“Well! What a shocker to see you two together!” Our old biology teacher Mrs. Smith joked as she came over to us. As she did this, Lars snuck behind me and latched onto me. I could almost see a tint of disgust hidden in the corners of her mouth when Mrs. Smith saw Lars sneak his way into the conversation. She quickly brushed it off and went back to smiling. “Not like you two spent every bit of your time together or anything! How are you guys??”
“Hey!!” Diane’s face lit up. She definitely noticed Lars behind me. Her eyes kept glancing back at him. “I’m good! How about you?”
“I’m great.” Mrs. Smith smiled. “What about you Robin?”
“I’m fine.” I said a bit too quietly. Did Mrs. Smith look surprised by my response? Not in the slightest. In fact, it almost seemed like she had a damn good idea as to what was going on.
“Something going on?” Mrs. Smith asked as she gave Lars a strange look. The intensity of which Lars glared back made me want to burst into tears. The man scared the living daylight out of me.
“It’s nothing.” I looked down at my shoes and fixated on the floor. “Just knackered.”
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Smith asked more sternly. It felt like I was back in high school. Every so often, the woman would pull me aside after class to make sure I was alright. Because of the many times, I spilled the beans, she knew of my self-harm and depression. With that knowledge, she most likely knew I wasn’t okay. My instincts kicked in, and I automatically yanked on my sleeves. The woman was crazy enough to pull my sleeves up just to prove a damn point.
“Again, it’s nothing.” I shook my head. Apparently, shaking your head results in hair moving. Huzzah. What a great discovery. And my dumb ass learned it at the worst time possible.
“Robin? What happened to your eye?” Mrs Smith asked.
I looked at her with confusion before realizing what she meant. Who would’ve thought moving my head would move the fringe that I used to cover my black eye? Lars immediately jabbed me in the back from behind.
“Hit it on something.” I lied directly after getting jabbed in the gut. “It looks bad, I know.”
Mrs. Smith sighed and leaned in close to take a good look at it.
“Dear, please say something.” She whispered as she pretended to check out the black eye. Keywords being pretended. She had different intentions, and sadly, they weren’t intentions to heal my black eye. “I can get him out of here.”
I stayed quiet. What in the world did she mean by that? As far as I knew, she didn’t even know Lars! Maybe Diane snitched? But again, how? I was by her side the whole time. Instead of responding, I stood there dumbfounded. I was too focused on trying to figure out what in the world she was talking about. Mrs. Smith realized I wouldn’t speak up and leaned back with a small, yet sad smile.
“Well, at least you didn’t earn it from a fight.” Mrs. Smith giggled. A complete mood switch. “Remember all those fights I had to drag you out of in high school?”
“Yea.” I laughed a bit. “I’m not really into that anymore. My boss would kill me.”
“Talking about jobs, what do you two do for work?”
“Archeology!” Diane smiled. She took a hell of a lot of pride in her work, and once somebody got her going about it, it was near impossible to shut her up.
“Someone’s happy about their job.” Mrs. Smith giggled. “What branch?”
“Mostly stuff related to prehistoric times. All that fun stuff before it was in writing. But I also get to spend some time in paleontology, which I absolutely adore.”
“You should see her desk.” I added to keep the attention off myself. “I’ve seen pictures of it, and it’s just decorated with fossils and fancy-looking rocks she finds.”
“Well, no wonder you took interest in the evolution parts of my bio class!” Mrs. Smith laughed. To my horror, she looked my way. I PRAYED she wouldn’t ask what I was doing. I could’ve lied to Mrs. Smith without an issue. It was Diane. I didn’t have the heart to lie to her at all. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from saying that I wasn’t working.
“So what do you do, Robin?” She asked. It felt as if time froze and everyone had their eyes on me. Why? I don’t know. It wasn’t a hard question! Why did I feel so inclined to tell the truth? Bloody hell!
“She’s a human resources manager.” Lars stated. Without a doubt, he was able to sense my distress.
“I’m sure Robin can speak for herself.” Mrs. Smith surprisingly glared at him. I hyper-focused on the floor once more and felt her look back at me. “So, what do you do there?”
“Uh, not much.” I shrugged as I desperately tried to play it off like it was the most boring job in the world. “Just, uh, you know… paperwork and stuff.”
“You’re not getting in fights with your co-workers now are you?” Mrs. Smith asked with a small smirk.
“Oh! No, no, no. Not at all!”
“Good to hear.” She laughed while continuously shooting Lars glares out of the corners of her eyes.
