***"Aiesha, stop being so silly and put your seatbelt on!!"
Mum turned around and faced me while driving 100km\hr on the highway.
" Why mum? Seatbelts are too restricting and uncomfortable, why do they have them for anyways?" I answered ignorantly.
" Aiesha Rose, put on your seatbelt now! Urgh." She grunted as she took off her seatbelt, trying to reach for me.
I quickly dodged out of her reach and quickly clicked my seatbelts on. Smiling at her.
She glared at me for a long time, but my attention was suddenly drawn to the headlights that was coming straight at our car.
" MUM, CAR, THE CAR MUM!!!!" I screamed, but it was too late, the impact of the crash sent mum flying out of the car...******
BEEP BEEP BEEP... The sound of my alarm woke me up from my nightmare, I was sweating all over and my hair was stuck to my face, pushing the hair out of my face, I glanced at the time
Oh no, its 7:45am, and school starts at 8:20am. It doesn't take a maths genius to figure out that I'll be late if I don't hurry.
I looked over to see Arron still sleeping peacefully,
"Wake up Arron, it's time for school, come on"
"Hmmm..." He groaned unwillingly and went back sleeping.
" You're gonna be late for school, so you want Ms Means to get angry?"
Upon hearing that, his eyes shot open and he shot up from his bed, hehehe, thanks Ms Mean, saves me from being late for school.
" Arron, get dressed while I go and make breakfast for dad okay? " He nodded quietly and went to the wardrobe. Although Arron is seven years old, he can do most things by himself without me having to worry too much.
After finishing making the breakfast, I quickly got ready, putting on makeup to cover the bruises I got from yesterday. Light foundation then a little bit of eyeliner and mascara. I checked myself one last time before heading to drop Arron off school.
I walked slowly through the forest after I dropped Arron off, you might be wondering why there's a forest, the forest spreads along the town and it's right between my house and the school, so for me to get to school, I would have to walk through this forest.
I don't mind walking through the forest, in fact, I enjoy every moment of it, the beautiful green leaves, and the chirping of the birds, it makes my mind at peace and also helps me to calm down, forget about all my problems and worries.
I was greeted by my friends Sally and Mei. Sally, Mei and I have known each other since we were in our infant years, we are all childhood friends and we know each other inside out. They know me and what happened to my mum, but unlike the other kids, they've never kept their distance from me. They don't look at me with the sympathy that I hate, they treat me as their equal.
"Morning Aiesha~" Sally chirped.
" Why so cheerful?" I mumbled looking at her face.
" Have you heard about the murder that took place last night?" Mei suddenly asked me, her face turning dark.
Huh, murder in our town? Our town is pretty small, every one knows everyone, no one would dare to murder right?
" What murder?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.
" So you haven't heard... well the police are still trying to investigate, they believe that the murderer is a long lost criminal, Jay woods, I think it was...." Sally trailed off, deep in thoughts.
" Yeah, class is about to start guys, lets get going." Being the sensible Mei, she would never allow us to be late for class.
Great, maths first up, my favourite subject. * note the sarcasm*
Maths passed through painfully, every minute of it was pure torture, don't get me wrong, I am not those type of students who hates school, school is one of the places where I can be myself, to talk freely without restrictions, but maths is just too much..urgh. Finally, lunch time came and we sat on our usual seat.
A boy walked towards our bench and started talking to us, well ..me..
" Hi, you must be Aiesha right? Im Jordon Barks, mind if I join you all?" he asked and flashed us his killer smile. Well, I'll admit it, he is handsome.......
I was so busy admiring his features and when I realised that I still haven't answered his question, I blushed then looked down. Urgh, what are you doing Aiesha, haven't you seen a guy before? I mentally scolded myself.
"Sure thing, you are always welcome." I smiled at him politely and gestured him to sit with us.
It turned out that Jordon is an easy going guy, we talked about alot of things, from favourite colours to food to cars and video games. We only talked for a while, but it feels like we've known each other for decades.
Sadly, lunchtime ended too soon, since Jordon is one year older, he's in a different year level so we don't have classes together. We waved good byes and headed for our next class.
