The Boys Who Cried Sasquatch

Chapter 19

Sometimes I wonder how Bigfoot could handle his own body odour. I couldn't even last a week without a shower. I wonder if he baths at all, especially during the summer.

I wake up with him sleeping beside me. He snores loudly which shakes the walls. How I have managed to sleep down here, I wonder. I carefully move away from him so I couldn't wake him, holding onto my breath.

"David!"

I look down to see I was still wearing my sweat pants from last night. With Dad returning home like he had said he would, I realise it must be between seven thirty and eight o'clock. I have to be in school by eight thirty. I'm going to be late if I don't hurry up.

I quickly run up the stairs. I hear Dad running up the stairs to the second floor. Before I head upstairs, I sneak a glance at the clock on the microwave. It reads 7:45. Dad is going to kill me. I could pretend to be sick so I don't have to be in school, but Dad will know I will be lying.

Dad is knocking on the upstairs bathroom door, thinking I might be in there. The floor creaks under my feet and that's when he turns to me. He takes in what I'm wearing and frowns.

"Why aren't you dressed?" he wants to know.

I open my mouth, but I found myself speechless. I wasn't sure how to explain to him that I had turned Julian's dad away, and then spent the night down in the basement with Sasquatch. I will get myself in more trouble if I told him.

When I didn't answer, Dad drags me to my room by my arm, telling me I had ten minutes to get change. I lock my door and pull out fresh clothes from my chest of draws. As I undressed, I had a quick look at my wounds on my knees to make sure they aren't infected. They are red so I took it as a sign that there was no infection.

I quickly gather my things for school before Dad knocks on the door to remind me what I should be doing. I come out of my room just as he comes up the stairs. He asks if I'm ready now, and I answer yes. Before we walk out the door I ask if I could call Julian, but he wouldn't allow me to. He says whatever I need to tell him can wait until I get to school.

As I slip out the door, I glance over my shoulder at the hallway. I can't see the door to the basement from here. I feel horrible for leaving Sasquatch alone. I didn't even want to know what he was capable of doing to the house if he was left unsupervised. Hopefully he stays asleep long enough before I return home from school. Maybe I could go to school for a short time and get Julian to drive me home. We could both leave early to take Bigfoot to the mountains.

My plan to leave school early has failed. As Dad drops me at the front of school, he tells me he will be back later to pick me up. I feel like I'm twelve where he doesn't trust me with anything. I may be in so much trouble, but for once I want him to trust me.

Maybe Julian and I can leave, and get back here before school ends.

Dad leaves me on the sidewalk and then drives off. I glance around to see if Julian is here yet. I don't see his jeep anywhere on the street. Maybe he parked it in the student car park.

I start heading in the direction when someone grabs my arm. I spin around to see who it was, and almost jumped out of my own skin when I see Ken Brooke standing there. How the hell did he know what school I attended?

"Where is he?" he asks.

"Who?" I shrug my arm off him.

"Bigfoot. Where is he?"

I shrug. There was no way I was telling him where he really was. "Where else would he be?" He is in the mountains."

I turn to go, but he grabs my arm again, holding onto me tightly as he digs his nails through my jacket.