After All This Time

You're kidnapping me

Dear me,

Last day of school. I’ve been at the Masons for 2 months now and it’s nice. Sherley and Jack think that me and Chloe are going to become great friends over time, I still have my doubts but we’ll see I guess. During summer break, the Masons planned a vacation to London. They planned it before I came in their lives but they managed to get a plane ticket and another hotel room for me. I’m really grateful for this family. Not only did they take me in but they’re treating me as I’m part of their family and it’s so nice since I’ve never had a family that actually care for m. My mom cared a lot about me and she loved me. That’s the only one from my past that actually loved me. She passed away when I was 8 years old. My dad took care of me after that but he went to jail because he became violent towards me. That’s how I came in the foster system. I’m glad that people care about me now, It’s been a while since I felt like people cared.

It’s lunch break. I’m sitting at a table with Brooke and her friends as usual and of course as usual I don’t talk really. It’s the last day at school so it’s not like I’ll have to worry about these people during summer vacation. They won’t try to contact me or anything.

I look over to another table and see Chloe sitting there. She’s talking and laughing with her friends. I wish I could be like her. I mean out going and talkative. Maybe one day I’ll get to that point but for now I don’t think it’s happening soon.

Chloe turns and sees me looking at her, I quickly turn away. She saw me looking at her. s**t. She told me not to look at her or talk to her at school when I first got here. I never talked to her in school or anything even though she has been nice to me. I’m scared of her. She could be really mean towards me sometimes. It has stopped at home but she just brings me to school and back home. We never talk.

After about seconds I look back at her to see if she was still looking at me and I see her walking towards me. Oh s**t, this is not good. I feel this big lump in my throat. She stands next to me while I’m sitting down. “Can I talk to you?” Chloe asks me. I nod. I can’t tell if she’s angry at me or nt. She leaves the cafeteria and tells me to follow her so I do.

We walk outside and she walks further to the parking lot. “Where are you going?” I ask her as I’m still following after her.

“My car.” She says as she keeps walking.

“Why?” I ask confused.

“Just get in the car.” She tells me when we get to the car.

“What?” I ask confused again.

“We’re skipping come on I want to show you something.” She says and get in the car. I’m afraid to argue with her because maybe she’ll get mad at me so I get into the car.

We’ve been driving for almost an hour now. Where is she taking me. “Are you kidnapping me?” I ask jokingly. She chuckles.

“Maybe if you don’t behave.” She says and laughs. I laugh with her but where the hell are we going.

After about another half an hour she stops the car. “Where are we?” I ask her and she just gets out of the car. I follow her and she just keeps walking. We’re at some sort of park but it doesn’t seem much like a park, more like a jungle or something.

As we keep walking I start to hear water running. Okay so there’s a river in this jungle, also, where the hell are we?

“Chloe can you please tell me where we are?” I ask her again.

“My favourite place.” She says and stops walking. I walk up to her. We’re standing at the top of a cliff where a waterfall is running down from.

“And what are we doing here?” I ask her.

“Having fun.” She says. “Come on take off your clothes and jump.” She says and I look at her shocked.

“I’m not going to jump.” I say and start walking back to the car but she stops me by grabbing my arm. She turns me around to look at her.

“Is this what I get for looking at you in school? You’re going to kill me?” I ask a little overreacting. She rolls her eyes.

“Come on I do it all the time, it’s fun.” Chloe says. She lets go of my arm and takes off her shirt and pants leaving her in just her underwear. “I’ll jump and show you that there is no harm in jumping, you just have to promise me you’ll jump too.” Chloe says and I nod. No way am I jumping, she’s probably not even going to jump either.

She stands at the edge of the cliff. This is crazy, how stupid do you have to be to actually jump? “Chloe you’re going to kill yourself.” I say grabbing her arm so I could pull her back but she was already at the point where she was going to jump. As she jumps, she drags me down with her since I’m holing her arm. I fall down the cliff with all my clothes still on.

It seems like I’m falling down in slow motion as the wind rushes through my hair. I splash in the water eventually. After a while I rise up in the water until my head sticks out. I look around for Chloe but don’t see her anywhere. “Chloe?” I say quietly. No responds. “Chloe!” I yell a little louder, still nothing. I look around in panic. “Chloe!” I yell again at the top of my lungs but still nothing. Suddenly I feel something grabbing my foot. I kick as hard as I can in panic until someone rises up.

“You scared me to death.” I say angrily and push her on her shoulder. I swim to the side of the lake and get out of the water. She tries to f*****g kill me by jumping off the stupid cliff and then she scares me to death? I knew she didn’t like me but seriously.

“Emma wait!” Chloe yells after me as I walk back to the car. “Wasn’t that fun?” Chloe asks me as she stops me by standing in front of me.

“No.” I say quietly.

“You didn’t feel that adrenaline?” She asks me. Clearly she did like it. I just feel wet.

“You dragged me down the waterfall, my clothes are wet and you scared me to death.” I say getting angry again. “I get that you don’t want me in your house but do you really want me gone that bad?” I yell.

“I don’t want to kill you.” She says quietly.

“What then? Scare me out of the house? I’ll just ask my social worker to find ano-“ I start but she cuts me off.

“I wanted you to live your life.” She says.

“Okay I’ve lived, I want to go home.” I say and walk away from her to the car.

I get in the car and she gets in the drivers seat and starts the car. “I’m sorry.” She says suddenly and I look at her. “I shouldn’t have dragged you down here in the first place.” She says, I can actually see guilt in her eyes. “I don’t want to kill you, I actually like you.” Chloe tells me.

“Why are you giving me such a hard time then?” I ask her. She stops the car and gets out ignoring my question. What is she doing? I see her getting undressed again.

“Put these on.” She says giving me her clothes.

“Why?” I ask her.

“They’re dry.”

“What are you going to wear?” I ask her confused.

“I have something in my trunk.” She says. I put her clothes on and she grabs something from the back. She puts it on and gets in the car. She’s wearing what seems like an outfit from a few years ago because it doesn’t fit her at all.