Before Her Eyes

Chapter 8

I didn't come out of my room the rest of that day. Well actually I couldn't have if I wanted to, she locked me in. I couldn't complain, I actually really enjoyed being alone sometimes. I made the most of it and went on a horror movie marathon. I fell asleep halfway through a scary movie and woke up this morning to a soft knock at my door.

It was Dana apologizing for the way she reacted and said she was just worried about me. Despite her apology, she said I wasn't able to leave my room until she came back from doing her shopping.

I texted Hunter that I'd meet her at the diner before tossing my phone onto the bed. I walked over to my closet and looked for something to wear. I settled on an oversized sweater with some random college on it and a dark pair of jeans.

Thankfully, my bathroom was connected to my room, so I had no trouble getting ready and continued my normal routine.

I decided to leave my hair down. I never really felt the need to do anything to it other than leave it down. It took too much time and effort to style my curly hair. Having curly hair was no joke. I got tired just from trying to put my hair in a ponytail.

Now there's one thing left to do, figure out how to get out. 

The window? 

No, I'd actually break something trying to sneak out that way, and how would I even get back up? 

Maybe she left the door unlocked?

I went over to my door, hoping she had forgotten to lock it again. Of course she didn't. The door was still locked. I glanced around my room, looking for something to pick the lock. I spotted a few bobby pins on my nightstand and rushed over to the door.

"Got it!" I exclaimed and laughed breathlessly after I finally heard the click.

It was something I've only ever seen in movies, so I was pretty psyched when it actually worked.

I made sure to grab my phone and lock my bedroom door before I headed downstairs, slipped on my shoes, and made my way out the front door.

"Hi Joe!" I waved, spotting Joe sitting on his porch with his newspaper and mug in hand.

He looked at me over the paper and then raised it a little higher, making his face no longer visible. Real mature.

I rolled my eyes, popped my headphones in, and continued walking to Mary's.

Despite it still being cold, I could still feel the warm sun through the frigid air. Like the ice in a hot drink, I'm still able to soak up both and enjoy the vast combination of temperatures.

I tugged on my headphones and slowed my pace once I saw the giant blue sign that said "May's." It actually said "Mary's," but the "r" had basically disappeared with age.

Pretty soon, the "y" would be gone too, and it will just say, "Ma's." That actually had a nice ring to it, but nothing beats Mary's.

Mary always said she'd fix it, but it's been like this since I got here. I secretly liked it, it made me feel like it was calling me home.

Not home as in Dana's but home as in I was meant to be anywhere but there.

No matter how comfortable my sheets were, no matter how much time Dana tried to spend with me, no matter how many forced happy memories filled the house, it was never enough. It never felt like home. I was always more comfortable elsewhere.

Mary's was my comfort place, well besides her house. Since Hunter left for college, I've been going to her mom's diner more frequently. Now that she decided to come visit, we've seen each other a few times, but it felt different than before she left. We were still very close but not as close as we were before.