voodoo doll // c.hood

43; one last time

C A L U M

I guess this was it. My last day at home, my last day with my parents, my last day with Luke... until Christmas when I would come back for the holidays. A huge part of me wanted to stay, wanted to finish school here with my friends, but an even larger part just wanted to get away from it all.

No calls or texts from Amity, nothing at all. We had both made it clear that we were done, and the memory of the day we broke up seemed to replay in my mind like a broken record machine. Except the song was shit, and it just made you even sadder everytime it repeated itself.

I'd spent my lonely days at Luke's house, staying there nearly every night after school. Annabeth and Luke tried to not show affection in front of me, but I knew they just felt pitiful. Mum and Dad just thought my sadness was a reprecussion of leaving them and leaving my friends behind. But they didn't know the real reason, and they wouldn't even care if I told them.

It was a Friday afternoon, and I was driving to the city tonight. Mum and Dad had argued with me when I told them I was going to leave at night, but they finally agreed with me. Leaving in the dark... just made it more comforting for me.

I was going to spend a few days at a hotel, buy some new clothes and relax before the madness of the University would begin. Courtesy of my parents, they had bought me a second-hand car to use, so they didn't have to drive me there. It was like a back-handed compliment.

Luke was forcing me to go home, complaining that I hadn't packed a single bag and I was leaving in less than 6 hours. He whined on about how I needed to say proper goodbyes to my parents, and finally I let him drive me home.

"I'm just going to take a shortcut, okay? We're running a bit late... I mean, I just feel like going this way." Luke mumbled, and I didn't bother analysing his use of words.

I nodded back, not feeling the need to use my words. Words are how I get into all of my messes, so maybe I should learn to swallow them.

We drove down a long street, and I almost slapped Luke. Amity's street, just perfect. I knew he hadn't realised, but the memories were still flooding back into my mind, like a tsunami hitting the land for the first time.

Warm tears spilled onto my cheeks as we passed Amity's house. I let myself take a quick glance, and was horrified at the state of it. I could see broken windows, broken bottles and cigarette buts literring the lawn, which hadn't been mowed in a long time. I didn't know if that was because of Amity, or because of her Mother. But I surely didn't want to know.

A few minutes later, Luke was pulling up into my driveway. I thanked him for the drive, and invited him in, which he quickly accepted. He was acting strange, but then again, so was I.

I grabbed my house key from my pocket, unlocking the door and walking inside. The house was pitch black, and I aimlessly searched the wall next to me to find the light switch. As I flicked on the livng room lights, the light revealed masses of people, and a large banner hanging across the hallway that read; Good Luck Calum!

"Surprise!" The crowd of people in my house chorused together, and the tears began to spill once again. Not because I was happy, but because this is the last thing I wanted. I let out a small 'hello' as my eyes scanned the room, finding that half the people were my relatives, and the other half were kids from school who I all fucking hated.

"Oh Cal, come here! Those happy tears are making me well up!" Mum emerged from the crowd, and I almost let out a laugh at her words.

"Mm, yeah. Why did you do this Mum? You know I didn't want a big thing like this, crowds aren't really my scene anymore." I mumbled, looking down at the ground whilst trying to deter the staring.