Winchester High| 16+

Chapter 10: Prey

"Yo, come upstairs." Malik, who was just waiting to ruin my night, said overhead.

I would've been kicking my feet right now, dancing like I was in LaLa Land, but no. I flung my bag around my shoulder and went up the stairs.

We lived in this brick thing. Brick lined each and every wall. If the architect didn't get in the way, I'm sure the floors would've ended up being brick too. We lived in a sizable apartment. The ones that make you go dizzy when you get on your floor due to the sheer amount of doors. One of these days I'm gonna take away the room numbers we have on our doors and swap them all, watch everyone go berserk.

I walked right up to our door, the only one with the corny welcome mat on it.

'Shut the FRONT Door'

Get it? It's profanity. And also the worlds first unwelcoming welcome mat. I wanted to kick the damn door open I was already so mad. Evidently, this welcome mat always seemed to set a bad tone for me.

Instead I channeled it all and simply opened the door.

"There you are! It's late." My Mom said in her pajamas, stocking the fridge.

It was night, and if everyone disappeared, I would love the ambience. We had the kitchen-living set up (our only option). And lamps, but one too many. It was nice at night, but in the day it was tough looking at all the metal rods in the house.

"Why do you have so much jewelry on?" I said. The whole Earth annoyed me. But she was decked out in tacky silver and gold all around her wrists and fingers.

"Well, I'm just trying them on." She said laying her hands down on the island. The light from bangles and rings danced on the countertop. Her hair smelled freshly straightened, so I assumed it was a self care day gone wrong. Our dad was out usually this time of day and when Malik's out--which he usually is-- and if I'm not at the warehouse, Mom has all night to herself until we get home. She was a living-breathing example of these seven deadly sins: Pride, Greed, and Sloth. 

"Oka-" I couldn't finish my response.

"Where were you?" She said abruptly. Her seriousness was tainted due to the sheer amount of jewelry she had on.

"Exploring abandoned buildings with crackheads." I responded. I liked doing that. Telling people exactly what I did, and then some, so they completely rule out your answer. It's worked 9/10 times.

"What??" I didn't work this time.

"I'm kidding, I was with Val." I could say this. Since if I called Val she would vouch for me. 

"Oh, I like that girl. She's smart. You could learn a couple of things from her." She turned, then looked at her earrings through the fridge's reflection. She was a nut case.

I didn't want to stay in the public commune space that was our kitchen-living longer than needed, so I tried to head to my room which was next to the TV.

Malik's door, the one next the island, swung open pouring a sweaty odor into the kitchen--every time.

"Nah, he was with that new kid."

My jaw clenched.

"Don't try and lie... A liar and a criminal" Malik said, swiping droplets of sweat from his forehead. He liked to workout from home for football's sake, but it always stunk. 

Slowly but surely he stumbled further into the space, like an anaconda, then sat at the bar stool, spinning to face me. I couldn't stop relieving that embarrassing scene today. The memory started to hurt, like knives, every time I saw his face. He was out of breath and huffing like a boar.

"Not to mention gay" He added, which I thought was unnecessary. You can tell he was trying to spark a reaction out of our Mom. Then I wondered if Carlos was bullied. He was too tall and too cool to get bullied, but the rules of predator and prey would often prove to be changing at our school.

He wanted to make me insecure, but I never cared of that sort of thing. "Nice one," I responded "But I'm not lying he just dropped me off."

"Who?" Mother chimed in, not reading the room entirely.

"That new kid. Ismael with tell you, he be all over hi-" Malik started.

"Stop." I wasn't insecure, but it was the sort of comment that I don't to be discussed in front of her. At this point, images of belly flopping on my bed flickered in my head. Though my frustration was waking me out of my fatigue the more he kept talking.

"Please, stop fighting." Mom stepped it, though saying it like she was being forced to, as if we were interrupting her mirror time. Blank-faced, she played with a ring. She acted like a birthday clown until things stopped being about her. I could scream.

"I don't need this right now." She said. Malik watched me like a hawk in the duration it took to take her fluffy slippers and her deluxe bathrobe over to our parent's bedroom to shut the door.

"I can't stand you, y'know." I said an unfriendly tone. The same way I imagined Principal Cullens jumping over the table and choking me, was the same way Malik leaped out of his seat over to me. I didn't know what to do, or what to grab, and my backpack felt like it had bricks in it, so I felt stuck.

Before I could think, his greasy hands were around my neck.