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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504962469 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 12/08/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 324 |
| File size: | 350 KB |
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Behind Closed Doors
By Jasmine Kaur Dhuga
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2015 Jasmine Kaur DhugaAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5049-6248-3
CHAPTER 1
The Hot Guy
Monique
SLAM!
The sound of a stall door being abused jolted me awake. I opened my eyes. I'd passed out again. Beneath my chin rested the filthy toilet seat, reeking of undigested food, urine, and somebody's time of month. I immediately got up, not wanting anyone to see me from underneath the stall door. I should have been disgusted considering my face was so close to a public toilet seat, but my mind was too hazy to care. So instead of wrinkling my nose and shrieking, I just picked up the bag that was on the floor and put it in the pocket of my sweats, knowing I needed to head to class before anyone saw me in here. If I was caught, I was done for. But I needed at least a small dose of ecstasy every day to keep me going. By the time I got home today, I wouldn't give a damn about what was happening around me. I needed it to be happy.
But when I walked out of the washroom, I suddenly didn't feel like going to class anymore. Knowing I could catch up with what I would miss in class that day, I went to my locker and grabbed my things before heading out the school doors. Once outside, I pulled my iPod out of my pocket and leisurely made my way to the forested area near the school, stopping by my parked car along the way to pick up my duffel bag from the trunk. I began to walk the path in the forest with J Cole blaring in my ears until I reached a clearing. Once there, I set my iPod on a boulder, letting the music blast through the area. I swung my bag from behind my shoulder and pulled out my bow and arrows. My father owned a hunter's shop near the outskirts of the city, so I had easy access to the weapons. I brought my arrows to school every day — leaving them in the trunk of my car — as I tended to skip a lot and this was what I usually did when I skipped; I would come to this clearing and practice my shooting, hoping that I would never have to use my skills in real life, but wanting to be prepared anyway. I had been doing this for nearly four years now — ever since I was fourteen.
I pulled out a target board — a new one, since my last one had been stolen — along with some rope and securely tied the board to a tree. Once I was sure the knots were as tight as they could be, I assembled my bow, stringing it, and started shooting, the rhythmic clapping of the arrows hitting the board soothing me. I could do this for ages, but I wanted to go back to school soon because my brother — Jeremy — was on the Massey basketball team and had a game today. Being only a year apart, we were really close, and I wouldn't let him down by not going. He was all I had left.
Jeremy wasn't my real brother. I was adopted into his family the day I was born. I didn't remember my biological parents at all and didn't want to; if they had set me up for adoption, they obviously didn't give a shit about me.
I kept shooting my arrows, not allowing myself to think about anything. Instead, I just let my anger control me as I took it out on the target — the anger I had stored up the past four years. All my anger.
I don't know how long I continued to shoot, but as soon as I heard the school bell ring from afar, dismissing all the students for the day's end, I pulled out my arrows from the board, untied it, grabbed my iPod, and started heading back before Jeremy or any of my friends could notice I had left.
Thank the fucking lord for my freakishly good hearing.
It was when I was walking away that I saw something out of the corner of my eye that I had never seen before.
An iridescent glow at the end of a lake.
Where did the lake come from? It wasn't there before. What the hell? I came here almost every day; how could I have missed it?
Bemused, I walked closer to the lake, heading toward the glow. As I got closer, a glittering wall formed that blocked off the other side of the forest. It was translucent so I could see through it, but it still had that shimmery glow to it.
What the actual fuck?
Slowly, I lifted my hand to see if it would go through the wall. I was centimeters away when I heard a male voice behind me.
"You shouldn't be here."
My heart leaped into my throat. The air thickened. Wondering who was there, I turned around but found that I was the only one in the forest — or in my field of vision at least; I knew I hadn't imagined that voice. There was someone here. Someone had followed me. I gripped my bow and arrow tighter, ready to use them if I needed to.
"Who's there?" I called, trying hard to keep my voice from shaking. Suddenly, I heard running footsteps to my right. I sucked in a breath and turned to see who it was. Again, there was no one there. "I know you're here," I continued. "Who are you?"
"I said, you shouldn't be here," he yelled, sounding exasperated. I turned around. No one was there. I started shaking, gritting my teeth. Was I going nuts? Who the hell was talking to me, and why? Why shouldn't I be here? Why weren't they giving me a reason?
"Why are you still here?" he continued. "You need to run. Don't come back."
"I'm not running!"
Run, Monique. Run now, go!
"Mom?" I called out, recognizing her voice immediately. How was I hearing her voice in my head? How was I even hearing her at all? She was dead.
My mind whirled; I couldn't concentrate on what was going on.
"Run!" he ordered.
I heard thudding footsteps, like thousands of soldiers marching toward me, and I started panicking. I saw two lingering shadows in the depths of the forest ahead of me. Instantly, I turned, running for my life.
