I stirred into a panic as Olivia tackled me to the floor. "I finally found you!" she exclaimed. "Now get up." But I couldn't. I was paralyzed on the ground. Bad memories rushed through my head. Memories of her pushing me down hard onto the ground after my attempt to escape. My attempt to free myself from her wicked clutch. I still have it fresh in my mind. My rapid breathing and pounding heart.

"Come back here Amy you nasty-" she hollered after me. "No!" I screamed, "Don't touch me." I ran, my blood burst through my veins as I sprinted to the front door, my escape from her wretchedness only a few feet away. I stretched out my hand, but I couldn't open the door. I was too dizzy from my loss of blood. The edges of my vision darkened and my sprint turned into a stumble. 160 pounds came crashing onto me, pinning me down to the ground with her legs. "No, get away." I said hoarsely, the room was spinning now. I tried wiggling free, but it was no use. Blood ran down my arms where I was recently cut and pooled onto the floor. "I n-need to leave." I croaked. "You will never be able to escape." she whispered in my ear, stomping on all the hope I had left into smithereens. I closed my eyes, letting the peaceful quiet black consume me.

"Amy? Are you okay?" Olivia asks snapping me out of my trance. "Yeah, you look really pale." Dia adds.

Olivia stretches out her hand to help me up. I grab it and get off the floor. The scars on my arms start tingling and I start to rub them to make it stop. "Are you coming or not?" the model woman who works here snaps. She doesn't even wait for a response before grabbing Dia's arm and pulling her away. "Sorry Amy!" she squeaks before disappearing behind the slammed door of the fitting room. But I barely hear her, I can only hear her voice "You will never be able to escape." I shiver and rub my arms harder. "Amy," Olivia says loudly. She places a hand on my shoulder snapping me out of my second trance and caused me to flinch. "Sorry" I apologize "I was just surprised." 

"Don't apologize, I should apologize for tackling you to the ground. I just got excited because I finally found you. I'm sorry." She sighs and I stop rubbing my arms to give her a faint smile. "Do you want to leave? I sent Noah and Johan to get food since we would stay here pretty late anyways." I shook my head no. "I shouldn't, I really need a dress for the pageant since I don't have any, plus that lady would probably hunt me down if I left. She was scary." 

Olivia giggles and wraps an arm around my shoulders. "I honestly got shivers when I saw her pull the other girl away," she admitted. "By the way, who was that other girl?" 

"Huh? Oh, she goes to our school. She was also nominated for the beauty pageant. We bumped into each other here and now she's helping me." I explain starting to cheer up and forget about what just happened. Olivia smiled. "I actually helped get you nominated." she blurted. I arched an eyebrow slightly surprised at this. "How did you do that?" I asked, curiosity sparking my insides. "Wait, so your not mad?" Olivia asked with wide eyes. I shook my head. "I actually did some research, and it's actually good for college if I win."

"Man, your always thinking about school." 

"That's not true. Sometimes I think about how to cook anything besides instant ramen."

Olivia laughs. "I helped you get nominated by begging everyone to vote for you, I kinda did that as a joke. However, someone really helped when I asked them. They even joined the club responsible for the voting in order to make sure you were nominated. It sounds creepy at first, but it was also kind of sweet."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

"Tell me! I could at least thank them."

After a few more attempts at trying to pry open Olivia, I gave up. It was kind of perfect timing when I gave up too because a beaming Dia reappeared out of the fitting room. Olivia and I turned our faces towards her. "I got my dress!" Dia squealed holding up the black bag that hid her pageant dress. "Show us!" Olivia and I said in unison. "I can't." Dia said placing a finger to her lips in a secretive manner "Its a surprise." I huff out in annoyance. Dia notices me and laughs. I like her laugh. It's light, but it also makes you want to laugh back. In a nice way. The pretty girl employee appears behind Dia and furrows her eyebrows. "I helped you with your dress, now get out!" she snaps waving her hands in a shooing motion. Dia stops laughing and practically jumps away in surprise. The woman proceeds to snatch my wrist and forced me inside. I had another flashback but I shook it away and swallowed the rising vomit in my throat. It burned the back of my throat and made my eyes water, but I just blinked them back.

"Now for you." The lady says, taking out a measuring tape. She measures my waist, arms, legs, and chest. She stands in front of me and taps her chin in a thinking manner. "Hmm," she mumbles. She grabs a white tank top and white shorts, which were folded neatly on top of a cabinet. "Put these on while I fetch some dresses." She says tossing them to me. I realize how much skin I'll show, along with all my scars. I can't wear this! "Um, I don't think I want to wear these." I say. The lady looks back at me and furrows her eyebrows, her eyes ablaze. "Of course you will wear them, your very skinny, so you'll fit perfectly." I start to protest, but she's already left the room and slammed the door.

I chew on my lip. Will she judge me for my scars? Regardless of whatever she will think, I don't want to get yelled at for not wearing the white clothes. I pull off my shirt and pants. I look at myself in the big mirror in front of me. I notice that my ribs faintly show from my skin. I suck in my stomach. Wow, I need to eat more. It's not that I don't like eating, but I'm always busy, and I'm a horrible cook, so food doesn't always seem so necessary for me.

I look at the large number of scars tracing down my spine, arms, legs, and shoulders. I wince at some of them, remembering how deep they were and how I never got stitches for them. They would stick out and become bumpy. I was lucky that they never became infected.

 I slip on the tank top and shorts, just in time for the lady to come inside with a butt-load of dresses. There were different color dresses. Some had poofy bottoms, most of them had a tight fit, which I didn't like. She looked at me and froze. My gut plummeted down to my toes and my heartbeat quickened a little. Maybe she's just analyzing me? I hope she doesn't ask any questions. She slowly took her gaze off me and started ruffling through her dresses. She picked out a couple and laid them gently on the drawer. Then, she stands in front of me and starts tapping her chin again, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Your skin is pale, but your cheeks, and shoulders are a little pink. You also have a great body, so if you show it off to the judges, you can get a better chance of winning. Those scars will definitely take off points." I wince at the comment. "Definitely cover those up with a tight long sleeve. Your eyes are green, so definitely put green in the dress."

She mumbles a little more and then she walks over to the mountain of dresses and pulls one out. "Try this one."

1376 Words!

A/N:

I'm not dead yet! I'm sorry that I didn't post much, but this epidemic has given me time to update. Stay safe everybody!