Hidden Behind Walls

Chapter 20: And I was out here hiding from my demons in plain sight

We are almost at 30K, omfg. This is so cool! Also, actually finished this before Christmas which is a miracle. Thanks for reading, commenting and voting! 

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Clayton P.O.V.

I've never knew what it felt like to be truly afraid of the future. It was daunting obviously, thinking of the years to come and the endless possibility of your life. But, the fear of the immediate future, a future that was almost tangible...that was terrifying.

Like the moment I realized, that Christmas was around the corner, just a week or two away. Most people would say Christmas was their favorite holiday, unless they loved food in which they would probably say Thanksgiving. I hated family get-togethers all round, it was like cheap plastic suffocating me as Mom and Ollivander faked this "happy family." The only tolerable part of it was that Bella and Alric came every Christmas. It was this beautiful buffer of not having to deal with Ollivander coming after me. Especially since I took the full ride without him knowing it, that was gonna bite me in the butt big time.

Though this year, the weeks leading up to Christmas weren't going so bad. But, I was spending my time with Raven's family now more than I did with my own. Her parents were here solidly in town for the month of December and early January. I've never seen a family so in sync with each other during the holidays.

Her mom invited me over to help them put up decorations. Mrs. Bordeaux was bubbly and bright, and I felt so much better that she even invited me with my first impression being what it was. So here Raven and I are, in front of the house fighting over how much lights are needed on the bushes.

"We need more lights Clayton!" Raven insists.

"You have literally covered all of them in sparkling snowflake lights, TWICE! You don't need more lights on the bushes" I chide.

"Smh, there is no such things as too much for christmas lights" she lectured. She turned away from me sharply and reached for more lights. If she kept this up her house would become a fire hazard.

"Raven! Listen to Clayton! We don't have anymore extension cords anyway" her mom calls out from behind a large coniferous tree. Mrs. Bordeaux's head pops out, her short curly bob springing with the motion. She gives Raven a look and Raven throws up her hands and sighs.

"Fine, we don't need anymore lights" she pouts. I can hear Mrs. Bordeaux make an "mhm" sound and Raven pursues her lips.

"Go help Lily get the reindeer out!" Mrs. Bordeaux adds on, popping her head out once again and pointing to the front door.

"Ok" Raven responds, she sticks out her tongue at me and runs inside the house.

"There anything you want me to do, Mrs. Bordeaux?" I ask after a few seconds of Raven being gone.

"Clayton, actually can you help Maurice with getting the the lights draped on the roof edges" she says pointing to Raven's Dad who was emerging from the garage with a ladder. Raven's Dad, Maurice, was sort of in that in between of being really slim and built. His head was bald and as he came out his breath puffed in front of him in great amounts. He set the ladder into place. He eyed me over and then cracked a grin.

"So you wanna go up?" he says pointing to the ladder.

"Yeah, sure" I say, he pats me on the back and I wince. He gives me a confused look and pats me again and I try to hide the wince but the pain is sharp and I do it poorly. He retracts his arm.

"Nadiya, me and Clayton are gonna go inside and see if we can find some... hooks for the lights. Seems like some fell off from last year" Mr. Bordeaux shouts not tearing his eyes off me. Mrs. Bordeaux gives us acknowledging sound and Mr. Bordeaux brings me into the house.