He's closer. He wants to kill you.
Who wanted to kill me? Why? Why was I suddenly getting these weird voices in my head?
Run!
I saw the school ahead of me, but I was still a good distance away, in the middle of a deserted street.
I ran faster.
Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind and shoved me to the ground. I cried out as my shoulder hit the ground hard, and the pain knocked the wind out of my lungs. It was when my attacker grabbed my leg — as I tried to regain my breath — that I noticed it was a guy in a dark hood that perfectly shielded his face. There was something familiar about him, though I couldn't picture a face.
Whoever it was tried to drag me back in the forest as the voice in my head continued to shout Run! over and over again. With my back burning from scraping against the uneven ground, I frantically lifted my bow and arrow and tried to shoot at him. I missed. His grip on me tightened.
My heart started pounding even faster. Breathing hard, I shot another arrow and missed again, a result of my shaking hands.
I was going to die. I knew it. But I didn't want to, not like this. I wouldn't let myself die. I couldn't. I had to take care of Jeremy. What would he do without me?
I wasn't going to let this guy take me away from him.
"Let go of me, you jackass," I snarled, trying to shoot another arrow at him.
It hit him in the abdomen. Immediately he let go, roaring in pain.
I didn't waste another second. Ignoring the burning of my back and the throbbing in my leg from his grip, I shot up to my feet and ran like hell the rest of the way back to the school.
As soon as I got to safety, I caught my breath, looking at my dirty clothes and torn sleeve. I headed toward the girls' washroom, wanting to get cleaned up before I headed to the game. I was glad to find that nobody was there. Tearing the rest of the sleeve off, I pulled my leather jacket out of my bag to hide my ruined sweater. I fixed my bun, trying to calm myself down before I headed outside to meet my friends.
Okay, Brooks, chill. Thinking about what just happened isn't going to do you any good, I told myself as I took deep, calming breaths in front of the mirror. Just calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. Chill. You probably imagined half of that. I mean, voices in your head? The lake? It's probably just the drugs.
It had to be just the drugs. This was Windsor, and nothing ever happened here.
Convincing myself that it had all been a hallucination, I gave myself a once-over. There were some pieces of grass still stuck in my sleek reddish-brown hair. Taking them out, I noticed that my lips and olive-coloured skin were pale from the cold, but my cheeks had turned pink. My usually narrow, deep-set green eyes were wide from what had just happened.
I looked way too crazed.
Taking a deep breath, in and out, I got rid of the mud still staining my nose. And as if it would reassure me, I smiled at myself in the mirror, watching my dimples surface on my cheeks and glaring at that little gap between my two front teeth that I'd always hated. Sighing, I headed out to meet my friends at their lockers.
I walked down the hall, seeing one of the chemistry teachers in the hallway talking to one of the janitors. I snorted humorlessly as I passed them. The entire school thought they were dating, but they would honestly make the oddest-looking couple ever: the janitor was so tall she had to duck to enter a room, and Mr. Trevino was the exact opposite — short and round. In fact, while the janitor had to duck to get through a door, Mr. Trevino had to walk sideways through some of them. At least, according to my friend Nathan.
I grinned, thinking about him. There was absolutely no way to describe that kid. With jet-black hair, night-sky eyes, and sandy skin, he was literally the hottest guy I knew. I mean, his face was still kind of round and boyish, but he always wore this black cap that somehow solidified his jawline. I wasn't much of a cap person, but it seriously did wonders for him. Like attracting the attention of the entire female population at our school. And some males.
But unlike a lot of girls at our school, I didn't fall in line to date guys like Nathan. Or to date at all, actually. I hated all that romantic bullshit and tended to stay away from drama.
When I reached the end of the hallway, I met two of my friends at their lockers, where they stood side by side, talking to each other. Jana was a tall, curvy Arab with straight blonde hair that fell right below her shoulders. As I walked toward her, she pushed her bangs out of the way so that they swept to the side, tucking them behind her right ear. Her hair always looked like she had just stepped out of the salon, no matter how bad the day was, even if it was pouring rain. Her usually golden skin looked a little sallow today, probably due to a lack of sleep, judging from the bags under her heavy-lidded sapphire eyes. But despite all the stress I knew she was under from some approaching due dates, she gave Malinda a half-smile.
Being the total opposite of Jana, Malinda was a tiny African-Canadian with a waterfall of chocolate brown hair flowing all the way down her back in tiny ringlets. She had the same type of side-swept bangs as Jana but was currently putting them up with a hairband to showcase her doe-like cognac eyes. The innocence they displayed suited her more than she would ever know.
Malinda and Jana were both really outgoing. Jana was friends with practically everyone at our school, and so was Malinda.
And then there was me.
