Saving Me

Chapter One: My Little Predicament

“You slut! You whore! How the hell are you fucking pregnant? Sleeping around! Just like your slut of a mother!” My father loomed over me, shouting his words with disgust.

I didn’t say anything, feeling flecks of his spittle hit my face. I struggled not to flinch.

This experience was nothing compared to the one I’d gone through earlier, when I’d had to tell Alicia, my best friend, that I was going to have her boyfriend’s kid.

…..

I had sat on her couch, sobbing into my fist.

“Adrienne, what’s wrong?” Alicia had asked me. I don’t think she had ever seen me in a state such as this.

I didn’t want to tell her, but I had to. It was only fair. “I—I’m pregnant,” I’d managed to gasp through my tears. I was so ashamed of myself; I grabbed a throw pillow that was on the couch next to me and pushed it against my face. Possibly, it would shield me from her inevitable hate.

“What?” She sat down beside me, where the pillow had been, and slipped a comforting arm around my shoulders. “Whose is it?” The question was a hushed whisper, though no one else was around to hear.

I tore away from her, rising to my feet She couldn’t pity me. I wasn’t deserving of it. Now I said the words, the ones I’d rehearsed in my head so many times after I’d heard the news. “It’s Jake’s.”

Dumbstruck, she could only stare at me. “Liar…Jake would never do anything like that. I mean, you two are such close friends…but he loves me.” She murmured under her breath now, more to reassure herself than insult me. Then, “How many times?”

“How many times what?” The clarity of my own voice surprised me.

In a burst of anger, she snatched the collar of my jacket in one hand. I couldn’t look at her, so instead I looked at her hand. She was wearing fake fingernails, painted pink with silver sparkles. I had identical ones at home. “How many times did you two have sex?”

“Once,” I gulped. “You were out of town, and I was upset, and we were drunk.” I was bawling so hard now that snot was dribbling out of my nose. “It was an accident. We didn’t mean for anything to happen. It just did!” I fell to my knees in grief, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.

She too, was on the verge of crying. “Go to hell, Adrienne. You can kill yourself and die and go to hell, and no one will care! Especially not me!”

I nodded, expecting this. This was what I deserved. Willingly, I said, “I’ll go now. I swear to never ever bother you or Jake. I just thought that you should know.” I wasn’t being bitingly sarcastic, either.

Alicia opened and closed her mouth. I had just said I’d do exactly what she had been about to tell me.

Leaving my pride shattered on Alicia’s nice green carpeting, I’d gotten up, and left.

…..

My father walked slowly closer to me, like a lion about to make a kill. I tried to remain unafraid, but I found myself unwillingly backing up, until I was against the yellow wall of the small kitchen. I’d been here before, so I didn’t even whimper when my father sent a folding chair hurtling towards a wall. Thankfully, it wasn’t against the wall that I was currently leaning on. The chair itself broke into several pieces.

I covered my ears at the loud bang it had made, and sank to the floor. I wanted to melt into thin air, to disappear and never show myself again. I didn’t, though it’s not as if I really expected to.

Biting my lip until it bled, I refused to make a sound as he kicked me, over and over again. The blows were pummeling my limbs, ribs, and abdomen. Faintly, I wondered if it could hurt the baby. Part of me almost wished that he would kill it. Then he pulled me up to a standing position, his large greasy hand entwined in my fine blonde hair, not hesitating when he ripped a few hanks of it out.

His face was less than an inch away from mine, so that I could smell the stale scent of alcohol on his breath. “Get out of my house. You can get out, get a job, and try to support you and that kid on your own. You’re not getting anything from me! I hope you starve to death in the streets.” He pushed me away from him, as if I were carrying some kind of disease that he could catch by my breathing on him.

I still hadn’t spoken, and no intention of doing so. Running as fast as I could, I got out of the house and into the road. Luckily I’d prepared myself for tis, making sure to grab the duffel bag I’d packed up earlier.

Yes, I was used to this. It usually happened three or four times a month, but he always managed to track me down, when he’d make me move back in. But this time I had a feeling that he wouldn’t be tracking me down anytime soon. What I had done was unforgivable, and I understood that. Whenever I had been in this situation before, I would stay with Alicia or a boyfriend, if I had one at the time. Unfortunately, I was now bereft of both options.

Rain was starting to sprinkle lightly from the sky. It would soon turn into a regular downpour, I knew. The town I lived in was one of the rainiest in the entire United States. Seriously, I even Googled it once on Jake’s computer. I simply tried to ignore the rain, pulling my jean jacket around me tighter and rubbing my upper arms for warmth.

After about a half hour of walking, I arrived at my destination: K-mart. The parking lot was sparse of cars, because just recently a Wal-mart had been built. Enough said. I tried a few doors on different vehicles, trying to see if any were unlocked. On the seventh vehicle, a brand-new SUV, I struck gold. Whoever owned the car must be a moron. The car was so new it didn’t even have regular license plates on it yet. Who was stupid enough to buy a new car, an SUV nonetheless, and leave it unlocked? My plan was to stay there for a little while, until I saw someone heading towards it. I’d never exactly taken refuge in a random stranger’s car before, though I’d seen it done in movies. It was just a temporary fix, until I found something more suitable.

