Phobia

Why Have You Been So Antisocial Lately?

Now that it's been a few weeks, people have started to calm down. Zama's family had left for England to go burry our friend, where she had been born. It was winter break, and I was sitting at home in our living room by the fire. Moving wasn't an entertaining thought, well, besides just being lazy. Though I was also a bit afraid to go outside, mostly to stay home alone. I hadn't told a soul about what happened that one night, since I wasn't sure what I had seen or what happened. It was such a blur and it had happened so fast. I let out a small yawn even though it was two in the afternoon. I had been very tired lately, but haven't been able to fall asleep. I've been able to sleep anywhere from two to four hours a night, though. But that's saying I actually fell asleep. I hadn't seen any of my friends for a few days now, and I mostly ignored my family, constantly listening to music on my phone. I took a sip of my hot chocolate, sighing happily at the taste. I had felt a light tap on my shoulder, though like lately, I ignored it. I closed my eyes, no longer seeing the faded red carpet, the wooden table, brick fire place and all the decorations. I no longer could see the piano to the right of the room or the window seat to the left. Whomever was tapping me, though, decided to pull my earbud out. Sighing, I looked up at the person, who turned out to be Chris.

"Yes?"

"You need to get out of the house, Ren. Why don't we go skating?" He asked, coming around and falling onto the couch beside me, almost making my hot chocolate spill.

"How about not."

"Sledding?"

"No thank you."

"What would you like to do?"

"Stay home."

"Why have you been so antisocial lately?"

"Question is, why haven't I tried before? It's so peaceful and I can keep to my thoughts. That's if people didn't keep bothering me." I said harshly. I had also gotten very angry over the passed couple days, and it seemed to show more and more often lately.

"Ren, come on, you need to get out."

"No, I need to get more hot chocolate." I said, throwing the wool blanket off of me and onto him, stepping around him and walking to the kitchen. I started making it when he came up behind me and grabbed the mix. I ignored him, and went to wash my cup, pouring myself some coffee and putting it in the microwave.

"Renee, come on!" Still ignoring him, I went to open the microwave and he slammed it shut. "Not happening."

"Alright." I then turned around and sat back down on the couch, throwing the blanket around myself and taking out my phone. I could sense Chris rolling his eyes at me.

"My god, Renee. You need to start getting out."

"Maybe later."

"You asked for it?"

"What-Chris!" I yelled as he picked me and the wool blanket up. He walked to the back, carrying me, refusing to drop me even after I continued to struggle. "Let me down!"

"As you wish." He said, tossing me outside into the snow. Quickly, I saw him grab my boots, jacket, and other winter clothes, tossing them at me before locking the door. "There's clean clothes in the garage." He yelled through the door.

"I really hate you."

"I'll get our skates."

"I'm not skating!" I turned away and grabbed my stuff, walking towards the garage that was a few feet away from me. Entering it, I felt the somwhat warmer air hit me. Looking at my wet pajamas, I sighed and quickly changed into the clothes that were on the closest shelf to the door. I got my stuff on and walked out into the winter air. The sun was out, and the clouds were swarming the sky. Our high wooden fence was covered in white and snow ball fight remains. Our normally green grass and gravel path was now entirely white, and you could see our veggie signs at the far end. Our steps were shoveled off, probably to keep it from freezing over. The double glass doors where shiny, probably recently washed. Our shutters looked frozen and snow fell off the roof every now and then. I walked over to our gate, opening it and closing it behind me. I followed the used-to-be gravel path to the front to see kids playing on the street. I normally would have let out a small smile and started cheering for them, but they seemed to just really bug the living hell out of me. I walked down the street, pacing fence after fence. Some were short and stubby wooden ones, some where metal fences, others were just simply hedges surrounding the grounds. All the houses looked very suburban, normally very beautiful, at least to the everyday tourist that doesn't see this kind of things.