Teresa stood there holding the phone to her ear in silence for a whole five minutes then slowly brought the phone down and checked the time.
"12:34. The exact time that I quit the Fugitives. I have been an ex Fugitive for about seven minutes now and I feel..." Teresa was going to say 'fine' or 'not as bad as I thought I would be' but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She slid the phone silently into her jacket pocket and sat down on the bed slowly, as if she had just found out someone close to her was dead. She placed her head in her hands, as a sudden head ache throbbed. She winced as someone knocked on the door, the loud, sharp noises like pins poking at her brain.
"Come in," she moaned, and the door opened with a groan, as if it too had a head ache. There was her brother Geno, his big bulging blue eyes staring at her with their usual look of curiosity. Geno came and sat down next to her, but then fell back on the bed, and Teresa couldn't blame him. Head aches were common for him, and he was often wanting to lie down as soon as the chance came by. Teresa lay down next to him, staring up at the ceiling.
"Are you coming home? You've been gone for a looong time," Geno asked, his questions were often annoying her slightly, as they were always asking the obvious.
"Yes, I'm coming home. So that I can look after you, and the others. It's my job. I'm the oldest, so I have to be there for all of you when Mum and Dad can't." Teresa answered, speaking slowly so that he would be able to register it all.
"Do you get paid?" Geno asked suddenly.
"No. Of course not."
"Then what kind of job is that?" Geno asked confused.
"It's not that type of job. It's like a voluntary job. I have to do it. i choose to do it." Teresa explained. They sat there in silence for a moment, Geno fiddling his fingers like usual and Teresa continuing to stare at the ceiling.
"I think you should quit this job." Geno said out of the blue.
"Huh?" Teresa looked at him.
"I think you should quit this job 'cause you don't have to do it but you've been doing it since you were little. I think that you should do a new job. A job that want to do, not a job you have to do." Geno answered, and something about what he said really clicked in her brain. Geno was not the little boy that needed her help twenty-four seven any more. He was bigger, and understood more than she took him credit for.
"I think you should do another job. And I think you should be happy. You deserve it Tes, 'cause you've been so nice to me and Julian and Joel. I think you should be nice to you. Besides, I'm getting bigger and better now, I can start looking after myself. If I don't start learning to look after myself soon, I'll never survive when I become an adult. Plus I'm fifteen now, so I am getting bigger." Geno added, and when he was done, he stood up and left the room, leaving Teresa completely alone once more.
Teresa stared at the door, as if she expected Bella or Margo to come bursting in, Bella to be shouting her head off at Teresa and how stupid she was and Margo to be begging yet commanding Teresa to stop acting like an idiot and get back to what she does best, helping her friends. But Teresa knew that this was just wishful thinking. She tore her gaze away from the door and out the window instead. She could hear a few sirens going off, and a flash back of her and the others in the car swerving around roundabouts and speeding past pedestrians while being chased by the police instantly hit her mind.
"I wonder if that's them being chased now," Teresa muttered to nobody in particular. She shook her head, like trying to shake all memories happy and sad of her friends out. But then she stopped and felt a peculiar drop of warm liquid roll down her cheek. Fearing she was bleeding, she rushed her hand up to wipe a sample of the liquid onto her finger to check it out. It wasn't blood. It was a tear. Another tear drop slid down her cheek then, and Teresa quickly wiped it.
"What... Why am I..." she began, but was stopped by a sudden outburst of emotion. Tears were dripping regularly now and Teresa had begun sobbing silently. She threw herself back on the pillows and hugged them tightly, as if they were the only thing left in the world to cling to.
Maybe it was. Maybe the pillow she was cuddling was the last thing she could cling to. She had no friends now, her parents were extremely mad, her brothers didn't need her help any more. What did she have to cling to?
Get a grip, Teresa. There are plenty of people that have it worse. Teresa's optimism wasn't helping now, it just made her cry harder. Her face was hot now, and her head ache wasn't throbbing anymore, it was pounding. She felt as if she would surely explode. Suddenly she heard a beeping coming from the heart monitor. It beeped loud and hard but she didn't care. She opened her tightly squeezed eyes and all around her was a blur, a blur of people and a blur of sounds.
She felt her eyelids getting heavy and she resisted the urge to fall asleep. She flew her eyes wide open, but they continued to get heavier and heavier. She closed her eyes and all the noises and sounds died down to
one,
long
beep.
YOU ARE READING
Innocent Fugitive
Ficción General"My name is Teresa Villa and I will not, repeat, WILL NOT help a fugitive," Teresa is a sixteen year old girl with a complicated life. She has three dependant brothers and one of them has a serious medical condition. Her best friend Margo turns out...
