Love Torn

2. Blood

“What had happened?” she asks us both. I look toward Calix who sits on the counter next to me, and notice his eyes spacing out completely.

“Just ran too fast.” I tell her calmly; otherwise she would be freaking out. A sigh comes from her clamped teeth as she takes it all in. I feel a little bad for lying; but I know I couldn’t tell her the real reason.                                                                                                                                                                                               Once Mrs. Rateno cleans us both up I thank her and then immediately start back for Athinia. She must be so worried right now; I have been gone for a long while. 

Once I get home, I remember the stupid wood in which I was meaning to get; so I head out again and look under old houses for some. What truly frightens me though is when Calix runs up from behind me; I wasn’t expecting it so I fell back and tripped over a log.

"Really!" I yell over to him, standing up and dusting myself over. 

“Sorry Cattlin.” he says apologetically. I nod sluggishly and start heading back for the house but of course Calix follows me.

"I'll tag along too." Calix says from behind my narrow back. 

 When we get back Athinia hugs me tightly at the door and I feel quite bad again.

"Where were you? Why are you hurt?" Athinia asks letting me hug go free. I sigh and then say the first thing in which came to mind.

"Just...a prank...boo." my voice is only one tone, but Athinia believed it anyway and with a nod she was outside.

Calix starts a fire placing the pot of meat inside the coals. It’s a long waiting time and soon Athinia looks utterly bored staring back at the gleaming embers.

“Why don’t you go play with Keri?” I say pushing her a little toward the next door house -which is literally five feet away. She trots on over and knocks on the back door. Keri is a girl a little younger than Athinia, but the same height. She’s usually very nice, but sometimes she’ll make big lies up and make them sound right.

Calix and I sit next to each other on the ground watching the flames eat at the pot. It's not long at all before I hear Keri in my ear.

“Hi!” I sigh and then answer back with a complete lie.

 “Keri, how nice is it to see you!” she nods and then sits down beside Calix. I know she has a crush on him, but she won’t admit it. Her glittering little eyes don’t leave Calix’s face...ever!

“What’s wrong with you?” Calix asks Keri rudely pushing her back into me. I groan and then crawl over Calix and sit between him and Keri. Her eyes go back to the fire immediately, and she says no words. Athinia sits on the other side of the fire watching everything in which is happening right now.                                                                                                                                                                                             After Keri leaves and we all eat it starts to get quite late out. I tuck Athinia in for bed and come back out to say goodnight to Calix when I notice him leaned up against the door sound asleep. This isnt rare though and in the ten years I've known him he's always the first one to fall asleep. Always.

“Calix!” I say suddenly kneeling down next to his limp body. Without warning he flings up grabbing a hold of my arm tightly.

“Oh my gosh; sorry!” he looks like he’s in great chagrin and I feel bad for waking him.

“It’s late do your parents worry?”

“No, they don’t care where I am.” he says with a strong animosity. I giggle and then sit down at the kitchen table. The house is freezing and I only have one blanket -so it would be rude for me to just use.

I stick my hands in-between my legs and try to hold in my shivers. The house is so cold at night I swear it's snowing outside.

Calix sits down too, and fumbles with his hands.

“Are you cold?” I ask truthfully. He looks at me and nods sharply. I smile and then head into my bedroom to get the blanket. I know there’s only one but he can use it… When I come back into the kitchen Calix is almost shivering and it’s weird to see him like this. Usually he's Mr. tough guy and never gets like this.

I throw the blanket at him and he catches it fast, not even wondering about my being. I sit back down on my chair and talk to Calix for a while longer. The conversations are always the same now. He talks about his life, I talk about mine; sometimes we'll bring up something totally random, like if we want to get married and where we would live... but like we had a choice.

Soon I get a sudden blast of dizziness and tiredness all in the same movement. This is a regular thing for me though, it's just some weird way of telling my brain I need sleep.

I close my eyes and slowly dirft off but I’m still awake a bit, and so I notice when I’m lifted up and placed back onto a soft bed, covered with warm blankets.