Hush

Chapter four: part two

Mom burst in with Sophia's hat and coat tucked under her arm, she sees her on top of me and offers a painful grimace in apology. 

"Sophia come on, you don't want Dad to leave with out you!"  

Sophia gasped her chocolate brown eyes wide as if it were the most terrifying thought she could comprehend. Thankfully jumping off my bed and running toward the doorway allowing Mom to wrap her in the coat.

I flopped back down and shut my eyes. A monster clawing at the inside of my rib cage echoing those thundering sounds that were coming from my heart

"Levi" Mom said before she left

"Get up, eat breakfast do," she waved her hand in the air before finishing her sentence

"something".

I groaned softly doing something wasn't on my daily agenda I had an urgent appointment with sleep. She shut the door just before Crayola pulled another one of her marvelous escape maneuvers one that would undoubtedly have us searching for hours to find her and several more trying to coax her out of her hiding place. That was the  main reason why she wasn't aloud out of my room. The other reason was, she hated everyone else they denied it but it was the unavoidable truth. The cat was a lunatic. And that look it gave everyone but me could be nothing less than pure, livid hatred.

Crayola, after a few sad attempts, managed to jump on my bed. She looked at me accusingly as if to say, "Why do you let those weird noisy people in here?"

She crawled around my arms before deciding my face was a good place to sit. Maybe I should have been patient and said something like,

"Please get your butt of my face."

But my reaction was more along the lines of snatching her off me with both hands and throwing her across the room.

With one of those high pitched screeches that you wouldn't expect coming from a fluffy little animal she tore across the carpet and tried to run through the door, which unfortunately for her remained tangible. She arched her back and hissed, I felt kind of bad. But cat butts do not belong on my face, sorry.

The pills didn't work, my heart pounded faster, I needed sleep,

Mark came in without bothering to knock putting his fingers to his lips as if I was the one making too much noise. His other hand was gripped on the cellphone that seemed to be glued to his ear. 

Seeing the escape she needed Crayola darted through the doorway making those weird alien sounds of victory and triumph, her claws ripping carpet as she raced down the hall. Marks eyes widened  with realization he promptly ended his conversation and his arm along with the phone dropped to his side.

"Oh crap"

He turned and raced after her. I hesitated before sighing and throwing off the covers to fallow. His footsteps thundered down the stairs and the cat turned the corner wildly tearing over the rug and diving underneath the sofa Mark bent down and swiped his hand underneath it, tying to scare her out. He motioned for me to go to the other side so I could catch her when she ran again. I knelt down and reached under the furniture. Her eyes swallowed and reflected the light, making them look like they were glowing. She barred her teeth and hissed not recognizing us, the ones who were just trying to help. she was too scared, irrationally terrorized and corned shaking slightly but remaining fixed in the middle were neither of us could reach her. I backed up a few paces and Mark did the same. After a few silent moments she must have decided she was safe and ran again as fast as those tiny little legs could take her out from underneath the sofa, far away from us. Mark's arm shot out trying to grab her but was too slow. He scrambled to his feet.  His pocket quivered from the vibrating cell phone. He reached in and flipped it open sighing before running his fingers across the key bored and pressing the send button, a little harder than it needed to be pressed. He looked up at me and shrugged,

"I gotta go."

Typical of him to leave before the mess he made was cleaned.

He looked around, the cat was hiding somewhere, I hadn't been paying attention so I didn't know where.

I turned toward the door preparing my self for the crash that would come when he slammed it. Just long enough for me to clearly see Crayola make her escape. Her tail disappeared as the space between the doorway and the wall closed.

I stood, the door the white rectangular object standing intimidatingly a few feet in front of me. The only thing keeping it out. standing in my way, if only I could open it. I thought of Sophia, my baby sister walking in and searching, the laundry hamper, the closet every corner of every room , then she would look up at me expectedly and her young innocent voice would say in a questioning tone,

"Kitty?"

But there wouldn't be a cat to find. Mark wouldn't know what happened they would never blame him Sophia would be sobbing the cat would be missing Mom would be angry and it would be, all my fault.

"Stupid cat." I thought irritably, taking one step forward toward the door at the end of the hallway. the hallway that seemed to have become miles longer. I took another step. and another my trembling hand reached up and rested on the door knob.

Silence, none of the creeks or noise the house seemed to make were there. only my heart beating faster and faster. It could be there behind that door, waiting just waiting for me to turn the knob. I remembered what they told me when I got back home, that it couldn't hurt me not anymore. My hand gripped the knob so timidly it would only take a gust of wind to blow it of again. I clutched it harder inhaled deeply and turned the knob.

The sun beamed down on my unprotected face. Burning my paper like skin, I squinted. A light breeze fluttered past me, pressing my close against my body the white T-shirt hugging my lean frame and making my rib cage slightly visible. I was so vulnerable standing there in the door-way, in my socks and loosely fitting clothing. So alone.

I took a shuddering breath and swallowed.

I took another step, just one more, a small meaningless step it would have been, if it hadn't been a step outside.