Here's a long chapter:)
It had been weeks since we were given the assignment of writing an essay, and I had yet to think of a topic. It was due next week—the first day back to school for the second semester—and I had accomplished nothing. So there I sat, in the middle of my bedroom floor, staring at a blank document on my laptop screen. Every now and then, I would catch myself glancing at my cellphone like if I willed it enough, I'd receive a call or text from Kason.
On top of that, Christmas was in five days. I had already talked to Gavin and we both agreed that there was no possible way that we could buy any presents this year—not with us in our current situation anyway. Kason had once invited us over to his house on Christmas morning, but I didn't even know if that was still an idea. To be honest, we would probably be living in Aria's beach house in Virginia by Christmas day. We had started packing and everything. As of right now, that's what our plans were looking to be, considering the fact that Miles said that Charles was going to be coming back really soon.
After we had left the café, we took Lucas back home and then met Daniel back at his house, where he explained that Aria's parents were fully on board and were more than okay with Gavin and I staying in their beach house for as long as we needed. I was super thankful and hopes that I would get to thank them in person soon. We didn't even know them, yet they were being so kind.
With all of this in mind, I finally came up with an idea for my essay. It was crazy how at times when you least expect it, people would show up in your life, even when you didn't want them to, and how important they could end up being to you. When I moved here, I didn't want new friends. I was perfectly content with just me and my brother. But in the end, four people pushed their way into my life and I couldn't be happier that they did. Now, I was losing one and it felt like a piece of me was getting taken away. It was a horrible feeling. Sometimes things happen in life that you aren't exactly comfortable with, but they can end up being great, new beginnings. That's what I wrote about.
Now, it was around three p.m. and I was finally finishing my paper. A "ding" filled the air around me as my phone reacted with a text message. "Can you watch Lucy tonight? It would be from six to ten at the latest," it said. I replied with a "yes" almost immediately, not minding the distraction from everything going on.
#
I unbuckled my seat belt and climbed out of the car. "Text me as soon as you get back home," I told Gavin.
He nodded. "I will."
Gavin had dropped me off at the Wesley's house. He had very much insisted on not letting me walk alone. We were both constantly worrying about each other now that we knew Charles was coming.
Walking up to the door, I knocked on the wood a few times and waited in the cold until someone opened the door. I was now standing face to face with Kason who had an expression on his face that I couldn't read. Without saying a word, he opened the door further and stepped back so I could get out of the cold weather. He grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall. "Dad's working a late shift tonight. I should be home by ten," he told me.
"Where are you going?" I asked. I wasn't going to act like I didn't notice that he was spending most of his evening at home with Lucy now. Without street fighting, his daily schedule had gotten a lot less busy. It seemed odd that he suddenly had plans.
"It doesn't matter," he said.
I just stood there, taken aback by his answer. He was acting odd. His eyes avoided looking into my own and he was quickly pulling on his jacket and shoes. I watched him closely as he walked out of the house and closed the door between us without speaking another word.
"Lydia!" a high pitched voice sounded from behind me. I turned around just in time to catch Lucy jumping into my arms. I didn't know how she would react if someone told her that my name actually wasn't Lydia. If I lived through this, surely she'd have to be told at some point.
After hugging the three-year-old tightly, I released her and she grinned widely at me. "What do you want to play?"
Her small forehead crinkled and her bright blue eyes looked toward the ceiling as if she was deep in thought. "A board game," she decided after a long moment.
I nodded and grinned, liking the idea. "What board games do you have?"
She turned around and ran toward a small toy box in the corner of the living room. At first, she pulled out Monopoly, but I shook my head, figuring it was too complex for her to understand. Next, she pulled out a small box of cards. "Uno?" she asked.
Nodding, I smiled. "Sounds good."
"Let's play on the table," she suggested, leading the way into the kitchen.
Sitting down at the wooden table, she handed me the box of cards. As I shuffled the cards and counted out seven cards for each of us, she stared down at the colored cards excitedly. "I call going first!" she yelled quickly. Shaking my head in amusement, I just glanced at her while she giggled. "Kay always wants to go first," she told me.
"Do you let him?" I asked, handing her seven cards.
She shook her head. "Never." At that, I chuckled and placed a card out of the deck and set it between us so we could start.
We played a few rounds and throughout, I purposely drew cards from the stack when I didn't necessarily have to, just so she could win. "I won again!" she cheered.
I sighed, making myself sound defeated. "You're really good at this game! That's the third time you've beaten me." The little girl giggled, but I could tell that throughout the time we had been playing, her spirit had been slowly dwindling down. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shrugged, suddenly frowning. "I don't feel good."
Furrowing my brows in worry, I stood up and placed my hand on her head. She felt warm. "Where does your dad keep the thermometer?" Lucy shrugged, not knowing. I watched her rest her arms on the table and then lay her head on them. She closed her eyes looking like she wasn't feeling well at all.
Crouching down beside her, I pulled out my phone and dialed Kason's number. Reaching up, I pushed back a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face. Kason didn't answer his phone. I tried calling two more times but had no luck. Of course, once I actually needed him, I couldn't get a hold of him. And I had no idea where he was.
Then, I called Daniel who answered almost immediately. "Hello? Is something wrong?" he asked immediately.
