The sound of my alarm clock woke me up with a start. I groaned and looked at my nightstand to where it was, rolling on my back and swinging my arm at the face of the clock reading Wednesday, March 15th, 7 a.m. The buzzer shut off at the force of my impact and sat silently as I rubbed at my eyes tiredly. I had yet another bad dream that had woken me up in the middle of the night, preventing me from going back to sleep.
With great effort, I shoved aside my covers and slumped out of bed. Every bone of my body was dragging in protest at my movement, sleep still trying to claim its hold on me. Reaching the bathroom, I turned the faucet on as cold as it would go and before I had the chance to think about it and change my mind, cupped some water in my hand and threw it directly at my face.
Immediately goose bumps covered my flesh and my eyes shot open all the way with the unexpected feeling. I sighed and looked into the mirror to see the effects of my missed sleep.
My face seemed somewhat pale compared to my normally natural olive skin tone. And as I had suspected, heavy dark circles ringed my hazel eyes.
"Oh, well," I said defeatedly to myself. There was nothing I could do about it now. I finished washing my face and pulled my hair back into a somewhat presentable ponytail.
When I returned to my bedroom I pulled open drawers and half-heartedly pulled a series of clothes out and threw them on my bed.
I ended up wearing a pair of worn out blue jeans and a light blue tank top. It wasn't my best work but it would have to do. I walked downstairs to the smell of eggs and sausage, my favorite. I perked up a little bit, hoping that breakfast would give me back enough energy to last me the day.
Benny was already at the table, reading one of his many comic books.
"Hey Bugger," I greeted him, ruffling his hair and sitting next to him, grabbing my own plate of food. He looked up at me briefly to give me the stink eye for the nickname but soon resumed reading. I chuckled lightly at his reaction remembering how he used to love the name before getting lost in my own thoughts.
"Well good morning, sleepyhead. I thought you were never going to get up." Mom said from the kitchen, coffee in hand. She walked over and gave me a light kiss on the forehead, the smell of her lavender shampoo hitting me.
"Yeah, me too," I said with a yawn.
"Rough night?" she asked softly, setting the cup in front of me.
I looked at her similar hazel eyes and notice they too, had dark circles under them.
Giving her a grateful look, I took a small sip of the coffee and relished the strong taste of the coffee bean.
Mom sat on the other side of Benny and started looking through the newspaper. I took the opportunity to study her. We looked so similar we could have been sisters if she was my age. In contrast to my ponytail, her golden brown hair was in a loose bun. Over the years, her youthful look had diminished as worry lines and wrinkles crept onto her face. She worked as an accountant at the law firm in town. This was the latest I had ever seen her stay at home in the morning.
"Mom, aren't you going to be late for work?" Benny asked, seconding my thoughts as he got up to put his dishes away.
"Today's my day off, I need to run some errands anyway." she replied calmly, never looking up from her paper.
"Oh." was Benny's only response.
Having finished my own breakfast, I put my dishes away and grabbed Benny and I's lunches from the fridge.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my keys from the bowl sitting in the hallway.
"Ready?" I asked Benny, reaching to open the door.
"Yep," he said, racing out and onto the driveway yelling a goodbye to Mom.
Before I could process what I was doing I turned before closing the door and ran over to give Mom a hug. She was surprised because I usually don't hug people. I'm just not a hugger.
"Love you," I said.
"I love you too, Melissa." she said, choking up.
"What's wrong, Mom?" I asked, worried.
"It's nothing, you're just so grown up now, you don't need me anymore." she said, wiping a stray tear from her face.
"Don't be silly, I'll always need you," I reassured her with a hug. She didn't answer but gave me a small smile, rubbing a spot on my right shoulder blade that I couldn't quite see.
"I'll see you after school?" I asked her, walking back towards the door.
"Yes," she replied.
Out on the driveway, Benny was waiting impatiently in the car for me. It was not the nicest of cars, being an old blue and white station wagon, but it got me places and for that I was grateful.
"What took you so long?" he asked accusingly.
"Mom was acting weird so I asked what was wrong," I told him, shifting the gears into reverse and backing out of the driveway.
"Oh." was his response again. He knew that Mom had used to be a sunny person a long time ago but slowly it was replaced with worry and fatigue. She had never been the same since Dad.
It was a silent ride to Benny's school since he was still reading his comic book so it gave me a lot of time to think. Mom had been acting especially strange this week but today had to be the oddest. The last time Mom took a day off, it because Benny had come down with a case of strep throat and had to be taken to the doctor's while I was at school.
We were just three blocks from school when I noticed the car behind us. I could've sworn I'd seen it four cars behind us a few minutes back. It wouldn't have freaked me out much except the fact that we had taken various turns since then. It was a typical creepy car. A black SUV with no plates on the front and tinted windows.
Hair rose on the back of my neck as my paranoia increased. Seeing a street up ahead, I took my opportunity. Trying to seem like I did it on purpose, I casually turned onto the street, a block short of the school, and drove slowly down the drive. To my great relief, the SUV kept moving without stopping.
"Uh, Mel, you missed the turn," Benny said, looking up from his comic book, noticing that he was not on the school driveway.
"I know," I replied as calmly as I could, "I thought I saw a car following us back there."
"What?" he perked up. "Is it still there?" he said, looking around.
"No, I turned and it kept going," I said, sighing.
"It was probably your imagination." he replied, slumping back down in his seat and burying his nose once again in his book.
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"That was close," the boy said from the back seat. "She tried to lose us."
The man in the front seat growled in annoyance as he watched the black SUV drive away.
"No.," he said. "She tried to lose them."
Her station wagon came out of the street it had turned down and continued on to the school.
The man pulled the silver pilot from where it was stopped on the side of the road and turned in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" the boy asked. "She drove that way," he said, pointing behind him.
The man smirked and replied, "You're going to high school."
YOU ARE READING
Spade
Teen FictionMelissa had a perfect childhood. Or so she thought. Melissa's father was murdered when she was a young girl, and she'd grown up feeling like she was missing an important piece of herself. She had only her distant mother, her younger brother Benny, a...
