It's In the Dark

Chapter 2: Safe and Sound?: Riley

I finally made it! I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open with all my strength. I forced it closed and latched every lock in the blink of an eye. Thank God it wasn't locked or else this could have turned our super embarrassing, and possibly deadly. "Who's slamming my doors?!" I heard a loud yell coming from the living room, honestly it scared me almost as much as whatever was outside. "Sorry mom!" I yelled back in response. Huh? I paused for a second to try and catch my breath. I felt like I had run a marathon, but it wasn't over, was it? I peeped through the blinds on the window next to the back door. I made sure to make the crack just big enough for me to see, but small enough so that whatever I was watching couldn't watch me back. My eyes shifted from left to right, up and down. Where is it? What was that? You can't tell me that scene was all in my head. Someone really grabbed that cat, right? I can't be this crazy, yet the melancholy in my brain was in large contrast to the calmness of the night. I let out a huge sigh, right as my mother was entering the kitchen. "What's got you so down sweetie?" She asked? "Oh nothing," I responded. I can't just say something was following me without evidence to prove I'm not crazy. She'd definitely tell me I've been watching too much tv. She gave me a look that showed she clearly didn't believe what I had just said. "Are you sure?" "You look like you've seen a ghost," she said as she walked over and pressed the back of her hand against my forehead. Did I really look that out of it? "Yeah," I said, and then I went into this made-up story about me and Victoria getting into an argument. I'm not sure if she believed it, but she left me alone afterwards, so that was a good sign. I took a shower, ate dinner, and was finally able to rest in my bed, yet my adrenaline hadn't calmed down at all. Since my lights were supposed to be out, I made sure to keep the lamp at my bedside on. At that moment, the dark scared me more than anything. No, I didn't see a ghost... I didn't see anything. "I wish I would've seen a ghost" I murmured to myself as I tried to close my eyes and drift to sleep, but it was obvious I wasn't getting any that night.

*Chirp, chirp* The birds outside of my window were happily chatting with one another. "Ugh," I groaned, "five more minutes. *Chirp, chirp, chirp* "argh." Stupid birds, why'd they choose to have a conversation outside of MY window. At some point last night, I had managed to doze off. I grumpily turned over to grab my cell phone that was resting on my nightstand. It had just turned 6:30. I guess the birds were good for something, they had done the job that my alarm had failed to do, mostly because I forgot to set the alarm, but whatever. Now that I paid attention to it, the chirping wasn't all that loud, but after last night I was so on edge that even a pin dropping would have woken me up. I slowly stood to my feet and skated over to the bathroom. My mother was already up, and in the kitchen making breakfast. That was rare, usually we'd both get up too late to make breakfast, she needed to be to work around the same time that I needed to be to school and to be honest, we both aren't really morning people. Cooking so early seemed like a hassle. I lived alone with my mother, my dad passed away when I was around five and I just so happen to be an only child. She tried dating once, but seeing that we're alone again now, I'm guessing that didn't go that well. It's just been the two of us ever since, not that I'm complaining. After brushing my teeth, I wandered into the kitchen and saw a delicious spread set before me. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, the works. Apparently, my mother had felt so bad seeing me in the state that I was in last night that she made this effort to cheer me up. Seems that she accepted my story about me and Victoria fighting. That's good. Right?

We left the house around the same time. She jumped in the car and headed off to work and I started my stroll towards the school in the opposite direction. For anyone wondering why she didn't just drive me, she'd be cutting it close for time if she took the detour to drop me off, plus it's not even a five-minute walk, I'm not THAT lazy. While I was walking, the events of last night replayed over and over in my mind. It was almost like something from a horror movie. I'm not even sure what to call it. Luckily the school was in the opposite direction of that cursed path, so I felt a bit more at ease. What was that? "-iley.... Riley!" I heard a voice coming from right next to me that snapped me out of my fantasy. "You ok?" It was Courtney. Our routes crossed on the way to school, and we often met up and arrived at school together. "Sorry, I was spacing out a bit," I gave an uncomfortable laugh. Should I tell her? Courtney's super nice and I'm sure she wouldn't tell me I was crazy, maybe I could tell her. I'm sure it'd feel good to get it off my chest anyway, so I began to talk. I told her of my terrifying ordeal, and she listened attentively, making a variety of funny and scared faces. We talked like this until we reached the schoolyard.