birds // hs

29. Hell

EARLY UPDATE WOOHOO

The next four months were worse than hell.

I wish I could say that life was terrible, or that I got into some fight or started some scandalous affair at my school- but none of that was the case.

It was worse than hell because I was alone almost 99% of the time. My parents were fighting constantly so my stepdad moved into an apartment downtown and just came over for dinner a few nights a week. To counteract her own loneliness, my mom threw herself into her work. She was working all hours of the day and night: picking up shifts, working from home, going into overtime pay. I saw her maybe four hours a week.

My friends were my only companions and they all had boyfriends that they were madly in love with, which meant I was constantly being set up with random guys just so I could tag along on their group dates.

My 'best friend' did the typical high school girl thing and became a total bitch, probably because she lost her virginity over the summer and suddenly thought she was the queen of the entire world.

My only solace was Harry, who called me at seven o'clock every single night, just like clockwork. He was like my saving grace in those cold winter months.

"Hey, baby," he grinned into the phone just like every other night. "How was your day?"

"Shitty," I sighed morosely. "My English teacher is an asshole. She keeps assigning us all this bullshit work. Not to mention I'm like ninety-nine percent sure she has a lesbian crush on me."

He just laughed. "And what makes you think that?"

"She asked me if I wanted to help pass out papers tomorrow at some lame career day thing we have to go to. It's a waste of time, I think."

"Don't write it off so quickly," he spoke softly as the sound of rushing water suddenly joined his voice on the other side of the line. "Maybe it will be...enlightening."

I scoffed. "Yeah right. It's probably going to be some old bald guy yammering on about how English saved him after his wife left him."

"That's quite the image," Harry chuckled heartily, the sound of water only growing louder with each second.

"What is that sound?"

"What sound?"

"It's like water or something. Are you taking a shower?"

"Nope."

"Har," I whined, pouting out my bottom lip even though he couldn't see me. "Tell me what the sound is."

"Rain, baby."

I sighed and looked wistfully out the window, my fork dragging along my empty plate as I imagined sitting across from Harry, just looking into his eyes and laughing right along with him. "It's raining?"

"Yeah. Has been for a couple days. And it's colder than it usually is this time of year, weird huh?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Weird."

There was a short pause on his side of the line, then a small chuckle.

"Still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I answered as I placed my dishes in the sink and left the kitchen to sit on the back porch.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" He asked gently. "You sound sad."

I looked up at the clear, black sky and admired the stars for a few minutes, just listening to the sound of his steady breathing and the faint sound of waves crashing behind him as chilly wind billowed around me.