

"You know what to do." He says and he's right I do, it's either soccomb or deal with the consequences of not.

Present:

I finally snap out of it enough to slap Marcus' hand away.

"I might be a 'pretty thing' but that does not mean that I just go around letting people touch me like that." I snarl at him.

"Pretty thing and feisty, hmm." Marcus says.

"Marcus, you might not want to do that." Mads says from her spot next to me.

"Why, what can she do?" Marcus sneers.

"Uh-oh" Em mutters beside me and they step back a bit.

"Colton, I suggest you back up." Mads tells him.

"Why?" Colton asks.

"Just trust me."

I lose all the control I normally have on myself, I think of hiding the 5 of us and a barrier appears. To everyone outside, it will look like there is no one here.

"You really wanna see what 'she' can do?" I sneer at him.

I raise my hand and he lifts up and starts floating in the air.

"What the f**k is happenning?" Marcus asks.

"I warned you, you're the one who didn't listen." Mads snaps at him.

"Hail, calm down. He isn't worth it, trust me they're not worth it." Em says to me in an attempt to calm me down, but I am beyond the point of calming.

"Mads, her eyes." I hear Em mutter to Mads.

"Crap! Hail, CALM THE HELL DOWN." Mads shouts.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" Colton asks my friends. "Why are her eyes glowing green?"

"Hailey, come one. PLEASE!" Mads cries.

"I'm sick and tired of people treating me like crap Mads." I say to her but don't look away from Marcus.

And then Colton did something that I never thought he would do, he kissed me. I lost concentration and let Marcus fall.

"Marcus!" Mads shouts running over to her brother.

I'm frozen in shock and I just stare at Colton.

"What the hell?" I breathe and look at Em, she just shrugs her shoulders.

Colton turns away from me with a smirk on his face and goes to help Marcus up. So it looks like I might be going to that party tonight.

"Marcus, Colton, you can't tell anyone about what you just saw." Mads says to the boys in front of us. "And you," she says and turns to me "what the hell were you thinking? You could have been caught or worse!" Mads says to me. The only reason Mads and Em knows is because when we were in second grade a group of boys came up and started messing with us. After they walked away I lost all my self control and sent a kid flying off the monkey bars. Luckily no one realized it was me who did it and from then on only 3 people knew. My two best friends and my mom.

"I didn't plan on losing control like that Mads, everything I have done so far has been carefully calculated and it is all so I don't get caught." I told her.

"I know that but still you need to be careful. Hail, your eyes were glowing green, you know what that means."

"I know I'm sorry, Marcus are you ok?" I ask him.

"I'm fine, no harm, no foul." he says to me.

"I really am sorry." I said to him.

I wave by to them all and walk to class. The rest of the classes go by in a blur. Algebra, English, Science, History, and gym, but finally it was time for lunch. I sat at my usual table with Em and Mads, I also see two people I NEVER thought I would see. Marcus King and Colton James. Mads looks up and I give her a 'what the hell' look. She just raised her shoulders in an I don't know gesture. I roll my eyes and sit next to Em.

"What are you two doing here?" I ask Marcus and Colton.

"Just decided to drop by, ya know after the incident earlier." Marcus says and he and Colton laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about Marcus." I say to him and raise my chin stubbornly.

"I think you do know what I'm talking about."

"Hmm, nope, not ringing any bells. I only know you two because you are the most popular and scary boys in school." I say to them and see them exchange a glance I don't understand.

"We'll be right back ladies." Colton says and grabs my wrist forcing me to follow them out into the hallway.

"What do you want?" I snap at them.

"We just want to know how you can do what you do. How long have you gone to this school?" Colton asks.

"My entire life." I responded to him.

"How is it that you have kept this a secret from everybody except for your little friends?"

"It's called practice. I learn to not lose my patience and if I do I am pretty good about not reacting. So what exactly is it you want?" I ask and smile a little to myself. "Or we could go to the bathroom and I can hang you boys by your toes in the rafters, and slowly torture you until I get the answers out of you that I want."

"We want to strike a deal." Marcus says.

"What kind of deal?" I ask warily.

"Just some help getting some revenge on old teammates."

"Fine, I'll do it but then you leave me alone."

"We have a deal." Marcus responds and we shake hands.