Tick tock tick tock tick...

The sound of the clock hanging above the big blackboard is the only thing my brain can currently focus on. The professor standing in front of said blackboard is motioning with his hands as he explains the different chemicals that are released by human brains and how they affect our emotions and decision making.

But this is just the gist of it. As I said, I can only focus on the ticking of the clock.

A hand is placed on my thigh unexpectedly, startling me. I look up from the hand and towards the person to which it belongs to, seeing Sophie. She smiles at me with slight worry reflecting in her baby blue eyes.

"Hey you okay?" she asks with concern lacing her tone. Between the shaking of my legs and staring emotionlessly at the clock for the past 40 minutes, I'm not surprised that she's weirded out by my behaviour.

"Yes I'm fine, thanks" I replied, trying to stop my voice from cracking.

In reality, I wasn't fine. Over a week has passed since my body's last taste of the needle that is currently wrapped in my blue and red handkerchief in the attic. The door to the attic has remained closed, even though the last few nights my body has been begging me to go up to the dust infested room.

I've been trying to distract myself from the urges by studying and completing all my assignments; not wanting to give in so easily. I still remember the night that happened just over a week ago. The worry and concern that Olive and James held for me. The care and love that Dylan expressed when I talked to him on the steps outside the house. I don't remember ever having that in my life, at least not after my dad left when I was a child.

That night made me realise that these are the people that I don't want to disappoint. I don't want to let them down, not whilst I'm still here living with them. I've disappointed enough people in my life and I really didn't want to add more people to the list.

My body had different ideas though.

As the hands of the clock kept moving forwards, my body became more impatient making me stand up abruptly, collect all my things and leave out of the door of the auditorium. I could hear the murmurs of student I left behind, talking and wondering why I left so suddenly, however the hushed voices were quickly forgotten as I had a destination I had to get to.

The hallways were full of students either walking to their next class or standing in their groups of friends and catching up after the weekend that has passed. As I finally managed to break through the front door of the building and into the outside air, I breathed a sigh of relief. I'm just a little bit closer to getting my fix. Not long now.

In all my hurry I never took notice of the bright sun shining down on me, or the birds that were flowing freely through the air and chirping happily.

None of that mattered to me. Not now.

My surroundings were blurred as I rushed towards the street that will be my saving grace. It was almost as if I was running on autopilot and my legs were programmed to bring me to my favourite person in the world right now; Dennis. I've seen him a few times now, some may say too many times, and he's actually quite a cool guy. He's a little bit of a loner just like me and I took quite a liking to him.

After about 20 minutes of non-stop walking and weaving through crowds of people on the street, I was finally on the street where Dennis usually conducts his business. The street was empty compared to the ones I left behind, mainly due to the fact that this street was known for its illegal activities, and only those partaking in those activities would come here. Many of the windows along the street were boarded up when all the businesses decided to leave this part of town. Now many of the buildings are used as hangout places and drug lairs as Dennis calls them.

Speaking of whom, as I'm walking towards his designated street lamp, I can see him leaning against it and whistling to himself. He was wearing his signature hoodie, skinny jeans and biker boots combo. I don't think I've ever seen him wearing anything else, even when it's really warm like today.

As I'm approaching him, he hears the sound of my doc martins scraping against the asphalt in a hurry and lifts his eyes towards my approaching figure.

"Hey, there is my sweet cheeks! I was wondering when I'd be seeing you next" he gave me a smile so wide, it caused for some lines to appear at the corner of his eyes.

"Hi Dennis! How's it going?" I asked as I now stood in front of him and gave him a quick hug. I told you we became quite close.

"Eh you know, the usual. The boss isn't happy with the sales and my old man is giving me a hard time again, but other than that I can't complain," he chuckled without humour and nudged my shoulder, "How about you though? You haven't been by here in a while. To tell you the truth, I was hoping it would stay this way sweet cheeks"

"You and me both, but you know as well as I do that it's hard to stop" I replied, knowing that if there is anyone who could understand me, it's Dennis.

