April 5, 2010
7:00 a.m.
Will’s Car

I’d been lying in Will’s car, wide awake, for about four hours now. Will was still sound asleep, but I was wide awake. Every time I closed my eyes the horrifying image of Will kneeling over me with his hands wrapped around my neck filled my mind. And every time, I could feel the burning sensation of not being able to breathe in the back of my throat.
I wanted to leave Will so badly, but I couldn’t. He had my car keys. And I couldn’t just run either because he had both of his arms wrapped tightly around my body as he slept next to me. I wanted to call the police to report what he’d done to me too, but I couldn’t. He had my cell phone.
He’d taken both of these things from me as soon as I’d gotten out of my car after he’d nearly strangled me to death. I still couldn’t believe he did that to me. I never imagined that Will could ever be capable of something as cruel and sadistic as that. Michael, h*** yeah. Will, never. But he proved me wrong.
Will’s warm body stirred beside me and I heard him yawn deeply. I glanced over at him as his eyes fluttered open and landed on me. “You’re awake.” he stated, releasing me from his arms. He still kept a hand placed on my thigh though.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I murmured back.
“Why not?” he asked, looking concerned.
I bit my lip, feeling tense. After all, if I said something wrong, he could kill me. And now I knew that he not only could, but he would. “I guess I just wasn’t tired.” I replied softly.
He planted a gentle kiss on my mouth, but I didn’t kiss him back. I couldn’t kiss him back. In fact, I could barely look at him right now. But he just acted like nothing was wrong. Like we were still a happy couple.
“Well you sure look tired.” he told me. “You have bags under your eyes and everything.” He grinned, trying to lighten the mood. That wasn’t going to happen though.
“Well I’m not.” I snapped back defensively. His brow creased and he narrowed his dark eyes at me.
“Are you upset about something? Because you sound like you’re upset.” he said.
“Why would I be upset?” I retorted sarcastically. “All you did was try to kill me last night.”
He looked at me with a blank expression, as if he didn’t remember doing such a thing. “It’s not like I was ever going to actually kill you, Evalynne. I was just warning you of what I’m capable of doing. That way, you won’t ever leave me.”
“You sound like Michael,” I remarked. I knew it was a stupid thing to say, but I just couldn’t help it. I hated Will so much. I just wanted him to feel as awful as he was making me feel.
He stared at me for a moment, not saying a word. After a moment, he took my phone out of his pocket and glanced at it. “You have five texts and two new voicemail messages. Would you like to see them?”
Instantly, I swiped the phone out of Will’s hand and opened up the first text. It was from my mom.
Kristy just called. Why didn’t you tell me you left your dad and Nina’s place? And how in the world are you living in your car?
The next two were also from my mom.
Kristy is at our house with a cop. They say that Will has been hitting you! I can’t believe this! Come home right now!
Evalynne, please come home! Or at least call me! Just let me know you’re ok!
The next text was from Kristy, who I now utterly hated. Where did she get off telling my mom and the cops all about my problems? I could do that myself. Rolling my eyes, I opened up the text to read it.
Hey since u didn’t do anything about Will, I did. I told ur mom & called the police. I’m sorry but they needed to know. Call me when you get this.
I groaned and went to the last text message. I was shocked to see that it was from Cole. I felt like I hadn’t spoken with him in ages.
You’re not answering my calls so I’m texting you instead. You better freakin call me as soon as you get this!
“Oh no,” I said to myself. Kristy told Cole too. I knew it just by looking at this text. This was just great. I could only imagine what my voicemail messages were going to sound like. I’d probably get Kristy apologizing defensively, my mom bawling, and Cole screaming about how much he hated Will. Wonderful.
Sighing, I listened to them.
“Hey, it’s me.” Kristy’s voice played in the first message. “I know you probably hate me right now because I went to the cops about the Will thing. But they needed to know, Evalynne. It’s for your own good. Just call me when you get this, ok? And please don’t be mad.”
My phone beeped and went to the next message. I recognized my mom’s voice immediately. It was obvious by how throaty her voice sounded that she was crying.
“Evalynne, it’s your mother. I just want to say that I know I pushed you into moving in with your dad, and I’m sorry about that. But please don’t be angry with me for that. You ran away and now I don’t know where you are or if you’re even alive. Kristy told me that Will boy has been hurting you.” She stopped to let out a hoarse cough, followed by a small whimper. “Just please come home. Please let me know you’re ok. I love you.”
There was another beep and my phone began to play the last message. It was from Cole, just as I’d guessed it would be.
“I told you I didn’t like him, Evalynne! I told you, but you didn’t listen. And now he’s hitting you. I swear to God, when I find him, I’m going to kill him. So you can tell Will that he’ll be getting his *ss kicked soon. I’m coming to New York this weekend, so let him know to be prepared. Please call me when you get this. I really need to hear your voice so I know you’re ok.” There was a pause on the other line before he began talking again. “And by the way,” he began, “I miss you. A lot. So just call me. Bye.”