I climbed into the back seat, dragging my duffel bag after me, not bothering to look for anything I could steal. I just wasn’t that kind of person. Hell, I felt bad enough about sitting in whoever’s car this is, the last thing I wanted to do is make a criminal of myself, even though I might’ve been breaking a few laws just sitting here.

I couldn’t turn the heat on, though the leather interior was comforting in itself after the pouring rain. I took off my wet jacket, realizing that it was making me colder. I was exhausted, but I was still trying to think of my next course of action. I wanted to avoid going to any sort of shelter, because my remaining pride wouldn’t let me. I knew that Jake would want to help, but I’d promised Alicia that I’d stay out of both their lives. I intended on keeping that promise. As far as abortions went, I was pro-choice and all, but I didn’t consider it a choice for myself. My father had once told me that my mother had tried to abort me, but by law, wasn’t allowed to because she was already too far along.

The rhythm of raindrops hitting the hood of the car was hypnotic, and I felt my train of thought waning as I slowly drifted into sleep. Thankfully, it was dreamless.

…..

“What the hell?” I heard a man’s voice say, waking me up from my peaceful sleep.

I sat up, and blatantly ignoring my already ruined mascara, rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. “Hello?” I said vaguely to the slowly focusing image in front of me.

“Um.” He sounded impatient, but strangely enough, it seemed like he was trying to be polite. It was rather odd. “Can I help you with something?”

I realized that he was the moronic owner of the unlocked SUV, and in my half-asleep delirium, tried to explain myself to him. “Oh fuck. I’m so sorry. It was just raining outside, and I was cold, and I had no where to go—“ I couldn’t contain the yawn that came out next. About to continue on my pointless tirade, the strange guy interrupted me.

He sighed, rubbing his temples and pushing his brown locks out of his eyes. “Do you need a place to stay tonight?”

Now I was fully awake. Oh god, this was probably some perv who wanted to rape me and dump me in some dumpster. Then again, how many pervs drove SUVs? Never mind that. I couldn’t risk it, even if he was offering me a place to stay (judging by his car, probably a mansion). I slowly edged out to the other door, as I said, “Err, no thanks. I’ll just find another car to sleep in. Thanks anyway.”

I was just about to leave, but the careless moron spoke again. “Listen, I’m not going to rape you or anything. Just, if you need a place to stay, you can stay at my apartment. And if it makes you feel any better, my girlfriend’s going to be there. I just want to help.”

I was uncomfortably aware that he was staring at my chest, and I wished I would’ve brought my pepper spray. Then I looked down, and I realized that he was eyeing the particularly nasty bruises forming across my breastbone where my dad had kicked me. I decided to go with my woman’s intuition. This guy seemed to be genuine, and believe me, considering the lack of genuine men in my life, I know one when I see one. “Thanks,” I replied uneasily, as I went over in my mind the self-defense moves we’d learned in gym class. Thrust the heel of your hand into the nose, in order to push it back into his brain—

He slammed the door, and moved around to the front seat. Once he had settled himself, put his grocery bags on the floor, and buckled himself in, he replied, “No problem. So, what’s your name?”

“Adrienne.” I was still partially asleep, so it didn’t even occur to me to ask him for his name. Instead I decided to ask a rather rude question, just out of curiosity. “So uh, why are you helping me anyway? Not that I don’t appreciate it or anything—“ I quickly added. “But why?”

“No offense, but I’m doing it out of pity for you. You’re some seventeen or eighteen year-old homeless girl, probably a runaway. Why not give you a place to stay for the night? Besides, I’d feel bad if I didn’t, then I saw your dead body on the news tomorrow.”

I shivered. Homeless. I don’t think I would have thought to use that word to describe myself, but I couldn’t deny its truth. “I’m really sorry. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks again.”

He didn’t answer me, as we pulled into a small parking lot. I helped him carry his K-mart purchases up a few flights of stairs, until we reached what I assumed to be his apartment. I set the plastic bags down on a table, taking in my surroundings, looking for an escape route if one should become necessary. A girl who looked a few years older than me, came out of a room and greeted him.

“Hey baby,” she said, flashing him a grin, though it quickly turned upside down when she saw me. “Who’re you?”

I opened my mouth to answer, though thankfully I was spared the embarrassment. The Good Samaritan boy did it for me. “She’s a runaway I found sleeping in my car. I’m letting her stay here for the night.”

Her brow furrowed, but her smile quickly returned as she flounced over to me. “Hi, I’m Juliette, but you can call me Jules.”

“I’m Adrienne,” I said, bemused by her sudden friendliness. I shook her outstretched hand.

Good Samaritan boy intervened. “I’m going to get the couch settled for Adrienne. I’ll be done in a sec.” Jules took this as a sign of dismissal, and flounced off to what must’ve been her and Good Samaritan boy’s room. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this was obviously the girlfriend.

Then he turned back to me. “That’s the bathroom, and that’s my roommate’s room.” He pointed to each door respectively. “You’re sleeping on the couch.” He gestured to the sofa that I was currently leaning on.

“Alright then.” I sat down, taking off my muddy tennis shoes. “Can I use this quilt for a blanket?” I asked. I mean, it’s obviously folded there for the purpose of a blanket, but I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t do anything wrong in this immaculate place. He nodded. I settled myself, getting comfortable. It was even comfier than my mattress at home.

He turned off the lights, and before I fell back into dreamland, I distinctly heard him say, “By the way, my name’s Cameron.”