INTRODUCTION

My name is Natalie. Natalie Rushman. I am sixteen years old and just enrolled into Madison high school last month. As you can see, I’m still in my freshman year. Life isn’t really easy for me, okay, that’s an understatement. Life is very difficult for me. I’ve never slept with my eyes closed with the fear that I might never wake up. Let’s flashback a little bit.

“Dad…nooooo, please don’t do this, dad nooo” I screamed as my best friend, Ariel Winter pulled me from my dad’s corpse

This was two years ago when my life started crumbling. My dad had been diagnosed of brain cancer days before his death. I miss you, dad. He was my best friend and confidant.

He brought out the trouble maker in me. We were so close. He knew all my problems in school and helped me overcome most of them, my shyness, and my low self-esteem. He even gave me a reason to live happily, every day we would make comedy videos.

He always had time for me.

He never missed my soccer games for anything in the universe. I gave up soccer when he died not intending to continue ever again. I took his picture, hugging it tight to my chest. Tears crept out freely from my eyes as I thought of him. I will always love you, dad.

I already told you about my past now let’s skip to my present, the bad and the most hurtful part of my life.

A year after my dad died, my mom remarried. Mr. Arthur Peterson, the owner of the newest telecommunication companies called ‘ZIGO’. He is also the father to Nicholas Peterson, my 19-year-old stepbrother and the person who made and is currently making my life crumble. His dad is great, trust me, he treats me like his own daughter and never ceases to try and make me happy though I never gave him the chance. He could never replace my dad. No one could.

Now to explain how his son is ruining my life.

A month after my mom remarried, Nick started acting weird. He would come to my room and lie on my bed telling me my room was more comfortable and he would rather sleep in it. I tried to express my disapproval but he insisted. I remember it like it was yesterday. As I tried to think of it, I felt pain. Pain within.

“Come on, don’t you trust me? I am your brother now; you know” he said grinning very innocently

“Okay “I answered nervously resting on my pillow.

He stood up and walked to the door locking it. Why did he just do that? I have to ask.

“Um…” he walked back to me slumping on the bed beside me. “Why did you lock the doors”? His grin dissolved into a scary frown.

It was that night my life began to crumble. Nick took advantage of me after threatening me with a knife if I dared to scream. Apart from the day my dad died, that night was the worst moment of my life. It gives me the creeps just to think of it. My whole life has been a flop since then. I couldn’t even tell anyone, my mom, Ariel, his dad. No one would believe me, mostly because it was hard to believe. Nick was one of the brightest students back in school before he went to college. He was neat and well-behaved but not to me, anyway. My mom always wanted me to follow after his footsteps but I was the only one who knew who he really was, a sicko rapist. Once I tried to tell my mom. Let’s see how that turned out.

“Mom, I want to talk to you” I spoke nervously as I got into the kitchen.

“What is it, honey?” She had always tried to please me ever since dad died, perhaps to make me feel better. She always urged me to talk to her about everything but it was never that easy. I was so used to my dad, my first best friend.

“Well it’s about Nick” I looked around to see if he was there. “Come on talk to me, what’s wrong with your brother”. She glared at me eager to hear what was wrong.

“It’s just that he; um sometimes……” someone interrupted me. “I told her I had a tummy ache but you don’t need to worry, I’m perfectly fine, mom” Nick told her smiling innocently. “Was that what you wanted to tell me, honey” My mom looked at me expecting my answer. Nick stared at me giving me the death signal through his eyes in a way my mom wouldn’t notice. I immediately understood what that meant and nodded as an answer to my mom smiling. That smile was a mask to cover my fear. Nick had caught me. Fear shuddered through my nerves. He would kill me.

“I’m really glad you two are getting along” my mom smiled at me. “Yeah, well um… sis, can I see you upstairs” Nick looked at me smiling innocently as usual. He stood by the door expecting me to follow him. I did with every pint of blood in me boiling with fear. While on the stairs, he grabbed me by the neck as he looked around to see if anyone was there.

“You bitch, am gonna kill you ……you almost exposed me” he grabbed me tighter pressing my breasts painfully.

“You’re hurting me” I cried as he pressed harder. He slapped me telling me to shut up. He pulled me into my room dragging my shirt hardly.

“You are lucky mom’s downstairs; I would have fucked you right now”. He held my neck to the wall and stared at me furiously. “if you ever do that again, I’ll kill you myself without feeling any guilt and trust me, no one would ever know I did it” He was right, he had friends who were exactly like him and bodyguards around him since his dad was rich and they always had no choice than to obey him. He could order them to kill me one day, I always thought of that.

“You hear me!” He shouted at me with anger seething in his eyes. I nodded tearfully as he forcefully threw me on the floor after squeezing my throat tighter. Tears crept freely from my eyes as I heard him close the door.

Ever since that day, I never tried to tell anyone again. He wasn’t home right now. He had already gone to college but anytime he came for weekends, I had hell living in me. Most students call me weird because of my, well, my attitude. I only talked to Ariel, my bestie and I hated boys, the whole lot of them. Ever since the night Nick raped me, I grew a strong hatred for boys even my long-time crush, Tyler Lacroix, one of the cutest guys in school. He was the team captain of the boys’ soccer team back in middle school and everyone was hoping he would be in high school too. I quenched my feelings for him and ever since then, I despised boys no matter whom or what they were.

Trust me, a lot of guys ask me out and tell me I’m pretty but I give them the same answer “not interested”. I’ve earned a very bad reputation for that. People started calling me the ‘snob witch’, with time I got used to it. It wasn’t a big deal anymore.

Someone came in my room. “Hi, Talie”. It was Ariel.

“Oh hi, Ariel” I said dryly.

I’m not really in the mood to talk right now. My brain was literally spinning.

“Bestie, you don’t look happy, what’s wrong” She looked at me. I could see concern in her eyes.

She had always been there for me, ‘the perfect bestie’. She really understood me. I just wish I could tell her all my ‘nick’ problems but I wouldn’t want him to hurt her because of me. I can’t risk that. Nick was a monster, the animal in the midst of humans. If I could kill him, I would.

“Hey, talk to me” Ariel looked at me with a worried look on her face. “I’m fine, Ariel” I looked at her. “Just not in the mood to talk”.

“I can help cheer you up” she brought out her phone, showing me a comedy video. “I can’t watch that and you know why”.

Why would she do that? She knows I only loved the comedy videos I did with dad. I pushed the phone away from my face. “Is it still about your dad, Natalie” she looked really concerned. I nodded sadly.

“I’m sorry I brought back those memories” she hugged me patting my hair. I hugged her back. I really needed this right now.

Hey so i uploaded the first chapter. tell me what you think