Left Abroad

Chapter 4

      It has been a week since the dinner and it has been good, or at least as good as it can get. For some reason I found myself thinking a lot about Adam and that put a bit of a damper on my mood. Non the less, it was fun hanging around with Micheal, he was a really fun and out there kind of person. It made me remember why I had fallen for him about two years back. I was enjoying it here a lot, seeing Micheals’s life I realised that I didn’t have freedom at home with my mom who constantly wanted to be involved.

   Here I had freedom with him and it felt great and I never wanted it to stop. We spent the day swimming and then going to the mall. Apparently I haven’t lived until I’ve tried this burger place that he loved. It was good, I wasn’t much of a burger guy but it was good. After that we just walked and walked until our feet were so sore we had to go home. Micheal went to his room to sleep and I went to mine simply to avoid my parents. I went to my closet and retrieved my sketchbook as I felt this weird sensation to draw.

   Opening it, I paged through my drawings, so sweet and romantic, other a bit more physical and explicit in nature. I paged until I came to a blank page and grabbed my pencils and eraser. Without knowing what I was drawing, I started. It took me a while just to get the basic structure and then the details hid from my sight, only revealing them very slowly. I struggled with the shadowing but got it right after what felt like forever. I went to wash my hands and when I came back my eyes widened. It was a face, but not just any face that stared back at me. Adam’s face.

   A nock came from the door and I almost jumped.

   “Nathan, the food is ready,” it was Mrs. Alvarez and I jumped to close the sketchbook as the door started to open.

   She gave me a curious look, she stared at me for a while and what I was holding in my hands.

   “I’ll be right down Mrs. Alvarez,” I said giving her a smile.

   She nodded and then turned. I quickly placed the sketchbook back in the closet under some T-shirts. As I descended down the stairs I saw I was the only one missing from the group at the table. It was silent for a while but soon everyone started talking and eating. It was all pleasantries like how was your day, what did you do, stuff like that.

   “So, Nathan, you have to tell me what is in that book you’re hiding.”

   Shit, I swallowed hard, it was hard enough keeping that particular sketchbook from my parents. They practically didn’t even know about this one.

   “Oh trust me, it’s quite the bore,” Micheal said and once again saving my ass. “Just some drawings of kids in class rooms and some totally weird, freak out, gothic people as well. Sometimes doing the weirdest stuff.”

   That put a stop to all that. Thank you Micheal!

   The rest of dinner went down without a hitch and when it was over Micheal and I helped clear the table. As we finished and he started to walk his way out to the back I grabbed him by the arm and thanked him for getting me out of the tuff spot. He simply shrugged and then we both went outside. The grownups were all laughing and enjoying themselves but they quieted a bit when we came close. Mr. Alvarez came closer to us with a very serious look on his face. He was laughing just a few seconds ago, what’s with that?

   “Micheal, Nathan,” he said with authority in his tone and then put a his left hand on Micheal’s right shoulder and his right hand on my left shoulder.

   The next thing I knew, I was falling back and then came a big splash. I came up for air, my hair hanging over my face. I turned and looked at Micheal next to me.

   “Is your dad always a joker,” I said and then started laughing.

   “Since we moved yes. How bout we try the youth of today against the grownups,” he said smiling wickedly.

   We both were out of the pool really fast and when my dad tried to stop us while we tried to get Micheal’s dad in the pool, Micheal shoved my dad in at the same time I shoved his in. It took me a moment to register what he’d done and I gave a quick glance towards my mom. Her eyes widened and my stomach turned in on itself.

   Mr. Alvarez come up and started laughing, however my dad came up red, if it were a cartoon there would have been steam coming from his ears and his temperature would have turned the water to gas. Slowly he made his way out and marched into the house. A minute later while Micheal and his parents were still laughing, my name was shouted from above. I knew better than to make him wait and walked hastily to their bedroom.

   As I reached the bedroom, he was drying himself off, utterly pissed. He stared at me for a while and I looked down,  I couldn’t take him like this.

   “Sit!”

   I didn’t want to, I didn’t move a millimetre. That is until he came storming my way and took a death grip on my arm and shoving me on to the edge of the bed. He didn’t let go immediately and it almost felt like he was going to cut of the blood circulation to my arm. I could smell the alcohol on him, my mom always said someone who had drank smelled like fruitcake, he definitely smelled like that.
   He started his usual speech, turning to scream here and there. I just tuned out, I knew better than to listen and I simply kept my head down. He shouted something but I hadn’t listened. Before I had time to react, his open palm came down and slapped me hard. The sound almost echoing through the room as my face burned.

   “I asked, are you listening!?”

   I just nodded to the question.

   “Get out,” he yelled as he threw something against the wall and it shattered behind me.

   There were tears building up, but I blinked most of them away as I left the room. As I stepped outside, I looked down the stairs and saw them, they were standing there listening. I walked to my room and locked the door. There was a few nocks after a few minutes , but I didn’t answer.

   As I just sat on my bed, I watched the antique clock on the bed side table. It was only 9pm and I knew what a long night it would be.