Warrior

Chapter 9: Lingering Anger

I watched her sleep for a while. Making sure she was okay. She must have been having a hard time sleeping with nightmares. The pills kicked in and I fell asleep.

-- THE NEXT DAY --

"the duck goes quack quack quack, the cow goes moo moo moo, and the old red rooster goes cock-a-doodle-doo" Pop says, walking upstairs into my and Brendan's old room. "Don't wake her up" I spoke, waking up slowly. He nodded. "Look what I found in that disaster of a basement. What do you say we update this sometime? You can fill me on how close you got to thay record." He said, pausing for a bit. "Do you continue wrestling after you left with your mother?" He asked. I didn't say anything. "C'mon Tommy, tell me something" he says again. "Yeah, I'll tell ya somthin'. You can take that thing back to where you found it. And you can leave the coffee in the pot. I can pour that myself. I can wake myself up, too." I spoke harshly. "I hurt my knees comming up and down those stairs." He replied. "Coffee pots on till 0-500, then I dump it." He spoke quietly, leaving the room.

Naomi was awake now, she looked well rested. No nightmares or anything. "So Jades gonna pick you up?" I asked her as she slowly woke up. "Mmhm, are you gonna talk to her?" She asked her voice soft and sleepy. "If she will talk to me" I reply hiding any emotions best I can. I was angry but she was still my sister. She deserves to know what happened. She deserves to know why I didn't come back. I wasn't sure if I was ready to even speak to her and her with me. She probably hated my guts. She didn't understand and I wasn't sure if she'd be able to.

I stayed home with Naomi that day. Pop had been gone most of the day. Not sure what he was up to but I had my time with Naomi. We didn't talk to each other as much as I knew both of us wanted to. I glances at her a few times. She was still just as beautiful as I remember. She was different, obviously. We're older now, but she was different. She was grown up. I remember when me, her, and Jade would all hang out when Brendan wasn't around that much. We all shared goo times together. I think those memories are long gone between us. We've all seen to much to remember the good times. I still had what's left of good in me. A spark of happiness, and really, it was because she was here. I missed her greatly.

It was late now and Naomi said Jade was on her way. I wasn't ready, and she probably wasn't either. Pop left again but he didn't say where he was going. Me and Naomi waited patiently for Jade. I knew she'd be angry at me. I knew she'd be hurt. We both sat and waiting until we heard a knock at the door. Naomi opened it and in walked Jade. She sent a hard stare towards me. Immediately I could tell she was angry. I could also tell she wasn't sober. She was high on something. Pills? Drugs? I wasn't sure.

"C'mon Naomi, let's go" She spoke, her voice cold. "Jade-" She cut her off. "No, we're leaving" She said again. "Jade, let me explain-" I was cut off. "What do you have to explain? All I know is that you left and you didn't come back. Now you're here and you didn't try to come see me or call me even! You left me there and it killed me. I don't fucking need you now. I only need Naomi and Brendan. You can't just leave and come back like nothing happened!" She yelled and stormed out of the house, going back to the car, waiting for Naomi. Naomi looked at me with sad, sympathetic eyes. It stung, what Jade said hurt, but she was angry. "I'll be fine." I mumble walking out to the back porch. Naomi went outside to talk to Jade. I sat outside for a while before I checked to see if Jade and Naomi left. They were gone. I'll just have to try to be patient with Jade. I knew she was hurting.