The Lesbian Gene (Lesbian, Gay, GirlxGirl)

Chapter 11: Sidetracked

"Grr!" Hanz had stood up to full height, turned onto Neil and shook his head. "You really leave me no other choice, buddy."

Audra and I watched dumbstruck as his fist came crushing down.

Neil deserved it, I repeat. Neil deserved it.

So why did I feel like puking for the last thirty minutes as we slowly but surely made our way to my street? Why did it feel like the Neil would open his eyes any time and take a swing at us?

My gaze went to him. He'd been asleep for far too long. Ever since Hanz had taken a punch at him, and we scurried away from the construction site before any of the tracers could reach us.

Audra and Hanz had exchanged places; Hanz was now carrying me. Audra was now carrying Neil because she had no other choice. And the bags were divided amongst the two of them.

But I was still asking. Did Hanz, perhaps, kill Neil by accident? I shook my head in regret. No. Audra would have known if the her best friend stopped breathing, wouldn't she?

Then why?

Hanz and Audra stopped. For once, I looked up, curious with the holdup.

"Is it a tracer?" I asked.

"No, it's your house."

I took a sharp breath. Audra was right. In the distance, still in the dark, loomed my house; all the way onto the second floor, though no lights were opened.

Were my parents asleep? Or were they still at work? Either could be possible.

Hanz tried to look at me over his shoulder, saying, "We've talked about this, Pax. It might not be safe there too. We should be ready for whatever's waiting for us." Tracers, he meant. Those tracers could just be around the block, expecting us to come home.

I took another deep breath. Didn't they know that I had already thought of that? There was always the possibility of the enemies surveying in the dark, getting to us. That's why we couldn't just call my parents. Or any of our loved ones for that matter. But I had to take a risk. This were my parents we were talking about. I had to see them.

"Let's go," I said.

The air was chillier than ever as we'd made it to my front porch. My house was not ridiculously designed like Hanz's. It just followed the theme of the street. A blue rooftop barely recognizable in the dark. A two-storey house. A home. It had a nice, big yard, but the flowers that we'd planted long ago hadn't been blooming as of late.

My hands were sweaty as we took a better look around.

"There are no signs of people," Hanz said after a while. "We're right on the money." He walked to the window, then tried to peer inside. "Can't be too careful though. What me might have seen on the street could be different from what's inside."

We both froze when the main door to our right swivelled open.

"Sorry," Audra whispered, as both Hanz and I turned to her. "Old habits."

How did she open the door, though?

The answer came to me when she lifted the key.

"Under the rug, right?" She smiled. "You might think about changing that hiding place." Either way, she motioned inside. "Homeowner first."

The house was exactly as I'd left it the other day before I went to school. At least, it seemed that way in the dark. The days had been so mixed up in my head as well, and I didn't know exactly how long I'd been gone or hiding in the convenience store with the others. It felt like an eternity somehow.