Chapter 4 On the streets

Panic overwhelms me, my eyes going wide as my pupils adjust in the dark and I look into Howard's malicious face.

"Shhhhhh." He says, while he tries to get his hand in-between our bodies to get into my pyjama pants. "Just be quiet, and this will all be over real soon."

I don't know where the strength comes from, maybe it's part of all the strange things that have been happening the last two weeks, but instinct takes over and my hands that were trying to shove him off me, start moving on their own.

My left hand wraps around his throat, squeezing the thick column tightly, and my right hand's fingers gouge his eyes, and Howard rolls over and off me, screaming like a little bitch.

I quickly jump up and switch on the light to my bedroom, leaning against the wall as I look at Howard screaming and writhing on the floor, his hands clasped over his eyes. My bedroom door flies open, and Glenda rushes inside in her nightgown, her eyes shocked as she looks from Howard to me.

"He tried to rape me!" I yell at her, my heart still thumping loudly in my chest.

"I'm blind!" He screams in a panic. "She did something to my eyes!"

Oh my god, I hurt him. I don't know where the strength came from to do that, or the instinct to poke him in his eyes.

Glenda falls to her knees and takes his hands off his eyes, gasping. "Oh my god, you're a monster!"

My mouth falls open in shock. I am the monster? How the hell am I the monster if he was the one forcing himself on me?

"I was just protecting myself." My voice comes out weak, the shock that he actually tried doing something paralyzing my limbs. What would have happened if I didn't push him off me? On my eighteenth birthday, the body I protected for so long would have been assaulted.

"Get out of my house!" She screeches, her eyes angry and violent as she looks at me. "I don't want you under this roof any longer, you troublemaker. Get the hell out! And I don't ever want to see your face ever again!"

"Now?" I ask, confused. It's the middle of the night, it's dark out, where am I supposed to go?

"Noooooooooowwwwwww!" She screams so loud, it feels like the ground underneath my feet shakes. "Get the fuck out!"

She gets up and helps Howard to his feet, and drags him out of the room, his eyes shut. She stops in the doorway, and glares at me.

"I mean it, You have ten minutes to get out of here, and then I'm calling the cops and tell them you stole from me and then you attacked Howard when he found out." She smirks, evil in her damn eyes. "You don't look like someone who was almost raped, but Howard looks like someone who was attacked."

I gape at her. She's right. I don't look like someone who was assaulted, and Howard can't even open his eyes.

I can't go to jail now. I have a scholarship waiting for me. What will the university think if I had a criminal record? Plus, I have some money for a motel or something for the night, maybe I could talk to Shannon in the morning to see if I can't crash at the bakery. It's probably not legal, though, maybe I can steal the key or something.

I'm gonna have to think of something, I don't make enough money to be able to afford a place to stay for two whole months. I was saving all the cash Shannon paid me and the tips for when I leave here for good.

"I said ten minutes!" Glenda's voice comes from somewhere in the house, and I immediately jump into action. I wouldn't put it past her to make good on her promise, so I quickly grab the duffel bag from underneath my bed and take all my meagre belongings.

It's actually sad that it fits into this one bag.

I quickly get dressed, and stack my money in my sock on the inside of my ankle, the only valuable thing that I have right now, and I get the hell out of there.

I feel somehow scared as I cycle into the center of town, the streets quiet and dark.

Lo and behold, the only motel in town, is closed.

Isn't a motel or a hotel supposed to be open twenty-four-seven? There is no way I would be able to afford the hotel in town, it's way above my pay grade.

I literally have nowhere to go.

No family.

No friends.

My eyes burn, tears threatening to form, but I push it away as I start cycling to the bakery. I haven't cried a single tear in years, not since I was a little girl and I was once again sent to another group home from a foster home where the family didn't want me. I'm not about to start crying now.

I'm brave, I'm resilient, and this is just a hurdle in my road. This will not break me.

I survived once again. Howard tried to hurt me, and he couldn't succeed. Glenda won't have the last say. I will survive this, too.

I push my bike into the alleyway at the backdoor of the bakery, throwing my duffelbag on the ground and sitting on it, my backpack gripped in my arms containing my necessary documents, keeping my eyes wide open in case I need to protect myself from someone or something again.

But even though my heart is beating fast and I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, my eyes become drowsy, and I soon fall asleep again.