𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡 || Michael Jackson

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 6: 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

The remaining hours of the day went by with only terror and fear of what will happen next. I could see it was also the case with Willow and Laura. We skipped school today, and the girls decided to stay until late afternoon at my house instead of going back home. I asked them how they slept last night. They all said my room was nice but kept waking up. Willow had nightmares but Laura felt something straining down her back. I didn't expect my first sleepover with my friends to turn out this way. They didn't talk much. They went back home right when things started to get talkative.

The subject about the stone suddenly came to me. I snuck off to the storage area, where the washing machine was. Lucky my dad didn't wash the clothes yet, he just left the pile of dirty clothes by the tub next to it. I dug through socks and underwear to finally find my pants yesterday sitting at the very bottom. I fished it out and searched through the pockets. I pulled out the stone. My eyes inspected it for a while, seeing if there were any scratches or new marks to be concerned about. Nothing. A sigh of relief came out. I jumped when I heard a door nearby. My dad was making his way to the storage room. My quick thinking saved me when I decided to stuff it in my bra. Bad decision. It was really cold and felt uncomfortable. However, I wasn't able to switch places because my dad entered the room.

"Hi? You don't do laundry."

"I know. I was looking for the broom and dustpan because there are eraser shavings all over my room."

See? I should totally should be an actor.

"Oh. Lemme guess, drawing?"

"Hehe. Yeah."

"I used it outside just now." He pointed out the window closest to the door.

"Thanks." That's all I said. I headed out the door and saw the broom and dustpan leaning on the door frame. As I was making my way up the stairs, my dad called out to me.

"Yamira."

"Yes?" I hope this doesn't take too long. The stone is freezing up on my chest.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes why?"

"Come here."

Oh boy, I jinxed myself. This might take a while. I took the few last steps down and almost closed the great distance between me and my dad. My mind raced on what he could possibly want to talk to me about. Is it still because he was mad I was right about Kira being the killer on his favourite TV show, or is it something else?

"What really happened at the cinema yesterday?" Oh. I didn't expect that from him.

"Huh?"

"The police said many people there saw different things."

"Yeah. I didn't see what happened, only the aftermath of it all. I only saw the man dead."

"They also said you stayed behind for a while."

"I did."

"Why?"

"I was mainly in shock. I wanted to help him but I didn't know how."

"Where was he?"

"In the seat behind me."

He gasped, but stopped himself. "W-Were you scared?"

I was incapable of talking. I can't lie to him. I nodded again.

I saw my dad became soft for once. His posture slumped. He gazed back with heavy eyes, eyes full of mixed harsh emotions I couldn't tell apart. And all of a sudden, he embraced me. I hugged him back. I thought he just felt sad for what I had to witness on that day, but he began to whimper and sniff. What he was feeling was more than devastation.