That lady, oh excuse me, according to Mr. Phillips she had a name. Ok, I'll begin again. Mrs. Hanson told the police she had seen me and I had to be ushered down to the police station again to recieve the fine with the Phillips at my side. They raved and laid down the law for so long in the car I thought I was going to die with their words engraved on my tombstone. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that keeping me in the house for eternity was the way to go about punishing me. But if only they knew what-- wait, doorbell. "You f***ing ho!" Nick hollered in my ear as he shoved his way into the foyer. "I would think you'd know better than to run away from me by now," he said and grabbed a fist-full of my hair and twisted it firmly. I wimpered at the pain of his tight grasp but it only made him laugh. He jerked my head up so my focus was on his face. His straight black hair hung in my eyes. He grinned his scariest and showed his perfect teeth. Then he let me go. I thought it was over, but as usual, I was wrong. One, two, three blows in the face. Another in the arm. It stopped for a moment. I stood there, waiting, hunched over and trembling. 'Beep! Beep! Beep!' his pager shrieked. The phrase 'saved by the bell' works its strange power again. Nick unclipped the pager from his belt and narrowed his eyes to look at the tiny screen. He then pulled a gun from the waist of his pants and shook it at me,"Stay quiet." He went into the kitchen to use the phone. "....yeah, stupid bitch did it again. I know, I got the stuff...." I could hear his conversation clearly. I've got to get out of here, go someplace else I tried to convince myself. When he turned his back, I slinked over to Mr. Phillips desk. I knew he kept a hand gun of his own in the bottom drawer. Nick continued talking, unaware that I was silently making my way towards the door. I tucked the gun into the waist of my pants, almost imitating Nick as I had seen him do many times. And without a sound, I ran out into the night air.

My subconscience seemed to have completely taken over by the time I stopped to recognize where I had run off to. Damnit I scolded myself. Back to the same neighborhood as the night before. I was such an idiot. If Mrs. Hanson saw me again near her house, she'd call the cops for sure. Then something caught my eye as I jogged down the street. It was Taylor, the same boy who had been bothering me that morning. I ran into a backyard to avoid him. After hurdling over a few scattered bushes, I found some type of a fort hidden away behind a wall of shrubs. I dropped to the floor of dried leaves to catch my breath. I shut my eyes and hung my head in defeat when I saw Taylor's pants through the small gaps in the bushes. I prepared myself for another umcomfortable conversation. He bent down and turned his head to look at me. "You need a password to get in," he said with a playful smile. I let out a slightly amused laugh but rolled my eyes. "Mac would be mad if he knew some one was in his secret little place. Hey, scoot over- you can't have all the room," he told me and moved in closer. I slid over to one side to give him room. He had caught me off gaurd, if I wasn't careful I might start to like him. We sat in silence for a minute or so, neither of us knowing what to say to eachother. Then he glanced at my side. I hadn't realized that Mr. Phillips gun was jutting out from my shirt. "So girls have to carry these too now, huh?" he asked and pulled it out from my pants. I felt the empty space from where it had been as if a part of my body had been ripped from the rest. "Yeah, some girls," I quietly answered him and snatched the gun back. He studied my face in a way that made me very uncomfortable. An unexpected gesture came next. "Taylor Hanson, your name? I think we skipped over this part this morning," he said and and offered me a hand. I reluctantly shook it,"Sidney Banks." He nodded with a grin and let go of my hand. Then he began looking at me strangely. "What?" I wanted to know. "Blood. There's blood on your face," he said and pointed to my nose. I felt for proof. Oh God no I thought when I saw that my fingers were stained red with blood. "I..uhh..I've got to go," I said and quickly stood up. I scrambled over him and out onto the lawn again. "Wait," Taylor caught my arm and pulled me back towards him,"Is some one hurting you?" "No, no. I'm fine. This type of thing always happens. I've been getting nosebleeds since I was little," I lied to him. "You can tell me if something is wrong, Sidney. I won't say anything, I promise," he told me earnestly. "There's nothing to tell," I said and jerked free of his grasp. His blue eyes continued to burn through the brown guilt mine held, making it nearly impossible for me to break our stare. I walked home alone that night, feeling like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. For maybe a second or two, Taylor seemed to be the person that would lift my burden from my sore back. But I wouldn't let him, I didn't need some one new in my life to worry about. It was too big of a risk to take, having him turn into another that would treat me as Nick did. Oh yes, we can't forget about him. When I returned home, the place was trashed. But, on the upside, he was gone. Little did I know what I had gotten myself into by seeing Taylor for just that short period of time.