Chapter 29
388 Words
Chapter 29
“You look like skata,” Billy said as soon as he saw me.
“Jee thanks Romeo. Tell me more of those compliments of yours,” I said and rubbed my eyes. I hadn’t slept a peep. He was staring at me, worried. His eyes fell on the my scraped knees, the cuts on my arms. He couldn’t see the bruises I had acquired on my belly, but I felt them just fine. My hair was a mess, my eyes sunken and dark. I was brushing my snot on my sleeve.
Selfie time!
No way.
My tall friend had come by himself, being worried all night about me. I was sure he had lost a bit of sleep over me, but he sure had had a better rest than me. He had called me from the outskirts of the small forest, looking around for me.
“I’m gonna sneak in home, I need a shower,” I said, pulling my schoolbag in one strap over my shoulder.
“Let me walk you there. What else can I do to help?”
I shrugged and led the way. “Get me a flashlight. I lost mine.”
We walked back to my house. The light of the dawn washed over me. I was feeling tired, sleepy, hurting in places I didn’t know I could. But there’s something about the light of a new day that washes the worries away. And some of the fear. Physically, I was still feeling horrible. Emotionally, I wasn’t that bad.
I opened the front door as quietly as I could. I had done it so many times, that I knew the places I needed to apply pressure to avoid all noise.
I snuck in the hall, carefully placing my steps on the wooden floor. It creaked all right, and in the silence it sounded dangerously loud. But I had tested the noise, and was fairly confident that it didn’t get through the room walls.
I took a few steps, exhaling as I neared my room, where I could drop off my dirty clothes which would give me away in an instant. I was just in time to avoid dad, and mom should be avoided anyway cause she would assume the worst. That I was doing excessive physical activity in the forest, more likely.
Just a few more steps.
And then I heard a massive yawn and I froze midstep.
“Mahi?” My dad said and clinked his coffee mug.
- Writer
