Page 14 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares (The Society #1)

Georgia

M y legs worked hard, pounding my feet on the pavement, while every breath I sucked into my lungs burned through my chest. My body hated me, and the world rushed past me in a blur, but I kept going.

I pushed past the ache, tearing up my calves, and forced my legs to move faster. There was no stopping or slowing down. There was only running away from the fear chasing closely behind.

Paranoia raced through my veins, building with every stomp of my foot. I knew Issac wasn’t following. I couldn’t see anyone behind me. Yet every turn I took, or walkway I dashed down, I heard him chasing me. My heart hammered against my ribs with one thought… Don’t get caught.

I ran so fast that I didn’t know what I was running from. The hands I could still feel burning a trail across my skin, or the possibility that it might happen again? In the recesses of my mind, there was the sound of something else.

A faint click or a whisper of warning I couldn’t make out. It felt like a shadow moving in on me. Even after I’d dashed into the safety of my small house and slammed the door, I couldn’t chase away the suffocating sense that was bearing down on me.

This incident wasn’t the first time my pulse fluttered uncontrollably. It had been years since I felt dread swirling in my gut. My social awkwardness turned into social anxiety all the time. It got so bad that Mom made me see a psychiatrist.

Over the years, I’d learned a few tricks to calm my nerves. Take deep breaths, close my eyes, and look at the situation rationally, which was what I was trying to do now.

Issac had his fun. He humiliated me. He got his revenge. There was no one following. No one was chasing me, because Issac accomplished what he set out to do.

For now.

Damnit. Okay, I needed to focus on something else.

I opened my eyes and looked around my modest kitchen.

White stove, fridge, small table with two chairs, and a coffee pot .

There was no one else here. It was only me in my solidarity. That should’ve felt safe, but it didn’t.

The room started to spin. I felt the panic attack coming before I collapsed on the floor, curled up in a ball.

It’s okay, Georgia. You got out of there. It wasn’t even that bad… Okay, so he touched you, but you’re okay. It was just touching… my bare chest, but it was just hands. And he's gone now.

Crack… snap.

What was that? Oh God, he was coming back, wasn’t he?

Tightly hugging my knees to my chest, I squeezed my eyes shut as haunting laughs mocked my torment.

They snickered and cheered, ‘ Georgia Pyne thinks she’s fine.

’ Much like the day when Thomas Jay Munford pulled my skirt off during the eighth-grade play of Romeo and Juliet.

I didn’t even want to be in the stupid thing, but our teacher said everyone had to participate.

To this day, I couldn’t look at a Shakespeare book without blushing.

I had an anxiety attack that day, right there on the stage. Up until today, having a crowded theater see my daisy print panties was the most mortifying experience of my life.

Pressing my face against the cool hardwood, I shut out the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and focused on my labored breaths.

In through the nose…

Out through the mouth…

In through the nose…

Out through the mouth…

I repeated that action, grounding myself until the room stopped spinning and I could open my eyes without feeling nauseated.

Waiting for my pulse to steady out, I lay there on the hardwood floor, staring at the grains in the wooden legs of the kitchen table, while thinking about how pathetic I was.

Men like Issac and his friends thrived on the misery of others, and I was giving them exactly what they wanted. They were probably carrying on with their day while I was lying here like a broken puppy.

I could hear Mom’s voice saying, “Don’t let them get to you, Georgia. You are better than that.”

But was I?

Yes, I had logic on my side, and I was more intelligent than the average person, but intellect wasn’t going to help me much, not in this situation.

The upside of being invisible was that I didn’t get picked on a lot.

The downside was that I had no experience or tolerance with aggressive personalities to pull from.

I was ill-equipped to deal with Issac and his friends.

Sure, I could duck my head and try to avoid them, but what if they came after me again?

What could I do then? How did one deter people like that?

Apologizing wasn’t going to work, and I was way too small to fight them.

I was an inch shy of five feet, which was the only physical attribute I didn’t inherit from my mother, who was five feet nine.

How did someone my size fend off full grown men? What hope did I have? For all I knew, Issac and his friends followed me here, where I was alone and vulnerable?

Was that a footstep?

I froze, tightened in on myself, and held my breath in anticipation of the dreaded sound of a shoe stepping on the floor. Would I even hear it before it was too late?

