The Hurt

Chapter 10

“We need a place to stay for a while. I can’t really say why right now, but I promise it’s really important.” He stood there, considering my plea. He crossed his arms and smirked.

“Well, it just so happens that my dad is going on tour with his football team for at least two weeks. It’s just me so you are welcome to stay there if you want.” My face lit up and I hugged him again.

“Thank you so much! I-“ He cut me off.

“But you do need to tell me why your sister looks like she just had the crap beaten out of her.” I look at Melissa and back at him.

“I’ll tell you tonight, okay?” I say quietly. Melissa has never liked the idea of trusting anyone, probably because I’ve told her not to, but for some reason I trusted Aaron. I didn’t know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing, but I was going to find out shortly.

Melissa stepped forward, wondering what I had said. “So, we’ll be staying with you?” She butted it.

“Yes, is that okay with you?” I put my arm on her shoulder and watched her closely. Even if she weren’t comfortable, she’d probably lie raising her right eyebrow slightly telling me that we’d need to convince her.

“As long as we’re away from him, I’m okay with it.” She seemed calm, and no raised eyebrow, which means that she meant it.

“Well then we’d better head over to my place, yeah?” Melissa and I both nod and we start walking back towards the forest.

Aaron and I walked together; Melissa would take turns walking in front and behind us. She was nervous and was still in high alert knowing that George could show up at any moment.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, popped off the back, and pulled the battery out to reveal a small, little chip that George had custom made for my phone. I bet you thought I forgot about this one, huh? I dig my nail underneath and pop the chip out.

“What’s that?” I had totally forgot Aaron was with me.

“A tracking chip,” I look over at him as he stares at me in utter confusion, “don’t ask.”

“Fair enough.” I put the battery back in, clipped the backing on and put my phone back in my pocket leaving the small chip in my hand. Hmm, what to do with it? I decided that it would be better to chuck it rather than destroy it so that it still gave off a signal that would hopefully fool George for at least a short while.

“So, did you work things out with your dad?” I asked, trying to get rid of the awkward silence as we turn on to Aarons street.

“Nope, he was already gone when I got home. He left me some money and a note saying I had the car if I needed it. I- oh, here we are.” We stop in front of a light bricked, two-story house in the nicer area of our neighborhood.

We walked up the steps and Aaron pulled out his key to unlock the door. It clicked and he pushed the door open to reveal a very neat and tidy inside. The stairs were off to the left and straight a head was a living area that was also very clean.

We took off our shoes and began the tour. There was a hallway before the living room to the right that had a spare bedroom and a computer room along with a half bath at the end of the hallway. The walls were full of football teams and memorabilia, but not so much that it looked tacky. The place was nicely set up.

Through the living room to the right was the enormous kitchen. Giant stainless steal fridge on the far wall with marble counter tops surrounding it. In the center was an island with a sink and cutting board and the oven was across from the fridge with the microwave right beside it.

Aaron then led us back to the front of the house and up the staircase. Half of the second floor was a giant master bedroom with a huge walk in closet and an on suit equipped with Jacuzzi tub and those amazing showers with all the buttons inside that makes you feel like you are standing in a rocket ship.

Once you pass the master you come to two more room both with smaller walk in closets and both also had their own on suits as well. The first room was Aarons. His queen bed ran lengthwise across the far wall right under the window. The left wall was full of books, once side looked to be strictly art related while the other seemed to be for recreational reading. On the right was a desk with scattered sketches/drawings and pencils. He showed us the last spare room, which was standard. It had a queen bed, a desk, and some dressers. He then led us back to the master suit.

“This is where you and Melissa can sleep, unless you two don’t want to share a bed, then one of you can have the room down the hall.”

“I’m okay with my own room. Thanks Aaron.” She smiled at Aaron and took her backpack to her room. Once I heard Melissa shut her door, Aaron and I walked into the master and sat on the bed.

“Aaron, I can not thank you enough. This is amazing.” I hugged him again.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. You’re just lucky my dad travels a lot with his football team, haha.” I couldn’t believe that Aaron was letting us stay with him. It had to be one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for Melissa or me.

“So, I’m hungry. You want to order a pizza or something?” I laughed and agreed.

“Sure, I’ll ask Melissa if she wants some, you go find the number.” We both left the master bedroom and I walked down the hall to Melissa’s room. I knocked lightly before I entered.

“Hey Mel, how you holding up?” She was sitting on her bed writing in her diary. Whenever there was change, she’d write about it though I never knew she’d carry it with her to school.

“I’m okay, it was really nice of Aaron to let us stay here.” She smiled up at me before redirecting her attention back to her diary.

“Yeah, it was. So we are ordering pizza, you want some?” She stopped writing and looked back up at me.

“Umm, I’m not that hungry, but I’ll probably have some later on.” That’s odd, she’s never turned down pizza before.

“Okay, well there will be some downstairs when you get hungry.” She doesn’t look up at me, but nods instead. I leave her to her diary, and decide to head downstairs to make my request for types of pizza.

I jogged down the stairs and into the kitchen to met Aaron who just got on the phone to order pizza. He told the person on the phone to hold on pulled the phone down from his ear.

“Hey, just in time. What do you want, I got a large meat lovers.”

“I’m good with that, but also get a medium cheese. Melissa doesn’t like any meat on her pizza.” He gave me thumbs up before giving his order to the person on the other line.

I smiled at him before exiting the kitchen and plopping myself onto the couch. I hope I made the right decision. I hope he wont find us. I hope I didn’t endanger Aaron.