when you were my father

in the town

As soon as we step out of the old building and onto the sidewalk, I can just feel everyone's eyes staring at us. And honestly, I don't blame them.

A tween boy who's fully dressed like he's actually living in the 1980's. A little weird.

A girl who looks like she's from some apocalyptic movie and knows how to load and shoot a gun. Not to mention her hair looks like she's been missing in the jungle for months. A little weird.

Me, a girl who has blood all over her shoes and shirt. The fact that she's walking with a limp, also having a bandaged hand and leg just adding to that. Pretty weird.

And Isla. A pint-sized girl who's covered from head to toe in blood and looks crazy, like she belongs in a museum or mental health institution. Questionable.

But we continue our group walk. Down the street, wherever we feel might be safe. I begin to head towards our house, but Valentina quickly stops me.

"What are you doing?" I ask, annoyed that this new girl is trying to stop me from doing what I want. I'm so tired of this shit.

"Don't go that way." She directs me, her voice deep and serious. Who does this girl think she is? I'm my own boss.

"Why? That's the way to our house."

"I know. But, it's not safe. Trust me." Looking into my eyes, I can tell she's actually serious and knows what she's talking about. It scares me how much emotion her eyes are showing me. No matter how much I like to do what I want and not take orders, the way she's talking is leading me to do what she says.

"Okay," I reply, nodding. "Then where are we going?"

"Somewhere where nothing weird has happened yet." She says, "Where would that be, I seriously don't know, I just got here."

"Oh, here we can go to the library I guess." I tell her, leading us towards the building filled with books upon books. I don't even think to judge her logic, maybe I should.

"Alright then." She replies, short and strong.

*********

Right as I step into the air conditioned paradise for any book lover, judgmental looks are sent our way. Mothers shield their kids eyes, all sorts of people stare and the librarian holds her nose up high. She seems disgusted at us.

We reach a table with chairs for all of us and sit down. Here we sit in silence, unsure what to say, or how to say it. I have a terrible headache and just want to sleep. But that doesn't seem to be a possibility, plus according to Brian I was sleeping for quite a while. It's probably not the best idea, I want to have a somewhat normal sleep schedule after this. Isla turns to rest her head on my lap and I try to hug her. She seems so scared, shaking under my arms. It almost makes me miss the girl that seems so in-sync with all of this and not confused.

Wait, Isla's stopped acting strange. She's stopped drawing. Isla's first drawing was real. "I have to go." I announce to the rest of the table, immediately standing up and leaning forward on the table.

"Where?" Brian asks, his voice sad and quiet. I feel bad, he just saw his mom die in a horrific way and he's probably so confused. Well, we're all confused.

"Back to our house. I just know that there's something there that's important. I'll be back soon." I tell them and dash off to the doors of the library, practically dragging my hurt leg behind me. It hurts, but this is important.

Down the streets, I have to fight myself to keep going. I try to run, but it hurts. At least 30 minutes later, I make it to our house, which is just as we left it. I can't understand why Valentina told me it's unsafe. "God, I hope there's nothing crazy inside." I tell myself under my breath, opening the door and looking inside.