Back in the cafeteria, Issac was so fast. How did he do that? I wasn’t crazy. I know what happened. I’d never forget it. We moved a few feet in under a second. That wasn’t possible. It was as if Issac was a vampire or something.

God, did I seriously just think that?

Wow, I was pathetic. I let Issac scare me so badly that I was considering the existence of vampires and ghosts. Maybe I was crazy? Monsters didn’t exist. Yet here I was on the cusp of crawling under the kitchen table to escape some imaginary supernatural force.

But wasn’t that how those stories usually went? An unsuspecting girl was living her normal life, when she suddenly got thrust into a world full of ghouls and ghosts that she didn’t know were there. I wonder if they have self-defence classes for the supernatural? Not that they would do me any good.

They said one never knew how they would truly react to a situation until they were in it.

People liked to think that they would fight, but in most cases, they froze, just as I did when I felt Issac’s hand on me.

Apparently, self-defence classes didn’t give one courage.

The pepper spray was effective, however.

I might need to get another can of that.

Alright, Georgia, stop feeling sorry for yourself, get off the floor, and report their sorry asses.

That’s what campus security was for, right? I may have reacted like a coward, but I could sure as shit make sure Issac paid for what he did.

Why should he get away with it? He violated me, and I wasn’t some weak, timid little mouse. I knew how to stand up for myself. Issac got off on my misery. I was not going to feed into his sick desires. That was not how I was raised.

Sucking in a deep breath, I exhaled and flattened my palms on the ground to push myself up.

“Are you okay?”

I screamed at the new voice, shot up, then found myself hunkered under the table.

How I got there, I had no idea. One second I was on the floor, the next I was here.

But, it did make me feel better about Issac’s supposed super speed.

If I could move this fast when I was scared, then it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he could move fast when he was angry.

He wasn’t a monster. He was just an asshole.

What I didn’t feel better about was the person who invaded my house.

Thankfully, the shoes were high heels, which not many men wore. So, Issac and his friends didn’t follow me. But still…

“What are you doing here?” And where was the closest weapon I could use if need be?

There was a knife on the counter. I could see the red handle. But that was a few feet away. I might not make it there in time. The textbook I left on the table was a better option.

“I saw you run out of there…” The figure bent over, bringing a familiar pair of light eyes into view. “And I thought I should check on you.”

Rachel? I almost didn’t recognize her without the other face attached to hers. What was she doing here?

“Why are you in my house?” This was my space. I didn’t go walking into other people’s rooms. Had she never heard of knocking?

“The front door was open.”

It was? I could’ve sworn I closed it. Maybe I didn’t? I wasn’t thinking too clearly. “That doesn’t give you the right to walk in.”

“Are you really that mad at me for checking on you?”

“Yes.” What upset me more was that she invited herself in. Besides… “Why do you care how I am? You left me there.”

“Look…” she sighed, then paused to cock a brow. “Are you gonna come out from under there? It’s kind of hard to talk when there’s a table in the way.”

“No. I don’t think I am.” The table was safe, and for all I knew, she was in league with Issac and his friends.

“Alright,” she mumbled. “I guess I’ll come to you then.”

I tensed, ready to grab the book as she dropped down and sat cross-legged on the floor.

“There, now I can see you.”

Why did she need to see me? I didn’t like this. “What do you want?”

“I told you. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Uh-huh? “Is that why you left me there?”

Guilt flashed across her face. “I didn’t want to.”

“But you did.”

“Yes,” she nodded, causing her brown curls to bounce. “Issac Kratz isn’t someone you mess with.”

Oh, he was one of those people.

“Let me guess, he has money?” People like him always did, and people like her bowed down to them.

“Well, yeah… but that’s not why people are afraid of him.”

If she said anything that had to do with monsters or magic, I was going to scream. My sanity was already hanging on by a thread.

“When you don’t listen to Issac, or any of those six, bad things happen.”

My face dropped. That was her argument?

“Bad things always happen. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up to them.”

Yes, I felt the hypocrisy of my statement. I didn’t exactly stand up for myself, but they took me by surprise. Next time, I would be ready. Or I’d pepper spray them again and run.

“Wait…” I tipped my head. “Did you say six?”