Good Luck With That *ON HOLD*

Chapter 9: "So do we have a deal?"

I keep running until my legs can no longer move me further forward and I collapse to the ground, feeling violently sick and sweaty. Taking in my surroundings, as I slouch to the ground against a wall, I estimate myself to be at least a few blocks from home. I don't know what's come over me. I can't seem to come to a conclusion on what happened. Well not exactly, I know what happened- I slapped Hayden. What I don't know is what on earth was running through my mind when I decided to slap him. It all came over me in a blur. All I can remember is this fire fueled rage that had taken over my body. It's the first time in years that I've recognised anger as an emotional link to my Mum's accident. What I found in that folder about Hayden, has rocked me to my core. I can't even address the situation to myself; I don't want to. When the time is right I will, that time's just not anytime soon.

My phone rings, for the fifth time tonight. 

"Quit it!" I snap, turning my phone onto silent. I haven't bothered to check who has been ringing me but honestly I don't care. I'm sick of it all, sick of it already. It's the same as last year, yet this time Hayden's in the picture and I can sincerely say he's making everything ten times worst. It will surely be a miracle if I make it through this year alive. 

                                                                                          ***

I'm awoken by a vibrating sensation, in the palm of my hand. I open one eye lid, and upon realising it's my phone I just leave it. My eyelids droop closed again. A bright light, accompanied by a loud honk brings me back into reality. My body sprawls out on the concrete ground as I search for my phone. 

"Shit," I swear beneath my breath, it's way past twelve o'clock. I scroll through the missed calls from my Dad; there are twenty four. Oh great, I am going to be in so much trouble. The message I had gotten earlier before work was from Dad which read:

Afternoon honey, I convinced work to let me come back home so I'll be back around 6:45. Don't bring home any dinner from work because I've ordered takeaway for us. Hope you're ok. 

Dad 

Uh oh, this is so not good. I bound down the street, with my bag clanging against my shoulder. By the time I reach my front door, I'm panting so heavily I need to lean onto the column of the front porch for support. Yeah I think I might need to work on my fitness levels. 

Out of nowhere the front door bursts open making me jump back in surprise. Once I've calmed done a little I finally meet the eyes of Dad. His creased forehead loosens, but nothing can hide the deep black circles under his eyes, nor the grim frown he wears. He's still in his suite, minus the jacket which makes me think he's been up all night waiting for me to arrive home. Just like I used to wait for him to come home from work when I was little. 

"Dad," I say; toneless, expressionless. 

"Evelyn, I've been so worried," he sighs. For a moment I believe him. Believe, the worry lines in his forehead and the dark circles beneath his eyes. But it vanishes in an instant. I'm not ready to forgive and forget. 

"Seems like it, doesn't it?" I snap, pushing past him through the door and climbing the stairs to my bedroom. 

"Evelyn, please wait!" he yells from the landing. "Don't do this to me again!"

From the top of the stairs I turn to face my father. "Do this to you?" To you? Don't even get me started Dad." Completely ignoring him I slam the door and crawl into bed, still clothed yet bathed in complete darkness. 

Throughout the night I wake from horrid nightmares, and I come to gripping the sheets tightly and drenched in sweat. But the dreams don't end when I wake up because they consume most every inch of my thoughts. It starts off with me running down a narrow hallway with angered yells from my father becoming louder and louder behind me, yet the further I get down the hallway the narrower it seems to become. When I think I might get squashed by the walls the room suddenly expands to a great huge white space with no walls, no ceilings and an endless path to nowhere. I try to turn, or move but I'm completely stuck in place, frozen in time. Then everything slowly fades into a classroom and everybody I know, including my mom and people from my old school start appearing before me, saying things I can't hear. The dream ends with Hayden and his firm arms locked around me in an embrace. I try fighting against it, but he feels like stone and that's when I realise he has become stone. Then he whispers something just below my chin, something incoherent to my ears.