It wasn't that I couldn't make friends. It was just that I didn't want to get close to anyone. The only two people I was really close to were Jana and Jeremy.
"Hey," I said them, approaching them with a smile on my face and interrupting their conversation. The moment I did, however, I felt a weird vibe between us. I looked at Jana, who suddenly seemed worried. I didn't bother asking her why; she freaked out a lot. Malinda and I never knew why, and we didn't bother to ask much because Jana never told us anything.
I tried to ignore the weird vibe, making myself believe I was just being delusional again. "Are you guys going to the game tonight?" I asked, excited to see Jeremy and Nathan play — Jeremy because he was my brother, Nathan because he was hot.
"Yeah, we're going," Malinda answered. "Are you?"
"Yep, screw homework; I'll do it on the weekend," I replied. Despite all the craziness that had just happened, the ecstasy was keeping me in a light mood.
"Yes!" Jana exclaimed, breaking out of her sullen state. "I love it when you go."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Why, because I create so much of a scene when the other team scores?"
"Of course! It's so much more fun with you there." Jana loved hanging out with me; she said she needed more enthusiasm in her life and I made her life more exciting. I didn't know how, but I didn't really care. I never gave much thought to our friendship. To me, it was just as natural as breathing; we had been friends for a really long time.
My thoughts strayed back to the game. I really wanted to get going to see the warm-ups, which were seriously fun to watch. Despite the fact that this school only had a limited number of hot guys, the majority of them were on the basketball team.
My mind flew to Nathan again and I smiled, biting my lip. Jana smirked. "You're thinking about Nathan, aren't you?"
Sometimes knowing each other inside out wasn't all that great.
I laughed. "Let's just get going. And don't start about me and Nathan, because there's nothing going on there."
"I seriously don't understand why you don't just ask him out. He doesn't even have feelings for his girlfriend anymore; he's been talking about dumping her for ages."
"Because," I replied, "dating is pointless. It's just drama, Jay."
She snorted, and I punched her in the arm playfully. Before she could punch me back, I grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her toward the north gymnasium.
"C'mon, let's go," I whined. "I wanna see the warm-ups."
"No, you want to see the delicious guys," Jana corrected. I smiled sheepishly, and Malinda laughed, running to catch up with us as we headed through the doors to the back stairwell.
As soon as we stepped through, we were greeted by a very excited — and hot — Nathan.
"Hey, whaddup?" he called. He was wearing his black cap backwards and held out his hand for a fist bump. Grinning, I obliged, and then the four of us started walking toward the gym.
"Ugh, I have so much homework," I complained. He laughed at me, and I playfully punched him on the arm. "Don't laugh. It's not funny." Just to piss me off, Jana started laughing, and I punched her for the second time that day. She punched me back, but before we could get into a typical best friend fistfight, Malinda came between us.
"Guys, stop," she giggled. "You're going to walk away with bruises on your arms."
I gave Jana one last punch — earning myself a playful glare — and then turned back to Nathan, who was still laughing. "Oh, I am so going to kill you, Khan."
He controlled his laughter and then changed the topic. "So you wanna hear something funny?
"What?" I replied.
"Mr. Travino was talking to Miss Wells today, and you should've seen the way they were acting. I saw them near the janitor's closet — the janitor's closet," he repeated with emphasis, winking at me.
"I swear to God, I don't know how they're dating," I laughed as we approached the gym, "They're like polar opposites. He can't even walk through a door properly."
"Hey, you only know about that because of me," Nathan scolded.
I laughed at his absurd expression. "Yeah, I know. It's still funny imagining it."
The three of us laughed while Nathan rolled his eyes lightheartedly. "All right, I'm going to go get changed."
"'Ight. We're gonna go find a seat in the bleachers."
"Yeah, okay. Bye." He winked at us again and left just as Jana turned to me.
"He likes you," she teased, poking me in the ribs.
I narrowed my eyes at her and shoved her off. "No, he doesn't. You're being proved wrong right now. Look."
She and Malinda followed my gaze, and the three of us watched him getting bombarded by his girlfriend, Mackenzie, a girl I detested, not for dating Nathan but for something else entirely. The red-headed bitch tried to seduce Jeremy at the beach last summer. Somehow she'd found out that he'd had a crush on her and wanted to take advantage of him to fill her needs. She'd even threatened to spread some stupid rumor about him if he didn't sleep with her. But Jeremy was a good boy, and he wasn't the type to just sleep with a girl without an actual relationship. Plus, I'd kind of warned Jeremy that if he lost his virginity before he was eighteen, I'd disown him. That might seem idiotic, but I was just really protective of him. He was all I had left.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Behind Closed Doors by Jasmine Kaur Dhuga. Copyright © 2015 Jasmine Kaur Dhuga. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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