Escaping to the valley

(Chapter 4: Chilling with friends, and annoying calls from family)

He then walked over to me, and gestured for me to give him the fly away ball, which I did, before he walked back to the opposite side of the pool table.

"Well that game went well." Sam said sarcastically, resting his arms on the pool table.

"Yeah, I can say it did." Sebastian said with a smug, slightly pained grin, with his hand covering the spot that Sam had elbowed him.

I then took my notebook out of my pocket, and wrote "Do these games always turn out... Violent?"

"Nah, don't worry. It's all in good fun. Right, Sebby?" Sam asked, before his friend awkwardly nodded as a response, trying to ignore the use of that nickname, which felt more painful than the elbow to the stomach that he got earlier.

After chatting a bit, and making jokes about who they think would win, Sam and Sebastian went back to playing their game.

That's when I felt my phone going off in my pocket.

I quickly took it out, looked at it, then nearly dropped it when I found out who was texting me.

My face went pale as I looked at the name '🅱️🇷@' that I chose for my brother's caller ID.

I then looked at the text he had sent me.

(Text from bro)

🅱️🇷@: Hey dude. Where u at? Mom's been lookin for you for a few days now.

🅱️🇷@: Got real mad that you just ran away without saying a word.

🅱️🇷@: Are u there?

🅱️🇷@: Speaking of... She said she's gonna call you if you don't tell me why you left, so...

🅱️🇷@: Better think of something fast, idiot!😂

(End text from bro)

As I looked at the text, I quickly wiped the sweat from my hands onto my pants. "Nonononononono. Why now?" I thought, before glancing up, only to see that Sam and Sebastian were no longer paying attention to their game, and looking at me with worried looks on their faces.

"Uh... You good, farmer? Ya look like you're about to hurl." Sam said.

I just tried to force a smile, and nodded, before my phone went off again. I once again checked the caller ID, only for my heart to sink when seeing 'Birth-Giver'.

I just let it ring for a bit, not knowing what to do.

After listening to the annoying ringtone for a while, it went to voicemail... And that's when I remembered that I had forgotten to turn the volume down on my phone.

"Willow Ann! Pick up your phone RIGHT NOW, young lady! You have NO reason to just run away without a word! I'm going to keep calling until you pick up!" My mother said in an angry tone before hanging up.

The misgendering hurt quite a bit, but I just had to remember that I wasn't out to any of my family. They were a big part of the reason I moved to the valley after all.

I let out a shaky breath, and put my phone on mute, before putting it back in my pocket.

"Oooohhh~ Sounds like someone's in trouble. What happened?" Abigail asked, sitting on the couch beside me.

"Wait. You ran away from your family?" Sam asked worriedly, to which I just nodded, before quickly wiping the tears from my eyes.

Every time my phone vibrated in my pocket, I felt a mix of guilt and panic run through my body, knowing what was waiting for me on the other end of the line. But I just sat there, hoping my mother would eventually take the hint, and stop trying to call me.