My Death

Chapter 9 - Mackenzie

~Mackenzie~

It takes three days. Three days for you to finally grasp your world your world has fallen apart. It had been three days since Grandma's funeral and I was now feeling the absence. I felt I was walking through jelly, everything seemed just that much harder. But I pushed on. She was gone. She was never coming back.

"Mackenzie?" Ava said, sounding like it was not the first time she had asked my name.

"Yeah?" I asked.

We were sitting at our usual lunch table under a huge weeping willow. The breeze underneath it was so soothing, like a balm to the skin. It wasn't hard to get lost in thought.

"I asked if you wanted me to come over tonight," she said.

It had been the first day I came back to school. I needed a break from trying to avoid Eric. I drove Liam to school as well. I think he was glad to be back with all of his friends. For the past four days or something, Liam and I have always been really busy when it came to Eric. Liam had to go to the beach for one of his friend's birthdays, and then I had to take him to get a prescription for his asthma which conveniently took all afternoon. It was a non-stop game to spend as little time with Eric as possible. I can honestly say that so far, I hadn't seen the side of him from our past. I hoped it stayed that way.

"Sure, I guess," I said.

"So, he isn't like he used to be?" she asked.

I knew who she was talking about. "It's weird. He is like a totally different person for the few conversations I have actually had with him. But I'm still waiting for him to snap."

"Mmm," she muttered. "Maybe he is clean?"

"Maybe..."

After school I went to pick up Liam, like any other day, but when I got there the lady told me he had been picked up by his father.

"What do you mean?"

"His father. Mr Silva," his teacher told me.

I ran to my car and started it before I was even in the seat, revved to the max to get an extra second in and sped straight home. The door was pushed open with a thud by yours truly. Stomping in to the kitchen throwing my bag and keys on the bench, I found Liam at the table with a sandwich and a book.

"Hey," I said kissing his cheek, breathing lightly heavier than normal. "I thought I was picking you up today?" I asked him.

"Eric picked me up," he said, not looking up from his book.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

"A book Eric got me."

Ouch, that hurt a bit.

At least he wasn't calling him Dad or anything... I could tell he was already falling for his charms though.

Just as Mum had done.

"It was my favourite when I was his age," a voice from behind me said.

Eric came into the room and sat next to Liam. I gave him a very sarcastic smile, grabbed my bag from the table and headed up to my room.

Once in my room I light my candles and incense and collapsed onto my bed exhausted. I let the scent of my candles fill my room as I closed my eyes and forgot everything that had happened in the past week. Thoughts of my grandma dying, my father coming back after all these years, the creepy hot guy in the backyard, and the police officers' conversation left my head.

I woke up to the smell of something downstairs. I blew the last of the candles out and left the room to see what had happened. Maybe Liam was playing with the oven again... Does Eric not know how to look after a kid for an hour?

I was in the kitchen within seconds to find Eric at the oven. He had something in his hands that smelt like heaven. I took a peak and liked what I saw.

"Did I wake you?" Eric said.

"No. How did you know I was sleeping?"

He gave a laugh as he put the tray on the table. "I came in to see what you wanted for dinner but you were asleep."

I ate it. But not for any other reason than the fact it was the most delicious thing I have ever had in my whole life. I didn't let him know it though. When I was done I cleared the plates, stacked them in the dishwasher and went to sit in the hammock. There was a slight breeze that tickled my skin and I wondered if the creeper would be staring at me again. I wouldn't put it passed a psychopath to not get the hint that he wasn't welcomed. Maybe he has just found a better hiding place. Those black eyes were something so frightening and yet so calm. They had seen my soul. His lack of an aura though made me think maybe he didn't have one.

The whole week had been a weird mix of strange turning to stranger. School did not seem so important and yet it was the one constant I had come to rely upon. I would never guess that homework could possibly get worse, but somehow every single teacher decided this week was the week to swamp us. Not only were we pressured by the tests leading up to the HSC at the end of the year, but with each teacher expecting two hours of homework every night, there was not enough hours in the day and my head was starting to explode.

I cried myself to sleep one night. It had been a week and I had finally come to terms with the fact nothing was changing. No one was to save me from this hell I was living. A hole had creeped up and consumed me. School. Grandma. Eric. Work. It hit me that I would have to actually deal with this a lot longer than I thought.

No one said growing up would be easy, but I bet my last pay-check that other teenagers didn't have it this hard. I was going in circles.

I took extra hours down at the grocery store, stocking up the shelves early in the morning before school. It wasn't the ideal job but I'd rather live on the street than ask Eric for a handout. So I got up before Liam would wake up every morning and get back just before he would wake up. It was stressful and tiring but I got away from Eric and it allowed me a pass from the sleepless nights I always had.

One early morning, I was removing a box with party supplies, when my manager came over.

"So, the rumour mill has been turning," he started, dusting a box with his finger dramatically. "And I heard your father is back in town."

I stiffened, box like glass in my hand.

Minutes passed as I thought of something to say but it was clearly too long. "It's none of my business anyway. I was just curious. I knew your mother. We had grown up together since infants. I knew everything that happened in relation to your family. But your father..." he trailed, "Your father seemed to come out of thin air..." He was quiet, as if he was trying to recall the first time he met Eric.

"Any how!" He straightened up as I jumped, remembering the box in my hand just in time. "Just curious. You can finish up a half an hour early, try to get some rest. You look like death, my dear!"