Page 137 of Every Broken Promise
If I had it in me to laugh, I would. Not only had the damage already been done, but Ronnie wanted to do to me exactly the same thing that had been done in my senior year.
I could recover from one scandal, but two? I wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Astrid,” he told me as he began to stand up.
Not thinking twice, I sprinted to the bathroom. My heart raced even faster as I did. I could hear his footsteps right behindme. I blocked out the way he yelled my name and focused on my goal.
“Astrid!” he yelled, and I screamed, causing me to drop my phone as soon as I walked in.
I let all of my weight push back against the door, so he couldn’t open it, and quickly locked it. The only reason I was able to manage it was the adrenaline coursing through me and the fact that the distance to the bathroom was working in my favor.
“Open the door, Astrid!” he yelled as he tried to push the door open.
With my weight on the door, I reached around the wall, trying to locate the light switch. When I found it, I felt a tad bit better. I could see my reflection in the mirror, and it looked like something out of a horror film.
I could see my body move every time Ronnie attempted to push the door.
My saving grace was that Ronnie wasn’t a gym guy, or else I would have been even more fucked.
Ignoring all that, I looked down to see where my phone had landed. Good, not too far. I could reach for it with my foot while I kept my weight on the door.
“Astrid, open the door!”
I flinched.
I closed my eyes as if that would make it better. I kept dragging the phone until it was right underneath me.
Slowly, I lowered myself while I kept the pressure against the door. My thighs burned from the physical excursion. If I lived through this, I would become a gym girly—definitely a hot-girl-walk girly if the gym thing didn’t pan out.
Please, God, let me live.
Aha, the phone was in my hand!
“You leave me no choice, Astrid. I’m doing this for your own good!” Ronnie screamed.
I had my phone in my hand, but I didn’t start my call, instead I pushed my ear to the door and tried to see what the fuck Ronnie was up to.
The other side of the door was quiet, and that made me nervous.
Before I made my call, I turned on my phone’s flashlight and turned off the lights so I could hear better without the constant buzzing of the ventilator.
Nothing came from the other side.
I didn’t let myself think of how gross the floor was when I dropped down and tried to see if I could hear better from the small crevice at the bottom of the door.
The lack of shadow for where Ronnie’s foot should be was concerning. I winced as I pressed my cheek to the cold dirty floor so I could better press my ear to the door.
“…Yes, I’m concerned about her well-being. She’s been struggling for a while. I just want someone to come and open her door. I’m scared she might do something drastic…” I stopped listening to the bullshit Ronnie was telling the front desk.
I sat up against the door.
In my state, I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I called the one person whom I knew I could feel safe with.
The phone rang, and rang, and with each time it went unanswered, my heart cracked a little bit, making me hate Ronnie all the more. Ty’s voicemail greeted me.
“Ty…” I said his name in a shaky exhale. “I-I-I’m really scared.” I took a deep breath, getting myself together. “My boss broke into my room. I just want you to know that the paper…that wasn’t me. I would never…”
I stopped speaking when a man’s voice shouted from the other side of the door.