“Well, we’re gonna go talk to some other classmates.” Diane said as she grabbed me by the arm. I could’ve hugged her right then and there for pulling me away from the disaster that could’ve just blown up in my face. I also knew why she wanted to escape early. She didn’t want to stick around Mrs. Smith for too long. After all, she was the one who got her sent to the hospital when she first got sick. Lars was quick to catch on, and quickly followed. The man was impossible to shake off, I swear.
“Alright! Could I just have a private chat with Robin first?” Mrs. Smith asked just as we were turning around. Of course, she wanted to chat with me. Why wouldn’t she? I was so close to escaping!
“Yeah sure.” Diane trusted her enough to let me go. She was pretty quick to find a nearby group to chat with, while also being close enough she could keep an eye on me. However, Lars wasn’t about to let this happen, so he tried to follow as Mrs. Smith pulled me aside.
“Just Robin.” Mrs. Smith shot him a glare. To my shock, he backed off.
“What’s up?” I asked nervously.
“First off, keep an eye on Diane if you can.” She sighed. “She’s obviously relapsing.”
“I know.” I nodded. “I’m trying to keep an eye on her, don't worry.”
“Good. Secondly, are you sure you’re ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Look. I saw the cuts on your wrists.”
I instantly yanked my sleeves down. Shit. Did this woman have x-ray vision or something?! I had been especially careful to not let them show!
“And I’m not dumb. I know where that black eye came from.”
“You do?” I asked hesitantly.
“He’s abusing you, Robin. He’s probably convinced you otherwise, but he is. And it’s only going to get worse if you don’t tell someone.”
“How do you know?” I raised a brow. She knew nothing about my life other than the few issues I had as a teen. Unless she was stalking me, there would’ve been no way for her to know what Lars did to me behind the closed doors of our house.
“That twisted man is my brother.” Mrs. Smith looked ashamed to admit it. “He’s killed not only my little sister, but my Dad. He let it slip that he’s with you when we were talking earlier. You need to get away from him, or you’re going to be next.”
I was so stunned I didn’t even know what to say. I knew the man was abusive… but to actually kill someone? Not only one person, but two family members?? I mean, I wouldn’t have put it past him. But still! I had a gut feeling that Mrs. Smith was right. I would be next if I didn’t get out of this. But how could I? He had every aspect of my life under his control!
“W-what… Surely that can’t be-” I said out of shock.
“It is very true.” She said sternly. “The only reason he’s still free is because nobody’s had enough proof to prove he did it.”
“I… I don’t want to be the one w-who gets him in trouble…” I admitted. If I got him in trouble, then whenever he was set free, I’d be his first target. It would no longer be safe for me.
“All I’m asking is for you to speak up, Robin. This isn’t something you can stay quiet about. By speaking up, you could be saving many other people he might hurt next. Not to mention you’d be saving yourself.”
I shook my head. I definitely would not be saving myself. The psycho would kill me if I ratted him out! I couldn’t tell if she just wanted to put the man away in a cell and I was her only means of doing so, or if she generally wanted to help.
Mrs. Smith grabbed me by the shoulder and pleaded with me to tell her.
“Please. All I need is confirmation that he’s hurting you.” She pleaded. “I’ll call the police and we’ll trap him here. I’ve been gathering enough evidence on him that I know I can get him put away for a long time. I just need you to say something. I can’t call 911 without good reason.”
I felt so stressed that I wanted to cry. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t keep doing this, but if I told, then he would probably hurt me. But I trusted Mrs. Smith. She seemed so confident in what she was saying. And this may be my only chance out of the mess I got myself into. Oddly enough, I noticed that I didn’t feel the glare of the man who was controlling me anymore. It felt freeing, and I wanted to feel that magical feeling more.
Slowly, I nodded. I couldn’t believe what I was doing.
“I need it in words.” She said. I could tell a couple of classmates were listening in on what was going on, and knowing her, she was smart enough to keep track of their names and use them as witnesses.
“...Y-Yes… He’s abusive...” I was on the verge of crying.
“Thank you.” She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a small hug. “I really appreciate you telling me this. Just leave the rest to me, and I’ll get him far away from you, okay?”
Mrs. Smith was quick to act and called the police. I immediately felt very scared. I had a gut-wrenching feeling. I felt like I was going to be sick in all honesty. What if he was just lurking around the corner?? What if I moved, and he would just jump out of nowhere and attack? What if he planned on killing me?!
I needed to go to Diane. She would be the only one to calm me down. I scanned the room, looking for her, but she seemed to have disappeared. I didn’t know how it was possible, but I felt even worse than before. Something was about to go down, I could just feel it.
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