No Good In Goodbye

Three - Walk Away

- P A S T - 

Alarm clocks are stupid. They are loud and make unnecessarily annoying beeps that start your day with a headache. I was never a fan of mornings and this one was no different.

I switched mine off while curled up into a ball in bed, shivering under the multiple blankets. It probably would have been warmer if I closed my window but I liked the fresh air. But on days like these I wish I had half a brain to close it.

Knowing I only had a few minutes – maybe ten – until my sister came bounding into my room to find me, I squeezed my eyes shut and ripped the blankets off.

Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, was the constant stream of words ripping through my head. I ran on my tiptoes to my wooden dresser, pulling open the sticky drawers to search for clothes. I was jumping from foot to foot while shivering like you would when an earthquake struck. Although it didn’t occur to me to close the window; not at this moment anyway.

I tore through my messy drawer of coloured material until my hands fell onto the clothes I needed. Jeans, long sleeve, black vest, fluffy socks. Cradling these in my arms, I ran across the hall to the shared bathroom. The hot water was out in my ensuite so there were currently three of us sharing one bathroom.

The long white counter was littered with hair ties, headbands, hair brushes, nail polish, make up among all of Mum’s other things which I could put names to. I cleared a bit of space between the sink and the nail polish and dumped my clothes there.

Usually I didn’t shower in the morning but it was too cold not too. I went to the bath/ shower and turned on the taps. Water started flowing out of the bath tap so I held the silver button underneath to switch it to the shower.

I quickly stripped off and stood under the water, the water so hot it was making my skin turn red. It was heaven, but it didn’t last long enough. I knew I had to get out when my sister started pounding on the door, so I winced and shut off the water.

I was already shivering.

As fast as I could I dried and put on my clothes, before looking in the full length mirror next to the bath. My blonde hair was falling with the odd, casual wave over my shoulders while my hazel eyes were bright, an unusual thing for any time before eleven. My turquoise fluffy socks with turtles on them peeked out from under my slightly-high-waisted black skinny jeans, which had my light gray long sleeve top tucked into it. Over that I had my black vest, which was hanging open and only went to the top of my jeans.

Good enough, I thought, nodding before taking my pyjamas and opening the door to a little girl with blonde hair looking like a birds nest.

“Finally!” Leilani sighed, pushing past me and shutting me out. She wasn’t a morning person either.

I smiled at the dramatics of the six year old as I strolled back to my room. I dumped my pyjamas on my bed, picked up my phone and bag and left my room, grabbing my thin, gray-and-white-striped scarf off the hook on the back of my door as I went.

While walking down the stairs I wound the scarf around my neck once, before slipping on the last step and falling on the ground.

“Owch,” I grumbled, standing up while touching my coccyx. It didn’t seem like I had hurt it this time. Thankfully. Coccyx injuries were the worst but they were the ones I seemed to do most often. It was a well-known fact that I had trouble staying with two feet on the ground.

“Did you have a nice trip?” Mum called from the kitchen, followed by her bursting out laughing. She thought she was so funny when she made comments like that. She must have heard my fall. I trudged down the hall, following the scent of freshly made coffee. I hated coffee, but I loved the smell.