" Hey, Aiesha, don't you think that he has a thing for you? Since when did you know him?" Sally asked me while wiggling her eyebrows at me.
"I didn't know him, I wonder how he knows me...." I trailed off.
"Are you a block head? Do you see the way he looks at you?" She rolled her eyes, her voice going up a few octaves.
"Huunnny, we are just friends, and I want it to stay that way okay?" I poked my tongue out at her, yeah, so mature, I know.
" Well, he obviously wants to be more than that~" she continued to tease me.
" Come on, Jordon is a nice guy, I think that he just simply wants to be friends, lets just leave it at that okay?"
" hmm..he is pretty handsome and hot....admit it Aiesha~"
" C..class is starting, come on, lets go.." I grabbed Mei and made my way towards my next class, preventing sally from bombing me with questions again.
The day went past with flying colours, and as soon as the last session finished, I said goodbyes to Sally and Mei while I rushed to go pick my brother up. It's gonna storm and I don't have an umbrella with me.
I walked through the forest cautiously as I kept the case of murder in mind, fully aware of my surroundings. I finally picked my brother up, and as soon as I got home, it started pouring rain. The silent in the house suggested that dad is not back yet, I took Arron upstairs and helped him change into comfortable clothes, and then I changed and went down stairs to make dinner.
After I finished making dinner, I got a text from my dad telling me not to wait for him because he won't be back for a few weeks. Um.. Excuse me? I read over the text again, allowing the information to sink in. I couldn't believe my eyes, He's got to be kidding me, leaving us for a few weeks, what is he thinking.
I sighed, then sank onto the floor. Well, what am I expecting? hasn't he always done that? It will be okay Aiesha, calm down and think about ways to survive this. If we are to live by ourselves we would need money to all the food and daily needs, or Arron and I would have nothing to eat or use.
I quickly rushed into dad's room, searching his drawers, under the bed, under the pillows, in the bathroom, lastly, to my relief, I found dad's money stack in his wardrobe behind the clothes. Good, we won't starve at least, problem solved.
Well, think on the bright side, if dad's not here, we won't have to live in fear of getting beaten right? I should really go get a job, but in this small town, how will I, a high schooler, get one easily?
After Arron and I finished dinner, Arron watched a bit of TV, did a bit of his homework then he went to bed early since he had a long day. After I tucked Arron in, I didn't know what came over me, but I decided to take a walk in the forest. I didn't know what I was thinking, but I just had this sudden urge to walk in the forest, I checked all the doors and windows in our house to make sure that they are locked properly, then I took an umbrella and went outside.
The air smelt like the dirt on the ground, strong but refreshing, the cool wind along with the drizzles of rain felt nice on my skin. I walked through the forest, enjoying my moment. Rainy days are my favourites, walking in the rain feels like the rain is washing away all the sadness and the unhappy past. I was so into my thoughts that I failed to hear the faint shuffling behind the tree
After a few more moments, the shuffling sound became loud enough to catch my attention, I froze for a few moments, and my blood ran cold, mentally deciding whether I should make a run for it or look for where the shuffling sound is coming from, well, my curiosity got the best of me and I slowly made my way towards the tree.
In the darkness, I could barely make out a figure leaning against the tree, oh so its just a person, thought it was something else. My heartbeat gradually slowed down and as bold as I am, I made my way towards the figure.
" Hey, are you okay? " I asked as I saw his figure slightly shaking.
" Urgh" he groaned in a deep voice
I didn't know what to do so I brought my umbrella over his head while trying to wake him up.
" Hey, wake up," I shook him, and while I was trying to shake him awake, I felt something sticky and wet, no its not the rain, I can tell that its blood due to the familiar rusty smell of it. Blood? He's wounded somewhere? I squinted my eyed, trying to see where he got hurt. I closely examined him, but the drizzling of the rain made it hard to keep my eyes open.
" Hey, where are you hurt? Can you move? We have to go get someone!" I panicked and tried to get my phone out. A cold hand stopped my hand, I looked and saw his mysterious, glowing eyes that stared right back at me.