My heart was still racing by the time I got Paige home. The night seemed tranquil, oblivious to the hell Paige and I had gone through. We hadn't said a word since we left Darksdale, I mean, how could we? We had just had a near death experience (or I guess that's what happened). Paige seemed far away. Her heart was still pounding loudly (or was that mine?). When I got her to her house, she squeezed my hand (which, by the way,had been tightly clasped together since we left Darksdale) tighter and turned to look up to me. The moon lit up her perfect blue eyes and her face (which was full of fear). I couldn't go home alone, and her eyes showed that she didn't want to be alone either. Without words, we proceeded to my house together. The lights were out. It was at this time that I remembered to check the time on my phone. I pulled it out of my pocket and realized that it was almost morning. We sneaked into the house using the backdoor and got into my room as quietly as possible. We got into bed, all our clothes on, our hands still clasped together. The night Paige expected to be a fun experience had turned into a nightmare, a page straight from the devil's handbook (if there's such a thing). We turned to face each other. Still no words to be said, but we understood each other. And the fact that we had professed our love just hours ago had been swallowed up by the fear we had gone through. I felt like the night wouldn't end. It kept on going and going. Each time I tried closing my eyes, the children haunted me. It was all I could see. I think it was the same for Paige. She also had not shut her eyes for more than a minute.
"I'm sorry," I heard Paige whisper. Her voice was raspy, rugged. I think due to lack of water (which by the way, I hadn't even thought of offering).
" For what?" I asked back. My voice almost a whisper I barely even heard it (well she apparently heard it, or I thought so).
"It's my fault. All of it is my. I shouldn't have brought you there. I shouldn't have..." I couldn't hear the rest of her sentence as her voice trailed off. There was regret in her voice, a pain that I knew would take her time to heal from.
"Paige, It's not your fault. I agreed to go with you..."
"You came because I asked you to. What if something could have happened to..." she said this statement as a new emotion flashed through her eyes. It was horror, a fresh realization of what might have happened. It pained me to see her that way. Paige, nothing happened. I'm here, you're here, and that's what matters."
Paige hesitated, her voice barely audible. “But what if something had happened? What if I had lost you?”
“You didn’t, Paige,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “But if you had, I would’ve known it was worth it—because I was with you. Because I finally learnt that you felt the same for me.”
Paige pulled her hand away and turned to face away. Her shoulders shook, and I realized she was crying. “You don’t understand,” she choked out. “I can’t stop thinking about what could have happened… what I could have lost.” Her words were filled with a depth of fear that I hadn’t fully grasped until that moment. I inched closer, my heart aching at the sight of her in so much pain. “I’m here, Paige. I’m not going anywhere.”
Paige didn’t speak again. I understood that she needed that time. She needed to know that it wasn’t her fault, but my words weren’t going to be enough. She had to learn that on her own. I let her cry, though I felt like doing the same, I knew I had to be strong, if not for me, then for her. The rest of the night was spent in silence, her staring at my blank cream bedroom wall, and me at her back.
I don’t know how long I had been asleep for when my mom's voice startled me awake.
“Robin, open this door!” my mom demanded. There was a bit of anger in her voice. Paige was startled as well (seems she had also fallen asleep).
‘What did I do now?’ My mind raced.
“Hide!” I whispered to Paige, who had turned to stare at me with her piercing blue eyes.
“Where?”
“Closet! Move!” I shoved her out of the bed, and she nearly landed face first on the floor.
“What was that?” my mom asked (she had heard the thud Paige made when I pushed her off the bed)
“I’m getting off the bed, mom,” I said as I helped Paige up and pushed her into my closet. I finally managed to get Paige in the closet when my mom opened the door. I tried to act normal, that is if I remembered what normal was (no kidding).
“Why aren’t you prepared for school?” my mom asked while heading towards me.
“I overslept,” I said, but my voice was still dry. My heart was pounding, hard. She stopped in front of me and looked at me for a full minute. It’s like her eyes were scanning deep inside of me. I had to think fast.
“Mom, get out! I need to dress up for school,” I said, still unsure of what she was looking for.
"Be fast about it, you are already late as it is," she said and left my room. Once the coast was clear, I opened the closet, and Paige stumbled out and collapsed on my bed. She stared at my room's ceiling. Her face was expressionless. I sat myself on the floor, heaving a sigh of relief (normally, Paige and I would be laughing right now).
"Robin!" came my mom's voice from the kitchen. She sounded agitated. I hadn't even gotten ready for school. I got up. Paige hadn't moved a muscle.
"Let me get you something from my sister's room you could change into," I said, slightly opening my door and peeking out through the gap. The hallway was clear. Evie (short for
Evelyn) must already be downstairs by now. She's always going on about how precious time is, and not a minute of it is to be wasted. She's 14 but almost the same size as
Paige. I sneaked into her room and quickly grabbed a pair of blue skinny jeans and a plain white blouse (my sister will kill me for borrowing her clothes).Paige still hadn't moved.
"Here, put these on," I said as I handed her Evie's clothes. She sat up on the bed and looked at me.
"Oh, Sorry," I said, realizing that she needed me not to watch her change. I turned to face away from her, "I won't look, I promise."
"Robin!" That was my sister, Evie. She was coming up the stairs and she sounded even angrier than my mom. She was a feisty one, I'll give her that. She was already at my room's door. Paige had already changed into her clothes.
"Don't come in. I'm still changing," I said, trying to keep her out of my room. Too late! The door flew open and her eyes widened on seeing Paige. A weird look came over her face as she turned to look at me. She looked back at Paige once again, then back at me.
"Did she spend the night here?" Then she saw it, and a sudden flash of anger spread mildly across her face, "Are those my clothes? Why is she in my clothes?" She was
almost shouting.
"Keep your voice down!" I said, shushing her. "I need to get her out without mom knowing she was ever here, please."
"What's in it for me?" she asked, a cheeky smile playing on her face.
"Whatever you want, but please, help me," I said, almost pleading.
"And why is she so quiet today, did you two, you know..." Evie asked, noticing Paige's odd silence, as she raised her eyebrows, cheekily.
"Oh my God, Evie, go and find a way to distract mom," I said, almost shoving her out of my room.
"Mom! Mom!" Evie shouted from her room. She sounded terrified, almost like Paige and I were just a few hours ago. It was as if Paige shared the same thoughts as mine because
her eyes said it all.
"What is it, Sweetie?" I heard my mom respond, coming up the stairs hurriedly.
"Mom, can you come here for a second? I really need to talk to you... I'm just so stressed out, and I don't know what to do." Evie said, her voice changing from terrified to stressed
out. She is the real drama queen of the family. I heard mom get into her room and close the door behind her. There was nobody else in the house. My dad is away on a business
trip and will not be coming back soon.
"Let's go," I said, holding out my hand to Paige. She held my hand and moved close to me. I peeped through my door to make sure the coast was clear. I pushed the door open
and tugged at Paige to follow me.
"How do we get over this? This experience?" Paige asked, agony evident in her voice.
"Together, Paige, together," I said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible (but heaven knows I did not have the correct answer for her). I squeezed her hand and added, "For now, we take baby steps."
We got out of the house just as we had come in, quietly and undetected (not totally undetected though).
