“Sometimes I just felt the need to scream out, I was kidnapped! Somebody help me!”
-Ethan
------------
I zipped up my suitcase as I gave my room one last look. The saddest thing about all of this was like it didn’t even feel like my home anymore. The pictures of video games that lined my walls were no longer what I was passionate about. I felt the urge to rip them down and shred them into a tiny million little pieces. I wanted to get rid of my Iron Man bed sheets I’d had for so long. My room didn’t reflect me any more… Now it was just a room.
“Ethan, we need to leave in five minutes!”
“Okay, mom!” I propped my suitcase up so that it was standing. I leaned on the handle, closing my eyes for a few seconds. The week had gone by in a motion I couldn’t define as either fast or slow. There were points where I felt as if I couldn’t even count the minutes, but then there were times when each ticking moment seemed to kill me slowly. I wasn’t too sure what that was a sign of.
After what had happened with Tim, the rest of vacation seemed to go by in a blur. The hardest part was watching my mother give us the news, the pain as she felt the need to break it to us softly. My mother who still thought we didn’t know much about death, that we were her little children who couldn’t handle tough news. It only saddened me to see how little she knew. Yet, it was a man who loved her that did all of this.
“Ethan,” my mother had called to us next day. “Could you come see me in the kitchen?”
Making my way towards the kitchen, I knew what was about to happen.
“I have some news for you… I know these last few days have been rough…”
“It’s okay, mom,” I said softly. “I can handle it.”
“I just received word from a friend of mine that Tim passed away yesterday.”
I didn’t say much.
“He was an old friend-enemy of your brother. It’s complicated.”
“Any explanation on what happened?” It was the only thing I could think to say.
“The police are looking into it, but there are suspicions on drug overdose. He was found at a nearby motel, most likely where he was stashing the drugs.”
For some reason, all I could think about at that moment was, maybe that was what Mr. Grey was holding over Tim? Illegal drugs?
“How did Matt handle the news?”
“How did I handle what?” Matt poked his head into the kitchen. “If you’re talking about Tim, I basically told mom he could rot in Hell, because that kid ruined my entire fucking life.”
In more ways than my mother will ever know. Tim was the reason Matt wanted to leave, go off to boarding school. And look where that got us.
“Honey…” I could tell my mom was astonished by Matt’s behavior. I guess she didn’t know this side of Matt had existed. Maybe it hadn’t before we had left in the fall, but this side of Matt had grown into his mind since Hamilton.
And even though we all didn’t talk about what happened, we were inwardly asking ourselves questions. Mr. Grey had covered for us back at the hotel, making sure there was no evidence of us being at the crime scene. Why? It was most likely all part of his scheme to eat away at our minds, and it was surely working. Now I was constantly fearing that the police would come knocking down our door any second.
The next few days after that, I don’t really know what went on with Matt. Julia and Amy kept their distance from him, instead they focused their time on visiting old friends. So that’s what Johnny and I decided to do too. We went out to the movies, played laser tag, had our friends over for a Call of Duty game.
Basically anything to keep our minds off of what had happened.
It was definitely good to see my old friends again. But the two and a half months at Hamilton had changed me. I found the things my friends argued over trivial. It was like we no longer had a common ground to discuss. We were living off memories that would come up in conversation. Whenever one of them would bring up their current school, both Johnny and I would feel lost.
Sometimes I just felt the need to scream out, I was kidnapped! Somebody help me! Somebody help.
But of course I couldn’t. Anyways, what could one do to really help me? We had dug ourselves in too deep to do anything about it now. The only thing that was helping me hold on was the fact that in just a few hours, I would be back at school, back to a place where I was surrounded by people. It’s hard to explain how I preferred school to my home, but it comes with having a mind as troubled as mine.
Getting my suitcase, I rolled it out of my room and shut off the light. Giving one last look at my pathetic, neatly made bed, I shut the door. I made my way down the stairs, silently passing my brother as I crossed the railing. I got a pang as I remembered the days he would spend constantly asking me if I was okay. Now we knew better than to ask each other that.
I put my suitcase in the trunk and headed for the backseat. A slight drizzle had started. I watched the little raindrops race each other down the glass. “I hope the flights are fine with the rain that’s coming,” I heard my mother say. Matt slid into the seat next to me. Our eyes met, but we didn’t speak. The whole car ride I watched the rain as it gradually started to come down harder.
“It was great having you guys home,” my mother said as she hugged each of us.
“You guys work hard,” my father patted us both on the back. “No failing any classes, okay?” He winked at us and gave us both a hug.
Julia said goodbye to her family, and the Fishers said their goodbyes, and then all five of us headed over to security-check in.
“Have a safe flight!” Amy’s mom yelled out.
“Call us once you land!”
We all looked back and laughed at our parents, who were still super protective of us. Walking inbetween my friends as we headed for the check-in, I started to smile.
“I hate to say it guys,” Amy laughed, “but it feels like we’re going home.”
____________
AHH. What can I say.
a. sorry this is so short
b. sorry it took so long to upload :/ I was terribly sick, with like a fever of 103. And then I had exams all week, so it wasn't a very good combination. But it's all done and I'm on spring break, so yay I can write!
Finally done with them being at home, back to Hamilton! It's bad I shouldn't be as excited as I am for this. But I'm ready to party. Heheheh. I can write about Andrew and Kyle again. xD
Anywhoo, I'll upload asap. Love you guys.
Peace out.
Ella
Comment, vote, fan<3
YOU ARE READING
Chasing Shadows
Mystery / ThrillerIn book two, things are not what they seem. They thought things were bad before, when their teacher tried to kill them, but why does it seem like things have worsened after his death? Trust is put on the line as family is now at stake, and they have...
