Forbidden

Danger's Coming

Felisha called me on Sunday to go to her house. She wanted the latest on school, homework, and of course on Liam. Felisha was my best friend. And I mean BEST friend. I loved all my friends to death, but Felisha was the only one that I could trust to listen without judging, keep a secret, and help me in the time of need. By going to her house, maybe I could get my mind off of everything. It was worth a shot.

I never heard my dad come home last night. But then again, I wasn't listening for him. A few times I DID hear my mom wake up crying in the middle of the night. And I WAS listening for her. She needed me just as much as I needed her. I'd guessed she'd leave when she was ready to take that major step out of the house and I'd let her. Her happiness wasn't worth risking for mine. I could handle myself. My mom on the other hand, probably couldn't. She's been through a whole lot more than I have and has felt three times as much pain as I have. Again, that was me trying to convince myself.

Felisha met me outside her house on her front lawn, which was perfect like those lawns in movies. Her house was perfect, too. It was big with vines growing up the side of it. There were cobblestone steps and roses. The sight of it made her seem like a movie star. She should've been, too. Her parents had money. Hell, even she had money.

"Hey! Did you walk?" Felisha greeted. Then her shoulders slumped at my obvious face. "Of course you did. Come in, my parents are at work so we have the house to ourselves!"

She was so excited. So different from me. I'm a pessimist, she's an enthusiast. Why she has so much optimism and positive energy will always bug me. I wasn't exactly jealous of her life, just envious. There's a difference.

I walked inside her house, and if I didn't know better, I'd expect the refreshing coolness of Spring and the smell of flowers, just how it looks in here. But it was hot and stuffy because Felisha's mom was paranoid and didn't want her getting a cold again. That kind of selflessness was something we didn't have at my house.

She sat down on her sofa and patted the cushion next to her, signaling for me to sit as well. I did.

"So you wanna talk? You know, you can dodge Naomi and Onika but you can't dodge me."

I smiled. "Of course. Listen, though. You know I'd tell you anything, anything at all."

Felisha rolled her head back and groaned. "But?"

I looked down at my hands. "But I'm still figuring it all out myself. I promise I'll tell you everything when I can."

My friend nodded. "I understand. Hey, wanna do something fun?"

I shrugged. "Sure. What?"

"There's this huge tree at the park just WAITING to be climbed! Let's see who can reach the top! Sound fun?"

Usually I would've told her that it wasn't a good idea and that I wasn't in the mood. But I owed it to her. Well, I felt that I did anyway.

We walked the whole way to the park, which wasn't hard because it wasn't too far away from the school. As soon as we got there, I instantly saw a large tree that seemed to touch the sky. It was dark and luminous. It loomed over us like a predator ready to catch its prey. I didn't like this one bit and something told me that there was danger tagging with this.