Sierra
Chapter fifty-four
My eyelids are so heavy I can barely open them. What’s going on?
Where am I?
A familiar scent hits me, but I feel like I’m in a haze.
I can hear voices, ones I know and trust.
“When is she going to wake up?”
“I don’t know.”
“Cyrus?” My throat is scratchy as my eyes finally flutter open.
“Right here, baby. Can one of you get her some water?”
“What happened? When did I get here? Where’s Arizona?”
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re in your apartment. You’re safe. He never did anything to you. You’re out of it because he drugged you. Arizona is at the hotel with Bash. She woke up during the night and is fine.”
I let out a sigh of relief and slowly sit up. My body feels like lead, reminding me of how I felt that morning.
“Did they get him?” I ask.
Colton steps back in the room, handing me a glass of water. They all look at each other nervously, and I know there's something they’re not telling me.
“He got away, didn’t he?”
“No, he didn’t. He was found last night. He committed suicide. There were other flash drives of girls. He did the same thing to them. Wesley was the one who found him.”
I sit there, stunned. He’s gone. I had a part in it.
But I don’t feel bad.
Does that make me a horrible person?
“So it’s over. He’s gone. He’ll never be able to hurt me again.” A sudden peace washes over me and I smile happily.
Not for the loss of a life, but for the abolishment of a monster.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Now we rest and cuddle up in bed all day,” Braxton says as he sits down beside me.
“I don’t think my bed is big enough for five people.” I laugh.
“We’re going to have to find a bigger bed then.” Zander winks.
I smile when I see someone has moved the television from the living room into my bedroom and set it on the dresser. Cyrus’s laptop is beside it. I see a movie day in the plans.
“Not that I don’t like seeing you, but why aren’t you in school? Isn’t your dad going to be mad?” I ask, my eyes already growing heavy.
“We kind of told him we were upset about Wes’s father’s death. And we came over here to tell you since you weren’t feeling well. A little white lie, but it got us out of school.”
“Okay. Do y’all mind if I go back to sleep for a little bit?”
“No,” they all say in unison, and my eyes close immediately.
I’m in and out of sleep for the rest of the day. Arizona stopped by with Bash to say goodbye and check on me.
When I tried to apologize for what happened, she wouldn’t hear it. “I knew it was going to happen. We accounted for that in the plan,” she told me.
That should’ve made me feel better, but it didn’t.
The only thing that does is knowing Mr. Johnson will never hurt anyone else ever again.
My stomach is twisted in knots on the way to school.
I’m counting down the days until I graduate. Arizona and I talked about why I still wanted to go back when I hated it so much instead of getting a GED, and I couldn’t come up with why. But this morning, as I was getting dressed, it dawned on me.
My mom’s dream was watching me walk across the stage and receiving my diploma. That’s my reason. I want to do that for her, even if she won’t be able to see it.
Pulling into the parking lot, we see a line of police cars.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“No clue.” Braxton shrugs.
Wesley sent me a message last night apologizing again from yet another number.
I didn’t need to have it programmed to know who it was.
Changing my number is starting to sound really good.
He let me know he wouldn’t be at school for a couple weeks, needing to be with his mom after his father’s death.
I thought about responding for a brief moment, then I changed my mind, deleting it.
“Come on, let’s see if we can find out what’s going on.”
As we get closer to the building, you can hear chatter from the students.
“Did you hear they have Savannah in the office?” I overhear someone say.
We keep walking, not stopping to question, but something is definitely going on.
Groups have formed in the hallway, heads bent together as they whisper.
My phone vibrates, and I pull it out of my pocket.
Rico: You should be seeing a nice little show at school this morning.
Me: You know what’s going on?
Rico: Yeah a little skank is going down for sharing child pornography since you’re under 18 in the video.
Me: What?
Rico: She’s going to become someone’s bitch in jail and well let’s just say anyone she shared it to needs to be careful.
Rico: Just sit back and enjoy the show…
Rico: I love you Sierra.
I angle my phone so the guys can see as we watch Savannah being escorted from the office in handcuffs. Tears stream down her face as she begs to be released.
A man and woman follow after her, and I assume they’re her parents. The man has a stern look, his arms wrapped around the woman’s shoulders while she holds a kleenex to her face.
The bitch is getting what she deserves. And I have a good feeling that she won’t be queen bee in prison.
“Let’s get to class, babe.” Colton slips his hand around my back and guides me down the hallway.
Today is looking a lot better.
They handled two out of the three people. I still don’t know where Aunt Sarah is, but I’m ready for her when she shows back up.