Dennis is a dealer and that's how he makes his living, but he doesn't do any hard drugs himself. He told me how seeing all his customers changing and slipping to rock bottom in front of his eyes has deterred him from using, no matter how tempting it was. He knows too many people who have lost their lives to drugs and he's determined to not become one of them. It also seems that his determination is now moving onto me as well as I look into his warm, brown eyes.

"So I'm guessing you want your usual?" he was now looking straight ahead, as he went into business mode. I hummed in agreement, my cash ready in my hand to pay for my body's cravings, as Dennis subtly reached into his jean pocket to retrieve my order.

Before he could take out the baggie on which my sanity depended on, male voices hollered towards us. As I looked around trying to identify who the voices belonged to, Dennis started cursing under his breath and shuffling nervously on the spot. Suddenly remembering that I was here with him, he turned his body towards me and started pushing me away in the opposite direction of where the voices were coming from.

"Amber you need to go now! Get as far away from here as possible but please don't go straight home in case they follow you. Go to a café or a shop or may..."

"And who have we got here Dennis? Is this your girlfriend?" said a snarky and rough voice, giving me the impression that the owner of the voice has been smoking for a very long time.

"Shit" Dennis muttered, moving in front of me and putting himself between me and them. The 2 men were now standing a few metres away from Dennis and I, swaying slightly on their feet indicating that they were drunk. I studied them briefly and tried to assess my chances of getting away from them without getting hurt. They were both very tall and well built from working out, no doubt. One of the men had a blonde buzz cut, cloudy grey eyes and a long light beard. There were bags underneath his light eyes which created a stark contrast. The other man was the complete opposite of his friend. He has almost black, long hair that reached his shoulders, dark brown eyes and was clean-shaven. There were some wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes and on his forehead, and were accompanied by several scars that were visible from a distance. His jawline looked so sharp it could probably cut steel.

"Hey there pretty girl. You don't have to hide from us. Tell us, what's your name?" The black haired man asked me directly, trying to peek over Dennis to see me fully. My instincts were telling me to cower away and stay quiet but to be completely honest, I never listened to my instincts.

"Dixie Normas, that's my stripper name" I said, sarcasm dripping off of every word leaving my mouth. The two men chuckled lightly, looking at each other and clearly having a silent conversation with their eyes.

"You're funny little girl, but we're not here for the jokes. You see, we monitor these streets and we don't like what's been happening around here lately. Pretty girls you like walking around here like you own the place. It's time we change that" as the black haired man finished his sentence, the blonde man stepped forwards and pushed Dennis to the ground with one swing of his arm.

"Dennis!" my voice came out in a shriek-like manner, full of surprise and despair. I went to run towards him but I was stopped by someone grabbing me by the arm and pulling me back. The grip was so strong, it felt like a vice curling around my forearm with no intention of letting me go. The force behind the pull was so strong it felt like my bone will pop out of my shoulder socket any minute now. I tried my best to wiggle out of the grip that the blonde man had me in but to no avail.

"Stop moving little girl" said the husky voice of the blonde man directly into my ear, making my body shiver with disgust and fear.

Looking towards Dennis, he was struggling to get up from the ground. There was some bleeding coming from his forehead and dripping onto the ground. As he continued to struggle, he looked towards me with apologetic eyes.

"I'm so sorry" he mouthed to me, as he once again collapsed on the ground after another failed attempt at standing up.

As I was being held back by the blonde man, his black haired friend stepped in front of me and tilted my chin towards him, making me look into his muddy brown eyes.

"Now we can have some fun little girl" he showed me his yellow teeth when he smiled at me.

"I'd much rather die than spend another second with you" I replied, not backing down, not wanting to appear weak in what could be my last few moments on this earth.

"Your wish is my command little girl" he snarled with an evil look in his eyes.

Hey there lovelies and happy Monday!

How was everyone's weekend? Let me know what you got up to. I just wrote a little bit of the chapter and mostly watched Netflix.

Also, I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger on this chapter! I was going to write more but then I thought that a cliff-hanger would be more fun haha

Question time: What is your all time favourite snack when watching movies or just chilling with your friends? Mine has to be either fruit pastilles or Haagen Dazs Pralines and Cream ice cream. Yum!

I will try to update at the beginning of next week so you can find out what happens to Amber and Dennis :)

Have a lovely week everyone!

Until next time xxx