Young Writers Society

Faith sobbed quietly in the toilet cubicle hoping no-one could hear her. When the second bell rang, she wiped her eyes, straightened her clothes, and walked out into the hallway towards her class.
They’re going to hurt you with their words again. Just like they do everyday.
“Shut up conscience,” Faith said aloud.
“You know,” said a deep male voice behind her, “talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness.”
Faith swivelled around and saw a guy who couldn’t be any older than twenty standing in the middle of the hallway. He had black hair and violet eyes. His high cheekbones and angular jaw looked – just like hers.
“Who are you?” Faith asked.
“I’m Jack. Your cousin,” he replied coolly.
And he accused me of being crazy. “That’s impossible,” Faith said. “Neither of my parents had any brothers or sisters.”
Jack stepped forward and snarled, showing Faith a set of gleaming white teeth. “They’re liars.”
Faith backed away, suddenly afraid. “Get away from me,” she said, before running in the opposite direction towards her classroom. When she reached it, she took her usual seat at the back. Ms Brian walked in a few moments with two people trailing behind her. “Class,” she announced, “we have two new students joining us today.”
Faith gasped as she realised they were the couple who had been staring at her earlier.
“This is Caitlin and Leon,” Ms Brian continued.
Excited whispers ran throughout the class about how ‘hot’ the new kids were. Ms Brian showed them to their seats and began the class.


* * *


School was a blur. Everything went by so fast, the only thing Faith noticed was that Caitlin and Leon seemed to be following her everywhere. Throughout the day, they’d been staring at her. On the way home, she saw them again. They were walking behind her among a group of teenagers. The same guy Faith had spoken to in the hallway this morning – Jack, she remembered – pushed his way to the front of the pack.
“Hey,” she heard him yell out. She didn’t turn around, but started to walk faster. She heard the sound of feet hitting the ground behind her and ran.
“Please, stop!” the Jack yelled out again. “We just want to talk to you.”
“Yeah, right!” Faith yelled over her shoulder. She wanted nothing to do with these strange people. Suddenly she couldn’t hear anything beside’s her own feet hitting pavement. She turned around and let out a relived sigh as she saw she was alone. She spun back around and was about to continue on her way when she collided with another person.
“S-sorry,” she stuttered, then looked up and saw that it was Jack.
“I just need to talk to you,” he said, just as her mum pulled up in her rusty green Buggy and flung open the passenger door.
“Get in,” she said harshly. What was it with people today? Couldn’t anyone say something to her in a nice voice?
Faith jumped into the car and just avoided the guys’ hand grabbing for her wrist. Once she’d slammed the door shut, Mary stepped on the accelerator and left the group behind in a trail of smoke. Faith turned and watched as they faded into tiny black dots on the side of the road. She spun back around in her seat, and in the middle of putting on her seat-belt, she saw that Mary’s eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying. There was also a bruise shadowing her cheek.
“Mum? Are you okay?” she asked.
Mary didn’t answer, but turned the volume on the radio up, preventing speech. When they arrived home a few minutes later, Mary got out of the car and left the keys in the ignition. Before Faith had a chance to open her own door and get out of the car, Gabe stormed out of the house with a package in his hands. Without sparing a glance at Mary, who had started to cry again, he made a beeline for the still-running car. Faith was panicking. Gabe had been angry with her before, but never had she seen his face contorted with such rage. He got in, and slammed the door so hard, that Faith swore she heard the windows rattle. He locked the car doors, reversed back out of the driveway and onto the street.
“Where are you taking me?” Faith cried, her hysteria rising.
“Shut-up.” Gabe growled with an evil glint in his eyes.
He was driving way too fast, so Faith said “Gabe, please slow down.”
“Shut-up. Shut-up. Shut-up!” Gabe screamed. “It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t been born then I wouldn’t have stolen you. I would have a perfectly normal life with a wife who appreciates all I’ve done for her instead of crying when I hit her!”
Faith was so startled, she didn’t speak for a moment, instead focusing on the houses that flew past. “So, I’m not yours?” she asked at last.
“Of course not, you dumb-ass!” Gabe bellowed. “You’re too stupid to have come from one of my sperm.”
Faith hid her smile, but couldn’t help muttering, “Yeah, right.”
“What was that?” If possible, Gabe sounded even more livid than he had before.
“Nothing – ”
Faith was cut off when Gabe reached across and slapped her. Shocked, she put her hand to her burning cheek and turned to face the window again so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. After a while, she realised that the amount of houses they passed became fewer and fewer, until there was only trees lining the side of the road. She finally turned back to face Gabe, who didn’t look angry any more, but was now wearing an evil smirk that frightened her more than his anger had. The car came to a sudden screeching halt on the side of the road.
“What’s happening?” Faith asked.
Gabe ignored her, and instead barked “Get out.”
Not wanting to aggravate him anymore, faith unbuckled her seatbelt and hesitantly stepped out of the car. Gabe got out of the other side and unwrapped the package that had been sitting in his lap the entire drive. In it was a plain white box, and he carefully opened it to reveal a miniature and gun. Faith stepped back into the cover of the trees and Gabe tutted.
“Sill girl,” he said. “No matter where you hide, I will find you.”
Not able to bear the way Gabe was holding the gun like one would hold a precious child, Faith turned and bolted into the forest of trees with her heart thumping in her chest.
“Get back here!” Gabe yelled. Faith heard twigs breaking and leaves rustling behind her and knew she was being followed. Gabe fired the gun, and bullet lodged itself in a tree right next to Faith. She screamed loudly and ran faster, barely managing to dodge another bullet that went sailing past her head.
“I’ll get you,” she heard Gabe yell from behind her. He fired the gun again, and this time the bullet found its way into Faith’s left shoulder blade.
“Argh!” she screamed as the pain brought her to her knees. She reached up to grab hold of something so she could pull herself to her feet. When she missed, she looked up and saw that she was kneeling at the base of a tree whose trunk had been split in two.
“It’s ironic, isn’t it,” Gabe snickered, “that I would kill you in the same place I took you from.” His laughter was abruptly cut off by a sickening crunch. Ignoring the intense throbbing coming from her back, Faith turned and saw Jack – the stalker guy – standing over Gabe, whose nose was bleeding and broken in several places.
Well, Faith thought, that explains the crunch I heard. Her strength suddenly drained, she fell onto her back and gasped when another wave of pain assailed her. Jack was suddenly standing over her with a concerned look on his face. He kneeled down next to her on the dirt floor, and lifted her into hi arms like she weighed nothing.
“What are you doing?” she asked weakly. Her voice was so soft and quiet, she didn’t think he heard her until he said, “What do you think I’m doing? I’m rescuing you.”
“But Gabe – ” Faith protested.
“He ran away, the wimp. But don’t worry,” Jack reassured her, “I won’t let him get away with what he did to you.”
Faith coughed, but didn’t manage to turn her had to the side in time and got blood all over the guys black shirt. She tried to apologize, but no words would come in her weakened state. The last thing she remembered before she passed out was the trees passing by in a blur.