Ghosts {L.P.}

6:05

Ｇｈｏｓｔｓ Ｄｏｎｔ Ｋｎｏｗ Ｎｏ Ａｓ
Ａｎ Ａｎｓｗｅｒ

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|• 0:27

Riya didn't move from her bed the entire weekend.

At first, she started with soft cries barely muffled by the bitten corner of her pillow, curled into her favourite pyjamas while she watched the sun dip behind the skyscrapers and rise to illuminate the streets.

Then she entered a fully catatonic state, only broken for the times where her bladder could no longer hold another minute of laying or where she had to eat to not worry her father. Otherwise, Riya didn't move, she laid atop the covers of her made bed, hands clasped over her stomach while she stared at the grainy ceiling buzzing with the pressing question of what happened next.

What would happen now that everyone knew?

Would they bully her like they did before?

Would she be able to slip into the shadows and go unnoticed as just another rumour?

Or would Carrie ensure her locker was covered in the ectoplasm-looking goo kids used to cover Riya's things with?

Would Riya even still have friends to run to where she needed something?

Was there even still a band?

Soon enough, Riya had to leave the room, the chirping morning birds of a clear Monday day forcing her out of her closed off cave to face the next which came to her incessant questions regarding the student body's reactions throughout the weekend.

She made it through the routine of brushing her hair seamlessly, but once the last stroke of the brush slid past her smoothened out hair and Riya stared at herself in the mirror and came to a conclusion with the subject.

Riya pulled her hair back into the messy bun it had resided in during the weekend and smoothened out her pyjama jumper. She would face her problems by her favourite method, avoidance.

She would not go to school.

Riya trudged her way towards the kitchen, watching her father dance around between arranging the table and not burning their morning eggs all at once with the sunflower apron he insisted on buying Riya when she started making breakfast for the both of them.

His face fell at the sight of Riya's form still in her pyjamas picking at the sleeves of her jumper.

"Why aren't you dressed?"

"Can I not go to school today?" It was a question which Riya framed as a plea, feet shuffling under her weight while he dragged the sizzling pan off the heat.

"Riya..."

"I'll go tomorrow," She interjected, already knowing what came after her father's knowing look while he served the eggs with tense shoulders. He was hoping she wouldn't spiral like all those therapists had warned him would happen. "I promise. I just... I need one more day... please?"

Her father stared straight through her soul, eyes ablaze trying to burn out her layers until he came to the core of the truth. In moments like those, Riya knew for sure he had chosen the right vocation towards his job, he knew how to pick apart a lie seamlessly without you even noticing it had happened. One of the main reasons why it had taken Riya so much expertise to even be able to get away with a simple lie regarding her dad.

Except for once, she wasn't lying.

Finally, he relented, shoulders slumping while he sighed, setting the pan inside the sink with a loud clang as he untied the apron from behind his back.