Chapter 8
Riker POV
"So your power's out too, right?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah. And jumping from my window to your balcony in the dark and rain, might possibly be one of the scariest things I've ever done.
"It's a good thing you didn't slip."
"Yeah."
Taylor sighed.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"Yeah... Just a little scared still... I don't like the dark."
"Oh... Me either."
I sat down next to Taylor on her bed.
"Are you going back home?" Taylor asked.
"Oh um... I don't know. Do you want me to leave?"
"Uh... I don't care. I was just wondering."
"To be completely honest, after what just happened, I'm a little creeped out too. And I don't really want to be home alone with the power out."
"Yeah, so stay."
I was smiling like an idiot. It's a good thing the power's out so she can't see me.
"Um... Maybe we have candles downstairs. Will you come look with me?"
"Sure."
"Can I have your hand?"
"Yeah."
I found Taylor's hand in the dark. We slowly made our way down the stairs. When we made it to the bottom, Jake was shining a flashlight on us.
"What's up?" Jake asked.
"Um... Do we have any candles?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah."
We walked over, and Taylor grabbed 3 candles and a lighter. We went back upstairs, still holding hands. I knew she only wanted to hold my hand because she was scared, but I loved it!
Taylor lit the candles, and put them on her dresser.
"Now I can actually see you. Sort of..." Taylor said, sitting down on her bed.
I took out my phone, texting my parents to let them know I was at Taylor's.
"So what do you want to do?" Taylor asked.
"Uh... I don't know. What do you want to do?"
"I'm actually really cold. So I'm going to get in bed."
Now that she mentioned it, I realized I was pretty cold too. I grabbed my jacket and put it back on.
"We could just talk about stuff," Taylor suggested.
"Ok."
"How's Ross lately?"
"Uh... Good. He doesn't room with me anymore."
"Oh..."
Taylor snuggled down further under her blankets.
"Do you know when the storm's supposed to be over?" I asked.
"Nope... Do you?"
"No... I wonder when the power will come back."
"... I don't know..."
"Are you tired?"
"...yeah... Sorry... Riker, I'm going to fall asleep on you..."
"It's ok. I'll go home, I guess."
"I'm sorry... I'm just tired..."
"It's fine. I'll see you later."
"Bye, Riker..."
I silently left her room, and made it down the stairs. I saw Jake in the kitchen.
"Heading home?" Jake asked.
"Yeah. Your sister's asleep."
"Ok. Be careful out there."
"I will."
I opened the door and stepped out, only to almost get blown back inside. I shut the door, and sprinted through our lawns. Just as I was about to jump onto our front steps, I slipped on the wet grass, and flew forward toward our cement steps. I landed hard on my hands. They burned, but I quickly got up, and ran inside before the rain soaked me even more. I opened the door, went inside, and shut it. I leaned against it, and slid to the floor, holding my hands out in front of me.
"Owww!" I groaned.
I sat there for a few minutes, trying to will the pain to go away, but it wasn't. I got up, and ran up to my bathroom as quickly as I could in the dark. My phone didn't have a flashlight, but I turned it on so I had brightness from the screen. I realized I needed a way to get water to pour over my now bloody palms. I went to my room, remembering I had a bottle of water on my nightstand. I found it, and went back to the bathroom. I poured water over my hands, and wiped them off with a towel. They were all cut up. I wrapped them up in some toilet paper as a temporary fix.
I grabbed my phone and walked into the hall. Lightning flashed, and I could've sworn I saw a person run into another room. My heart started racing as I slowly backed away towards the stairs. I walked super slow, keeping my eyes fixed on Ross's room, which is where I saw the person go.
"BOO!"
I jumped backwards into the person behind me. I fell over, landing hard on my hands again which hurt so bad! The person who scared me started laughing, and I realized it was just Rocky.
"I scared you!" Rocky sang.
I sighed, and rubbed my hands a little with my fingertips.
"Come on. Let's go to bed," Rocky said, pulling me up.
"Wait. Everyone's home?" I asked.
"Yeah. We got home about 2 minutes ago."
"Oh... Ok, I'll be right there."
I walked down the hall to Ross's room, finding Ross in there changing into his pajamas.
"Riker! I'm changing! Get out!"
"Then close the door!"
I went back to my room, and got in bed.
"How scared were you when I scared you?" Rocky asked.
"Extremely scared."
"Why?"
"First of all, I went over to Taylor's because she thought someone was in her house. That creeped me out. And then coming home to an empty house scared me even more. When I walked out of the bathroom, I saw something move. It turned out to be Ross going into his room. I thought there was a murderer in here, so I was backing up to go down the stairs, and run back over to Taylor's. So when I say you scared me really good, I mean it!"
Rocky started laughing, and I was kind of annoyed. He loves scaring people, and he knows I hate it! I don't know why he feels the need to do it all the time.
"Shut up and go to bed, Rocky."
"Language, Riker!"
"Whatever."
"I'll tell mom!"
"Please don't."
"Fine..."
I turned so I was facing away from Rocky. I realized my window was still open from earlier. I got up to close it. It was almost all the way closed when I heard a scream from Taylor's house.