I sniffed. Monee
had gotten home and was making dinner right now, she decided to
make macaroni and cheese, my favorite, which I’m pretty
sure that Alex suggested to make me feel better. I sighed. I
felt alone. I can’t tell anyone about… Greydon.
But do I want to? If I told the right person then he would be
forbidden to come near me. I thought that’s what I
wanted.
I felt myself get
up from my bed and walk through our apartment. I didn’t
notice where I was until my eyes trained on a
bed.
It was a large
room, the largest in the house, but even if Monee was
technically our guardian and owner of this house, she said that
this room wasn’t hers to occupy. It was painted a muted
grey, with beige furniture. I hummed softly, lightly brushing
the wall with the end of my fingertips as I walked over to the
bed.
The duvet
shuffled as I pulled myself up onto the mattress. It was quiet
except for my soft humming subconsciously coming from my own
lips.
I slowly lowered
my head on her pillow, breathing in the scent coming from it.
It still smelled like the shampoo she used. It still smelled
like cinnamon, too.
Flashback.
“Mo-om,
I’m home!” I yelled. She came to the front room,
smiling and took my hand. I cocked my head to the
side.
“Mom-“ I started,
but she shushed me, still smiling.
She led me to
the kitchen. It smelt like
cinnamon.
“Shh,
Alex’s still sleeping,” she grinned. I returned her
bright smile. “I don’t want to wake him up. He can
sleep as much as he wants on his
birthday.”
“Is he
feeling alright?” I whispered. “He had a really bad
cough yesterday.”
“Yes,
he’s fine, taking a nap so I took advantage of the
situation,” she sheepishly whispered. “I always get
him cakes from the store because I’m not too good baking
with cinnamon, and that’s his favorite, but I took a
go.”
I glanced at
the oven. “It smells fantastic.”
Just then,
Alex’s door slowly opened and a sleepy Alex staggered out
of it. I rushed up to him and gave him a hug.
“Happy
birthday, Al,” I grinned. He returned it with a drowsy
smile.
“I
smell cinnamon,” he stated.
My mother and I laughed and Alex gave us a weird look. Oddly, it was the most comforting memory I have and it will probably stay that way. I just felt like a family.
A/N
The ride home was
extremely uncomfortable, to say the least. Graydon put on some
rock band I was unfamiliar with really loud. When I asked him
to turn it down he just turned the music up, tuning out my
voice.
I sighed and
leaned back in my seat, trying to be comfortable which proved
impossible, the music’s base shaking my chest with every
beat. I took deep breathes to calm myself down. My therapist
told me that when you panic you’re supposed to state the
things you know about what surrounds you.
Well, I thought.
I’m in a car. A white trailblazer. With a guy named
Graydon, and he’s driving me home. He knocked me out
earlier but… it was only for my safety. He’s also
extremely hot and sort of obnoxious.
I took a deep breathe again and closed my eyes. I covered my ears with my sleeves and pretended that my mom was holding me. Before I knew it, Graydon was shaking me and telling me that I was home.
-
“Who was
that guy?” Alex asked as I slung my bag off my shoulder
and onto the counter. I bit my lip.
“His, um,
his name’s Greydon and he was just um, giving me a ride
home from school?” I said. It was meant to be a statement
but it came out as more of a question. I was always the worst
at lying.
I watched as my
older brother, the one who knew me best, raised an eyebrow. We
were in the kitchen, I was sitting on a stool at the bar while
my brother was pouring himself some cereal.
“Who is
that guy for real this time?” he asked, smirking. I
picked at my nails, not making eye contact.
“Nobody. Just leave it, Alex.” I said stiffly. He sniffs, grabs his cereal bowl and goes to his room.
-
My phone starts
ringing “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran comes on and I
flip it open. It’s my aunt.
“Hey,
sweetie! How was your day?” Monee says.
I walk over to
the counter and pick up an apple, crunching into it.
“Pretty good.” I say, swallowing.
“Yours?”
“My day was
good. I had to fire a few people, though, so… eh. What
do you want for dinner, honey?"
I glance at the
apple I just bit into. “I’m not really
hungry.”
“Oh come
on!”
“I’ll
give the phone to Alex and he can say what he wants,” I
say, striding down the hall. “Aleeexxx! Monee wants to
talk to you!”
As I walked back to my room after giving my brother the phone, I dropped the half eaten apple in the trash.
You’re too
fat already.