"Lucy isn't feeling well. I think she's sick," I told him. "Do you have a thermometer here at the house?"
"Yeah. It's in the kitchen," he informed me. "In the far right cabinet."
I stood up and followed his directions, finding the thermometer in a small plastic case in a cabinet with bottles of medicine. Taking the thermometer, I delivered it to Lucy. "Here, put this under your tongue," I told her. She listened. "She has a temperature of a hundred," I spoke into the phone after looking at the results.
I heard Daniel sigh on the other end of the line. "There's a bottle of Tylenol specifically for kids in the same cabinet. Read the directions on the back of that and give her the directed amount."
"Okay." I retrieved the bottle from the medicine cabinet and started reading the instructions on the back for her age group.
"Have you talked to Kason?"
"No. I tried calling him before I called you, but he didn't answer."
"Okay. If Lucy isn't feeling any better in the morning, I'll take her to the doctor," he told me. "And if she seems to be getting worse, text me."
"I will."
I soon hung up the phone and after a little persuasion, gave Lucy some medicine. "Do you want to lay down and watch a movie?" I asked her softly. Keeping her eyes closed, she nodded her head. Picking her up, I carried her to the couch, where I laid her down, gave her a pillow and tucked her in with a blanket. I turned Aladdin on the TV, but by the time I climbed up beside her on the couch, she curled up into my side and fell asleep.
#
I watched the credits start scrolling down the TV screen. Lucy was sighing softly in a deep sleep, laying in the same position she had originally fallen asleep in. Now, it was just after nine o'clock and I was expecting Kason to show up anytime in the next hour. Being careful to not wake up Lucy, I stood from the couch and turned off the movie. Just as I did, someone walked in through the front door.
Daniel appeared into view, looking angrier than I had ever seen him. Kason soon stalked into the house behind him, looking just as frustrated. "How could you be doing something so stupid?" Daniel asked, without looking at his son. "Do you know how lucky you are that it was me who responded to the report and not someone else? You should be sitting in the jail cell right now."
Kason gritted his teeth. "It's not like I'm not fully capable of taking care of myself," he responded. "I've been doing this for a long time now. I know what I'm doing!" Daniel just rubbed his eyes, looking completely exhausted from the situation.
"What's going on?" I asked, looking back at Lucy to make sure they hadn't woken her up. She was still sleeping soundly.
Daniel held up a dark green face mask that I recognized immediately. "I caught 'Enigma' is what happened," he said.
My heart stopped and my eyes darted to Kason. He looked almost just as frustrated as he had when I told him the truth about my life. I couldn't believe he was fighting again.
"Kason, do you know how long the police has been trying to figure out who 'Enigma' is?"
"Almost four years?" he asked rudely, already knowing the answer.
His father nodded, sighing with defeat. "Three years," he confirmed. "To be honest I thought it was Anderson's boy." He shook his head. "I just never thought that that criminal was my own son." At that point, Daniel spotted a sleeping Lucy on the couch. Walking over, he picked her up and carried her upstairs.
Once they were out of sight, Kason angrily stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. I followed him. "You told me you were going to stop street fighting!" I confronted him.
He didn't even look at me. "And you told me that your name was Lydia. Looks like we both lied."
"Kason!"
He slammed the bottle of water down on the kitchen table, where there were still Uno cards still scattered around. "What do you want me to do, Delilah?" he yelled. "I have so much frustration building up in me right now and I don't know how else to get it out."
"Street fighting is a temporary fix!"
"I don't care!" he yelled back immediately.
"You are acting like a child."
He finally looked at me. "And you are acting as if you've never made mistakes before."
I clenched my teeth. "I know I've made mistakes! But at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing!"
"But you weren't!"
"I was trying to survive, Kason!" I stared at him, struggling to understand how I found myself liking him so much when we were fighting like this. "I have had a man tracking me down every second for over six months now! Do you know how hard that is? To walk around this town, not knowing if it will be the last day of my life?"
Kason looked down as I fought back the frustrated tears that threatened to fall. I could tell the anger was leaving his body. Not caring, I turned around and grabbed my jacket from the hook on the wall, put it on and slipped on my shoes. As soon as I opened the front door to leave, a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I knew it was Kason, but I refused to turn around and look at him. "Let me drive you home," he spoke gently. I didn't respond. I didn't move. "We both how dangerous it is for you to walk home alone." Sighing, I nodded and made my way to his car. After he unlocked it, I climbed inside.
He drove me home without either of us speaking a word. As soon as he pulled into my driveway, I got out of the car and rushed up to my front door, without even saying goodbye. After trying to turn the knob, I found it locked and knocked on the door. As I waited for my brother to answer the door, I noticed that Kason was still sitting in my driveway in his Charger.
Finally, after a long minute, my brother opened the door and let me inside. "Why didn't you just text me to come to pick you up?" he asked, closing and locking the door behind me.
Shrugging I responded with, "I left in a hurry."
He looked out of the window, watching Kason pull out of the driveway and leave down the street. "Are things between you and Kason okay?"
I shook my head at his assumption. "He only drove me home because if I died while walking alone, then that would be on his conscious.
My brother looked at me sadly. "You know that isn't true."
Pressing my fingers up against my temple, I fought off an incoming headache. "I don't know what's true anymore."
***
thanks for reading:)
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**Until next week:))
~Emily