April 5, 2010
2:15 a.m.
Diner Parking Lot

I was lying across the back seat of my car, sound asleep, until the sound of a low voice coming from outside woke me up. I could barely hear it, but I still recognized it as Will’s instantly. His voice sounded muffled and I couldn’t make out the words that he was saying. But my window was open a crack, so I could still hear him a little bit.
Curiously, I took a quick peek out the window, only to see him sitting on the hood of his car with his cell phone pressed against his ear. He was facing away from me, so I sat up and pressed my ear against the small opening between my window and the top of my car door, concentrating on the sound of his voice.
“Yeah,” he said into the phone. “I miss you too.” There was a pause as whoever was on the other line responded. “I know, but I can’t just drive up to Pennsylvania.” He was quiet as the other person replied. “Because it’s a long drive, and I’d have to get gas to get up there. I’m sorry, but I just can’t afford that right now.” More silence. “I love you too,” Pause. “Bye,”
I watched as he flipped his phone shut and climbed down off the hood of his car. And as he did so, he turned around and saw me. I watched his expression turn to panicked with a hint of guilt when he got a glimpse of the tears that were rolling down my cheeks.
“Evalynne,” he said to me, jogging over to my car. I slid across the back seat so that I was on the other side of the car as he opened the door. He got inside and slid over so that he was sitting right next to me. “I can explain.”
“I don’t really want to listen to you explain how you’re cheating on me.” I retorted, my voice hoarse. I couldn’t stop the tears that fell down my face. They just kept on coming, like water leaking out from a broken pipe.
“Just hear me out,” he told me, placing a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. But it just made everything worse.
“Don’t freakin’ touch me!” I exploded. I pressed my hands against his chest as hard as I could, pushing him away from me. Then, in one quick motion, I opened up the door and stepped out of my car, slamming it behind me. But Will followed me out. He just wasn’t giving up.
“Evalynne, please don’t do this!” he begged.
“Don’t do what, Will?” I demanded. “Get mad? Yell? Push you?”
“No, break up with me,” he said, his voice soft and worried.
“Well why the h*** shouldn’t I?” I shouted. “You lied to me, Will! You told me that I was all you had left. You made me feel bad for you. You convinced me to stay with you after you hit me. Then I find out that you’ve been cheating on me this whole time, and you expect me to stay with you?”
I stared at him, waiting for his answer as he bowed his head shamefully. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
“Don’t give me some fake apology! I’ve had enough of you apologizing to me. I’m not buying it this time.” I remarked.
“But I really am sorry!” he replied hastily. “I tried to break up with Lacey. I really did. But when I was on the phone with her, about to dump her, I realized that I couldn’t. I thought that maybe if I just didn’t visit her, she’d get lonely and move on to a new guy.”
I couldn’t believe him. He acted like he was such a bad boy, with his leather jacket and piercings and blonde streak. But he wasn’t a bad boy at all. He was a coward. A coward, a poser, a liar and a cheater.
“You’re pathetic,” I spat, my voice filled with spite. I rolled my clear blue eyes at him in disgust and pushed past him so that I could walk around to drivers seat side of my car. I needed to get out of there. I couldn’t stand being around Will any longer. I didn’t care that without him, I had nothing left. I didn’t care that without him, I’d be all alone. I didn’t care because being alone was a he*** of a lot better than being with him. I hated him.
“Evalynne, please!” he pleaded. “I’m sorry! I’ll break up with Lacey, ok? I’ll dump her right now in fact!” He whipped out his cell phone as proof. But I didn’t care anymore.
“It’s too late, Will.” I told him. “You screwed yourself over with this one.”
“No!” he shouted, sounding angry now. “You can’t just leave me here alone! I won’t let you!”
My heart sped up as fear set in. I looked into Will’s eyes and saw that same look of craziness as I had when he’d punched me. Swallowing back the whimper that threatened to escape my throat, I turned and ran to the door of my car. But Will followed.
Frantically, I placed my hand on the handle of the car door, yanking it open. I practically dove into my car, but Will grabbed hold of my arm before I could shut the door behind me.
“Will, stop it!” I cried. “You need to let go of me!”
“Evalynne, listen to me.” he stated, his voice calm in an eerie sort of way. “We can fix this. Things can go back to normal. Trust me, they can. Just get out of the car.”
“No!” I shrieked, trying to yank my arm away from him. But his grip just tightened on it, and I could feel my wrist bruising up.
“Stop fighting me, Evalynne!” he commanded. “I didn’t even do anything wrong! I’m not like your dad. I don’t go sleep around with skanky homewreckers behind your back. So just get out of the d*** car!”
His words stung me even more than when he’d punched me. He had no right to talk about my dad that way. I didn’t care if it was true or not, it still was off limits for him to talk about and he knew that. I felt my lower lip begin to quiver as tears leaked out of my eyes. How could this have happened? How could Will have turned into such a horrible person? He seemed so perfect before. But now he was a completely different person.
He was sadistic. He was cruel. He was just plain sick. And I needed to get away from him as soon as possible. He was turning into Michael right before my very eyes. Not only did he physically hurt me, but he hurt me emotionally too. I should’ve just listened to Kristy and left him before things got to be like this. I should’ve listened to that stupid warning text our anonymous creeper sent to us. But no, I was stupid. I got myself into this mess and I desperately needed to get myself out of it.
“Will, I don’t want you anymore.” I told him lividly. “You’re a monster. I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re really cruel, and I deserve better than this. So let me go.”
He looked into my eyes, taking in what I’d said to him. “I’m not a monster, Evalynne. The real monster is Michael. Don’t you see what he’s doing to us? All of this is his fault. He’s the one who’s sending us those text messages. He’s the one who’s tearing us apart!”
“No, Will!” I shouted at him. “You are! Michael has nothing to do with this! Stop blaming all of your problems on Michael! You’re just as much of a psychopath as he is anyways!”
It felt good to get that out. After all Will had done to me, he deserved to hear those words. He deserved to know what he had become. But that good feeling didn’t last me very long. It was instantly replaced by fear as I watched Will’s eyes fill with fury. The way he looked at me had me scared out of my mind. He looked at me with pure hatred in his deep brown eyes. He looked at me the way he looked at Michael.
“If you don’t get out the car right now, I swear to God, I’ll freakin’ kill you.” he stated, his rage hidden by the even tone of his voice.
“I’m not getting out.” I remarked, trying to sound confident in myself, but failing epically. My voice was shaky and filled with terror, an obvious sign of how incredibly afraid I was of Will.
He stared at me for a moment, the veins in his forehead bulging and his grip on my arm tightening. I did everything I could not to scream.
“Suit yourself,” he uttered maliciously, and before I knew it, both of his hands were clutching my neck. He pressed down with all of his might, pushing me back so that I was laying with my head on the passenger’s seat.
I began to cough and choke on my own breath, which was now short and choppy. My lungs burned as I struggled to suck in air. He was cutting off all of my oxygen though. He was trying to strangle me.
I desperately kicked and hit him, trying to get him off of me, but he refused to let go. I could no longer breathe. My lungs were so tight I felt like they were going to shrivel up and die on me. So this is it, I thought. This is how I’m going to die.
My heart was racing frantically in my chest and my eyes were blurry with tears. So I closed them and braced myself for the moment when my body would go numb and my heart would stop beating.
But then I felt Will’s big hands let go of me. I opened my eyes immediately and sucked in a deep breath of air, still choking on my breath. I coughed hoarsely and looked up at him. He was kneeling over me, his face red and emotionless.
“Now get out of the car.” he told me. And this time, I did.