Identical

Chapter 4

Owen

***

As soon as I told Olive to come into my room, I knew it was a mistake. I had forgotten about the holes I had punched in my wall, and I barely had enough time to cover up my hand so she wouldn't see the bruises on my hand. Like two minutes earlier, I had just punched another hole in the wall. Now I had to figure out how to hide my hand throughout dinner, and to Carly when I saw her after.

"Owen! Dinner!" mom yelled from downstairs.

"Okay," I yelled walking to the stairs.

When I got to the top of them, I remembered my hand and how I had to wrap it or something. I walked back to the bathroom to find something to cover it up with.

"Owen! We're waiting!" mom yelled, she sounded closer than before, she must of been at the bottom of the stairs.

"Just hold on!" I yelled through gritted teeth. I was trying to get the medical tape and gauze around my knuckles. I heard her coming up the stairs. Uh oh, I thought to myself. I had to get this done before she saw me.

"Owen?" she asked. Too late. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," I said hiding all of the stuff and my hand.

"What do you have behind your back?" she asked moving towards me. I took a step back, running into the wall.

"N-nothing," I stammered.

"Owen, you know that I hate it when people hide stuff from me, especially you," she said sweetly.

"Ya, I know that. I'm, I'm not hiding anything," I said stuttering. I have a habit of stuttering when I'm nervous or lying. Which I was doing both of to her right now.

"Owen, sweetie. I know that you're lying. Just tell me what you're hiding and I can help you," she said. taking another step towards me. I had nowhere to go because I was already against the wall.

"Mom, I'm se- serious. I'm n-not hiding anything," I sputtered out.

She pursed her lips, obviously not wanting to get into an argument right now. "Alright then. Dinner's ready, come down as soon as you can. We're not starting without you," she said as she left.

As soon as she was out of the bathroom, I released a breath that I didn't realized that I was holding. I hate lying to people, especially mom, but it was necessary. She couldn't find out about my wall or my hand.

I put away the tape and gauze and headed downstairs. It smelled really good. Mom must have made pot roast.

"... I just don't see why he's acting this way Steve. This isn't like him," mom said to dad. I stopped on the last step to listen. Was Olive in there too? If she was, what was she doing?

"Emma, it's just how Owen is. We've been through this before. He shuts us out for awhile, then acts like everything's fine. It'll pass," dad said. 

"He has been acting weird lately," Olive said. So she was in there, and she was probably going to tell them about my wall.

"What do you mean honey?" dad asked her.

Before she could answer, I walked into the dining room, not even worrying about my hand. I can't believe that they were talking about me behind my back. 

They all looked up at me when I sat down between mom and Olive.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Nothing," mom said. She reached out for my bandaged hand. She gave me a worried look, then looked to dad with the same expression. He flashed her a 'let's talk with him later' look and she nodded.