SMACK

I can still feel the hot sting on my face while the other girls restrained me. They were all laughing at my sobs as another girl, Paige, readied her hand for another blow. She struck me with the back of her hand and one of her nails scratched my right cheek. My face was on fire and I could feel blood streaming down to my chin. My body went limp in the grasps of my captors after a few more strikes to the face. Paige took a fistful of my hair and forced my gaze onto hers.

“Who do you think you are?” she hissed. Tears brushed across my cut and added to the pain. I was retracing every bit of the day I could remember to figure out what I could have possibly done wrong. Her grip tightened and I could feel each strand of hair in her hand being pulled. “I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T KNOW! I’M SORRY!” I shrieked. My cries must’ve echoed throughout the whole school, but I knew that no one was going to save me.

After she released my hair, Paige signaled for the others to let me go. I fell to the floor with a loud thud and I just laid there. She knelt down and whispered into my ear, “Aaron is mine. Don’t you dare speak to him again.” I saw my cell phone clatter onto the floor in front of my face and one of the girls stomped on it a few times. They left me there and I waited until I couldn’t hear their laughter anymore to lift myself up.

Aaron is just a boy in one of my classes, and we were paired up for a small project. We simply exchanged numbers to do the assignment with no other intentions. But things like that always happen to me. I had recently transferred to this school, and being a new student is never easy, especially in the middle of the year. My mother and I were forced to relocate due to an incident at my previous school. There's just something about me that attracts misfortune.

I wiped my face, which was tender to the touch, and looked down to see crimson streaks on my hand. I picked up my phone which had become a lump of shattered glass and plastic. The pain that was building inside my chest was far worse than the pain on my body. My mother had recently bought that phone for me in an attempt to make me feel better about the move. While walking through the familiar lonely halls, I squeezed the remnants of my phone.

As I stepped past the front gate of the school I heard the low rumble of thunder followed by light water droplets. When it rains it pours. Thankfully I only lived a few blocks away so I lifted my backpack over my head and jogged home. When I got to the front door of my apartment unit I slid my key inside and opened the door. Everything was pitch black and I called out, “Mom, you home?” There was no answer.

I flipped the light switch, the bulb above me flickered a bit before finally staying on and I saw a piece of white paper waiting for me at the dining table. “Hey, Becky Boo, hope you had a good day at school. Call me if you need anything!” I looked back at my phone, there was no way I was going to do anything with that thing. Guilt began to wash over me. If I wasn’t so afraid of them, if I could stand up for myself then maybe I wouldn’t be put in those shitty situations.

As I stood there in wet clothes, the AC kicked on and the cold air chilled me. I went towards my room to change my clothes, but as I passed by the bathroom, I caught sight of myself in the mirror above the sink. I took a pause and looked at my reflection. I had long, wet black hair that made me look like the girl from the Ring movie, skinny and pale. I followed the thin red line on my cheek to the cut Paige had given me and I looked into my eyes. They were sunken and bloodshot, my eyes showed nothing but contempt for myself.

After I changed I curled into a ball on top of my bed, hoping the sheets would consume me somehow. I wanted to sleep all the pain I had away, but whenever I closed my eyes I could feel her…slender fingers like spider legs lightly tracing the back of my neck. I began to feel nauseous and quickly sat myself upright. I tried my best to shake off the bad feelings, but the pit in my gut remained. I decided to preoccupy my mind by grabbing my laptop off of my desk. Instead of wallowing, it’d be more productive to look for a new phone.

I was able to shift my full attention to the different tabs on my laptop. I’ve had some money saved up, but frustration began to set in when I couldn’t find anything affordable. That’s when I thought of trying to look through a local marketplace. After a few more minutes of scrolling I found someone selling a phone exactly like mine, not only in perfect condition, but vastly cheaper. I messaged the seller and they quickly replied to meet in the morning.

I was happy to have ended the day on a positive note. I got ready for school as usual the next morning and made sure my cut was properly bandaged. I peeked into my Mom’s bedroom and found her sound asleep. I carefully closed her door and exited the apartment towards the meeting place. I know what you're thinking: a young girl meeting a stranger online is a major red flag, but I chose a small convenience store with a large crowd.

When I got to the store I waited at the front entrance in clear view of the security camera. I stood there for a few minutes until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a woman wearing a heavy brown coat with a dark red head wrap. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were like pink disks as she stared at me with wide eyes. “Are you, B-Becky?” she spoke as if trying to fight back tears. “You’re the one I talked to online about the phone, right?” I asked nervously.

The woman wiped her eyes and placed her hand on my cheek. “Oh goodness, you poor thing…what happened to you?”. Her fingers on my face caused my stomach to turn and I froze there. The woman brushed her thumb across the bandage across my face and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. “You remind me of her. Every time I saw her she would become more and more broken..” She removed her hand from me and dug it into her coat pocket to present me with the phone I was buying.

