A Way to Yesterday

Chapter 26- Christmas Blues

Liam's POV:

Past.

I jolt upright in bed at the sudden sound of yelling. I already know it's my mom and dad. I rub the sleep from my eyes and check the clock by my bed. It's a little after nine in the morning. I get out of bed and crack my door open slightly.

"You have no right. After the hell you've put me through these past few months. Not to mention Liam. How do you think he would feel?" my mom yells. I slowly pull the door open and step out into the hallway. I tiptoe to the top of the stairs and listen.

"Liam is a big boy now. And he obviously can tell something is wrong. He would understand Karen," my dad says calmly.

"And what if he doesn't? Things like this don't just affect you and I. They always, no matter what, affect the children too. No matter how old they are."

"Just stop Karen. Stop using Liam as an excuse for something you don't want. It's the only option. You and I both know it," he says.

"Fine then. But we are not telling him. At least not until it's done," she says. I hear her footsteps coming closer to the stairs and rush quietly back to my room. I close the door quietly and climb back in bed. I throw the covers over myself just as my door opens.

"Liam? Are you awake?" my mom whispers. I stay silent and even out my breathing. She sighs and shuts the door. I turn over and reach for my phone. I needed to get out of this house for a few hours. I was tired of the pretending and the arguing they thought I couldn't here. I was tired of them going to bed together and then hearing my dad sneak downstairs a few hours later to sleep on the couch. I was tired of the secrets.

I get out of bed and change into something warm but comfortable. I grab my coat and phone and sneak downstairs. My dad is no where in sight and his car is not in the driveway. Instead of getting in my car I walk. Walking helps me. Even though it was like below negative degrees out here the air felt good.

Walking down the neighborhood I grew up in was nostalgic and calming. My childhood wasn't bad. I was one of the lucky kids. I remember my best friend's parents were going through a divorce when he was in middle school and it completely messed him up. He ended up moving away to live with his dad because his mom started drinking. I never really heard from him after that.

Then again I don't really talk to anyone here anymore, since I left for college. I missed it. I started to miss living in New York. I miss the simplicity of my life. Not that it was bad now. It was just more complicated.

I had walked farther then expected. I was at the park my mom would run at every morning. Well used to run at. She used to bring me here when I was little. The park was empty now because of the cold weather. But I still move to sit at the playground. I sit at the bottom of the slide and shiver. It felt good to be home but not in the home itself.

I lay back and lie on the cold slide. I stare at the sky. It was cloudy but the bright kind of cloudy. The kind where the sun was hiding right behind the clouds but you still couldn't see it. The snow stopped falling a few nights ago but it still stuck to the ground and left a chill in the air.

"Liam?" I sit up startled at the sudden voice. My mouth drops.

"Ashley?" I say. I stare at the familiar petite, curly haired brunette in front of me.

"Hi," she mumbles.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Not to be weird or anything but I saw you walking and I wanted to make sure it was you," she says. A small smile spreads across my face.