I flipped my phone shut and sat there, tears rolling down my cheeks. At first I was p*ssed that Kristy had gone and told everyone about my problems with Will. But now, I just felt guilty. I had all these people that I loved worried sick about me, and all because of Will. What had I ever seen in him anyways? He hadn’t really been that great, had he?
I bit my lip, realizing that he had. Why couldn’t he have just stayed that way forever? If he’d stayed the same, I wouldn’t have bright red hand marks on my neck right now. I wouldn’t have a purplish blue bruise the size of a golf ball on my face right now. I wouldn’t have four scratch marks running across my wrist right now.
“So who were all those from?” Will asked me.
“My mom, Kristy, and Cole,” I replied.
“What did they want?” he remarked.
“They’re worried about me.” I informed him. “You see, these are the few people who actually care about me. Kristy cares about me so much that she went and told the cops that I’m being abused by you. And then she told my mom and Cole too. So now my mom’s bawling her eyes out and Cole’s on his way over here to kick your *ss. And I’m feeling stupid because I isolated all of those great people all for you. I thought you were worth it at first, but now I’m realizing that you’re actually just vindictive monster. You know, it was always so hard for me to believe that you and Michael are twins. Not only do you two not look alike, but you were had such different personalities too. But I’m definitely seeing the resemblance now. In fact, you two are pretty much identical.”
His eyes went wide and the veins in his forehead began to bulge. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he uttered. Then, in one swift motion, he punched me again. In the exact same spot he did the first time. The impact of his hit sent my head backwards. It smacked against the window of his car and I felt an instant throbbing in the back of it.
When my vision cleared, I saw him reaching towards my neck. But I couldn’t let this happen again. I wouldn’t. So instinctively, my knee shot up, hitting right in the gut. He gasped out in pain and wrapped his arms around his stomach.
“You think that’s clever, b!tch?” he shouted at me. He dove forward, but fortunately, I had already opened up the car door and got out. I slammed the door in his face and sprinted to my car. But when I got there, I realized that he still had my keys.
Frantically, I turned around and began to run. I still had my cell phone in my hand so I hurriedly dialed 9-1-1 and pressed it up to my ear. Not once did I stop running though. And not once did I turn back.
“Westchester Police Department, what’s your emergency?” a female’s voice answered on the third ring.
“Hi,” I panted into the phone. “My name’s Evalynne Mongolia. Last night, my boyfriend tried to strangle me, and now he’s after me.” Tired of running, I dashed into the first public place I saw: a small, quaint café.
“Alright, where are you right now?” she asked.
“I just walked into this little café. It’s just down the street from a deserted diner, on Tinsley Avenue.” I told her, sitting down at a table in the back.
“Ok, help is on it’s way. Do you know where you’re boyfriend is right now?”
“I’m not sure. He might still be at the diner where he tried to hurt me, but he could have followed me too. I’m really not sure. All I know is that he’s not in the café with me.” I said.
“Alright, well just stay where you are, and I’ll stay on the phone with you in case he gets there before the police do.” she told me.
“Ok, thank you,” I replied.
“No problem… So, did you say you’re name was Evalynne Mongolia?” the woman asked me.
“Yes, why?” I said.
“Well we had a girl call in here yesterday about a miss Evalynne Mongolia. She said that she had an abusive boyfriend too.”
“Was her name Kristy Wilson?” I asked.
“Yes, yes it was.” she replied.
“That was my best friend.” I told her. “She found out that he had hit me and told me to break up with him. At the time, I didn’t really see at that big of a deal so I didn’t listen to her. But now I know that she was right. This guy’s completely out of his mind.”
“What’s his name?” she inquired.
“Will McKnight,”
“He doesn’t happen to be the brother of a Michael McKnight, does he? Because our police squad is currently doing a search for Michael McKnight. He murdered a girl, and even tried to murder some more people, including his brother.”
“Yeah, I know. I was the other person he tried to murder.” I told her.
“Oh my gosh,” she exclaimed, sounding shocked. “So now his brother has lost it too? Oh my, that’s so sad. That poor family. I can only imagine what their parents must be going through.”
I couldn’t help but scoff at this. “Actually, the parents are part of the problem. Michael’s tormented Will his entire life. He even tried to kill him by setting him on fire once. But his parents think that Michael’s just an angel. They’ve always shown no respect for Will, and now it’s become too much for him. They don’t even think that Michael’s guilty of murdering anyone. They think Will’s framing him, so they kicked him out on the streets. If anything, it’s their fault Will’s gone crazy.”
“Oh my,” she murmured, probably unsure of how she should respond to that.
Outside the window of the café, I saw flashing blue and red lights as a police car pulled up. “Well the police are here, so I’m going to go.”
“Alright, bye.” She hung up and I flipped my phone shut. Then I rose to my feet and went outside.
The cop stepping out of the patrol car approached me and asked, “Are you Evalynne Mongolia?”
“Yes I am,” I told him. Two more squad cars pulled up behind his and two more policemen stepped out. So did Mom, Kristy, and Cole. The three of them ran up to me and each wrapped me up in warm, comforting hugs.
For the first time in a while, I felt safe.