“Oh! Um…Perfect!” When I went to get the money from my backpack, the woman refused. "Don't worry, Darling, you need a friend," she said quietly with tears streaming down her face. I was at a loss for words and stood there awkwardly watching her walk away. I couldn't believe it; the interaction was strange, but I got a free phone in the end. As soon as I arrived at school, I sat on one of the benches and inserted my SIM card into the phone before turning it on. I was worried that something would go wrong, but it turned on and everything appeared to be normal.

I was happy to have a cellphone, but the memory of what happened the day prior reminded me to be ever so cautious. I went through the day trying to make myself as small as possible. I made sure to not make any ripples or bring any attention, that was until I reached the class with Aaron. He approached me after class and asked if I was okay, his concern was directed at the bandage on my cheek. I told him that everything was fine, but it wasn't. I could see the group of girls from yesterday down the hall and they were glaring at me.

Before I knew it the day had ended and I was being dragged outside to the back of the school. Paige pushed me and my back slammed onto the brick. Three other girls surrounded us to prevent me from escaping. “You little slut. You just don’t learn, do you?” Paige’s words were like venom. “We’ve all heard about your little fling with a teacher at your last school.” I began to feel dizzy as painful memories began to resurface.

I flinched as she brought her hand up to place it on the wall. “It wasn’t enough to fuck everyone at your last school?” Paige said with a sneer. Suddenly her fist found its way to my stomach and I bent over in agony. She proceeded to grab me by my throat and brought me back to the wall. “P-please..stop..” I managed to croak despite her tight grip on my neck. Her angry expression reminded me of her…that woman…the one I placed my trust in from my last school.

The other girls around us began to shout out things like, “Teach her a lesson!” and “Get that whore!” I just wanted all of this to be over with. If bad things kept happening to me then I would be better off… Before I could finish that thought a loud buzz made everything go silent. We all stood motionless as the buzzing sound seemed to grow louder and louder. “What the hell is that?” one girl asked. Their eyes all shifted to my backpack that was at my feet.

“Didn’t we break her phone?” one girl asked. “Ignore it!” Paige insisted. She brought her left hand up to slap my face, but the buzzing…that buzzing was relentless. “Christ! Who the hell is calling?” she shouted, then she removed her hand from my neck and placed it back on the wall. “Shut it up!” she ordered. I complied fearfully and crouched down to take the phone from my bag. I looked at the screen, and even though it was buzzing, there was no contact information displayed.

I swiped the screen to reject the incoming call but as soon as I did the phone started to buzz again. I did it again and again and again, but the phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. Paige glared at me and whispered under her breath, “Answer it…but you better watch what you say..” I nodded yes and my shaky hand swiped across the screen to accept the call. I placed the phone up to my ear and tried to sound as composed as I possibly could in this situation.

“Hello?” I managed to squeak and for an excruciating few seconds there was silence on the other end. “Well? Who the Hell is it?” Paige muttered. The other girls took a step closer and I called out, “Hello? Who is it?” My ears were filled with the sound of my racing heart. Each thump rocked my ribs and I was so afraid of what they were going to do to me. Then a voice emerged from the phone, a girl’s voice that asked in a sweet tone, “Do you need help?”

I didn’t recognize the voice, but whoever it was asked again, “Do you need help?” My answer got caught in my throat as the girl’s voice seemed to echo in my skull, “Doyouneedhelpdoyouneedhelpdoyouneedhelp.” I was so focused on the voice in my phone that I didn’t realize Paige was screaming at me. “Who the Hell is it?” Paige’s voice broke me out of my stupor. She raised her hand above her head and I screamed, “YES!” She snatched the phone out of my hand and ended the call.

As soon as Paige ended the call the phone began to buzz in her hand. Frustrated, she swiped the phone and put it against her ear. “Hello? She’s busy!” she said and after a couple of seconds her angry face twisted into confusion and then…to fear. “Hello? Hey…who is this? Who are you?!” Paige looked at me and I looked right into her eyes to see something familiar, the same eyes I saw in my reflection last night.

The girls around us began to ask Paige if she was okay but her full attention was on the phone call. I realized her eyes were no longer set on me, but behind me. For a moment I thought I saw her eyes go completely white then a noise exploded next to my ear…CRACK. That sickening sound made us all go silent. Then again…a loud CRACK. I turned my head to see Paige banging her head against the brick wall. She kept on slamming her face on the wall and each time she did I felt a splash of warm blood hit my face.

Eventually the other girls raced over trying to stop Paige from hurting herself any more. When they were finally able to pull her away her face…her face was just a sunken bloody mess. My phone clattered onto the cement at her feet and I saw that the call had ended. The girls were all crying and one of them called 911, but we all knew that it was too late. Paige was dead and I stood there, stunned as I stared at her corpse with blood splattered all over me.