Freedom

The jacket

{Chapter 7}

Redd and I looked at one another and bolted down two sets of stairs. I tripped over a baby stroller once in the basement, but was caught. This time it was by myself for once.

"What's wrong?" Redd demanded in a sincere way.

"A mouse! It was a mouse!" the girls screamed from atop of the couch. They were dancing around holding each other out of fear that the mouse was going to attack them. Squeamishly they pointed in the direction it went.

"How are we going to catch it?" Redd asked me. I thought for a second, obviously not long enough and took off my hoodie. Finding the mouse, I scooped it up in the jacket and ran out the back door with Redd trailing closely behind. I hurried myself to the weeds and chucked the mouse into the brush.

That's when I realized the mistake I made. I had taken off my jacket. You could see my scars. Redd could have seen my scars. Quickly, I slipped my jacket back on and started back towards the house. Redd followed me.

"Uh, you just had a mouse in that thing. Are you sure you want to wear it?" Redd asked.

"Not really, but I am just too cold." I said quickly. Great coverup Persephone. Gol-ly!

"Well, you could borrow one of my jackets. If you'd like that is, I mean you don't have to if you don't want to." he said awkwardly. It was so cute. We were at the bottom of the stairs leading back up to his room by this time.

"That sounds great to me, thanks."

This time when we reached his door, he opened it. Inside his room were an array of posters and paintings. Redd went to his closet and started going through it to find a clean hoodie for me. While he was searching, I was observing the art around the room. The paintings surprised me. i thought that they might look like the door. None of the paintings before me resembled anything I'd seen in a third. Why did I have thirds anyways?

I'd never seen Rayle in any dream besides the thirds. Maybe these were common things? Or maybe a form of déjà vu? Either way, they were strange, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

"Here. I hope you're 'straight against h8'." He said, reading off the sweatshirt. This was one of my favorite sayings.

"Oh I definitely am!" I said smiling. With his back turned while he was fixing his closet door, I took off my jacket and quickly replaced it with his.

It smelled like Rayle. The jacket had the same scent Rayle had had when I nuzzled my head against his chest.

"Wow, it fits you well. I was afraid it might not, but that's the smallest jacket I have."

I checked myself out in the mirror. It really did look great on me.

"So, when'd you start going to Pine Ashes?" he asked. "I didn't think I'd seen you until a few days ago."

"I actually just started going there at the beginning of this week. I went to Blankview before." I replied. He'd sat down on his bed at this point. I sat down in an empty chair across from him.

"Why'd you move away from Blankview? I've heard that's a great school district." He asked me this with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh I was just having problems with a few of the people there. Besides, Pine Ashes has a lot more opportunities academically anyways." I said with a smile to seem more pleasant and less suspicious.

"Oh alright then. Are you hungry?"

Oh God. Why would he have to ask this? Depression means no appetite for me lately. I didn't want anything anyways.