Surviving Factionless

GOODBYE: Chapter 13

I jolted awake. I was sweating and breathing heavily. I had woken up from a bad dream that I now forget. Andrew stirred in his sleep and I tried not to wake him up. I slipped on my shoes and got up, but lost balance and fell back down.

"Nat?" he asked groggily. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered hoping he would go back to sleep.

No such luck. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Squinting, he looked at me.

"Where are you going?" He asked looking at my shoes. Mrs. Prior hadn't brought me new shoes in a while, mostly because I told her not to. The soles were falling off on the ones I was wearing and there were a few holes in places they had gotten snagged on wood or some piece of a building.

"I'm going to get some breakfast." I tried to cover up.

"It's too early," he explained looking at his watch. Darn that watch. But, even if he didn't have a watch, he could still look out the window and see that the sun was only a quarter past the horizon.

"I know," I said. "I just wanted to talk to Carol for a little bit before we got breakfast"

"Ok," he said throwing off his blanket and reaching to get his shoes. "I'm coming with you."

"No," I said, trying to think up a good excuse. I feel so bad, but I already made my decision.

"Why not?" he asked pausing in the middle of untying his left shoe.

"Because," I said still thinking of an excuse. "I need to talk to Carol in private."

"Ok," he said resuming in the putting on of his shoes. "I'll just wait for you and then we can get breakfast together."

"You always get breakfast. It's my turn," I said. "Go back to sleep."

"Fine," he said rolling his eyes. "I know when I'm not wanted."

He flung his shoe off and pulled his blanket back over himself.

"I'll be back before you know it."

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something then thought otherwise and just smiled and said bye.

I walked through the hole that we call a door and just like that, I walked away from the one person who cared about me the most.