RYOT GRL

Chapter 10

I spent the next two hours running along the boardwalk asking if anyone’s seen a grey great Dane or anyone walking with one and I’m met with the same no and sorry, along with apologetic faces. It starts to get dark, and my phone is blowing up with messages and calls from my mum. By the time I traipse home, there is a police car outside my house and a few of the neighbours are standing outside. I rush into the living room to see my mum in tears being comforted by a police officer. When she sees me, her eyes widen and she rushes to me, hugging me with full force. “Dodo. Where have you been?”, she pulls back searching my face. “My phone died”, I lied, and anger slowly etches on her face. “You know if you’re going out late you always call and let me know where you are”, she seethes. She turns to the police officer, her face completely red with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry officer. She’s never done anything like this before”.

He nods in understanding and I explain how I went to the boardwalk and got lost, and my phone died. It’s a lie thankfully my mum believes. After another hour of apologising multiple times and her crying again she lets me go upstairs. She doesn’t ask about Ruben, probably thinking he’s in his usual spot in my bedroom. I collapse onto my bed the guilt eating me up alive. I lost him and no he’s all alone. What if some cruel strangers got him to do some sort of breeding programme? I feel the tears falling from my eyes before I can stop them falling. I wait until I know for sure my mum’s gone to sleep before I tiptoe downstairs. It’s too late to go to the animal shelters to see if he’s ended up there. He could be stuck somewhere where no one can hear him for all I know; he’s never been on his own out at night before. I close the door quietly behind me. It’s eerily dark and I pull my coat over my shoulders more to cover myself. I don’t go out in the dark and if I do, it’s in the car never alone walking the streets at night; I know what can happen to me. But I owe it to him to find him. I remember once Mum had gone to the shop and left me alone with Ruben, she said she would be back in 20 minutes and I knew that meant don’t go anywhere. I heard the ice cream van, and I ran outside with Ruben, following the noise but I couldn’t see it anywhere. So, I kept running, through streets and streets until the noise became distant and I was in an area I didn’t recognise and completely lost. I was too afraid to knock on someone’s house and ask for help. I sat on a bench, lost and afraid before Ruben started tugging on his lead. I let him lead me, crying my eyes out until we got back to the house. I could have danced for joy when I saw our front door. My mum still wasn’t home, and I never told her, or she would have scolded me for being so reckless. I hope he might know his way back, but he’s only been out a few times since we moved, and he spends most of the time curled up on my bed.

After walking checking through alleyways and dark corners, praying the only thing I find is a lost dog I end up on a street I don’t recognise. I have a phone with maps so I can find my back, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I keep walking until I hear blaring music coming from the house in front of me. There are teenagers milling in and out, with red cups. Most of them can barely stand and screaming loudly over the music. I was going to walk away when I spotted the familiar red Porsche of Castle’s Maddox with a new front window. I can’t stop myself from walking in. The music is so loud, and I can hardly hear myself think, there are bodies everywhere and I push past them unsure of what I’m looking for. When I spot the brown hair of castle and he’s not alone, Jordan and Hames are with him sitting on opposite ends. He’s making out with a girl and he doesn’t even look like he’s breathing. Infuriated, I feel like knocking one of those red cups at his head. But I restrain myself not wanting to show him I’m here. In his arrogant mind, he’ll think I’m stalking him. I am about to leave no longer wanting to watch his make out session, when someone bumps into me spilling half their drink on me. “Watch it”, I push the guy out of the way, immediately wishing I didn’t open my big mouth when Castle pulls away from the girl eyes latching onto mine. I see them fill with surprise before he smirks. I need to get out of here now. I watch as he pushes the girl off him, standing up and advancing towards me. That’s enough for me to come back to my senses and push myself to get into the crowd, to see disgruntled faces surrounding me. It’s too crowded to go back out of the front door so I go upstairs looking back to see his smirk grown and his eyes staring at me with so much intensity my hair stands on end. I run to the first room I come to and lock myself in. To my unfortunate luck it’s a bedroom. There is a knock at the door, and I stand with my back pressed to the wall. “Dodo”, I hear his voice slightly slurred, but still just as arrogant and cocky. I don’t say anything hoping that he’ll go away. “You didn’t have to follow me. I would have invited you if you so badly wanted to spend time with me”, and there’s an edge to his words that make my heart hitch up a knot. I’m afraid of what might happen if I unlock the door, and why my body responds to him the way it does. “Come on Dodo. Open the door”.

“I can’t it’s stuck”, I lie, blurting out the first thing that could come to my head. “Stuck?”, he questions. “I can unlock it from the outside”, he murmurs, and I think I’m about to have a heart attack on the spot. I can’t let him near me. I must avoid him at all costs; I need to get out of here before he opens that door. “I’ll be out in a minute. I’ll meet you downstairs”, and I hear him chuckle. “Come on I don’t bite”. “Only if you want me too”, he adds and my heart races. I turn around spotting the window. There’s a drainpipe next to it and the ground is not too far down. It’s the only option I have right now. I open the window just as I see the lock stating to turn. “I’m coming in”, he chuckles, and I stick one foot out of the window. I thank everything holy that it isn’t raining. I grip onto the drainpipe with both hands getting my whole body through the window as I realise it’s a lot higher up than I first though. I stop myself from looking down because I know if I do, I’ll scream. I take a few deep breaths, telling myself that this is the lengths I have to go to, to keep my secret and keep my heart safe. I can’t let him get to close to me. The fear of everyone finding out giving me the adrenaline I need to climb down the drainpipe. I move slowly, my movements cautious and slow, until my feet hit the ground and I can breathe again. I would kiss the floor, but the sound of police sirens causes me to run to the other end of the street. I turn back to see Castle leaning out of the window watching me. His lips set into a thin straight line that tells me he’s pissed off. I bow for the sake of it and then bolt in the other direction when I hear the sirens coming closer.