Broken // h.s.

Chapter Three- Paper

CHAPTER THREE- Paper

I'm pushing my peas around; my mom should know I have lost my taste for peas. They're disgusting to me now. I try to focus on the grilled chicken taste; crispy, juicy and all white meat.

I remember how our old family dinners used to be; my mom would talk about some crazy story that happened in the E.R. and my dad would complain about his co-workers.

I would brag about how I got an A on my geometry test and my parents would say something like; That's great news, honey. I scoff at the memory. Everything was just so perfect, it seemed like a fake. This is realistic; my life now.

Not everything can be all unicorns and rainbows; I've learned that the hard way.

"You're taking any AP or CP classes this year?" my mom asks.

"Creative Writing." I state and my mom nearly gasps. I'm beginning to talk more and I'm sure she was glad to hear me say more than one word.

"That's great. Anymore classes?"

"Nope."

"You used to have all advanced classes." my father states and I shrug. "I thought you were serious about school." I shrug again. "Alana,"

"Lana." I correct him.

"Lana, sorry. We just want you to open up to us. You're bottling up way too much."

I clench my jaw and shut my eyes closed. My dad puts his hand on top of mine and I remind myself that he is my dad and no one else. "What do you want me to say?"

"Anything," my mom says, her voice cracking, "Anything about- you know."

"Not yet." I nearly snap. "Not yet, okay?"

"Okay...okay." my mom's face sinks in, obviously hurt. "Lana..."

I hum in response.

"I'm trying." my mom says and God, I know she's trying. But I am too. I'm trying to move on, be happy, but it seems like an utter impossibility. "The window."

"What?"

"The entire time you were missing, I'd wait by the window. I'd look out and I'd wait. For you. I'd cry for hours and... wait."

"Mom-"

"It was hard for me as well, your father too. We were in misery. We could barely function correctly knowing our daughter wasn't home and safe, where she needed to be."

Now I just feel even worse than before. Few moments go by and silence overtakes the table again, but one thing is still on my mind.

"Did they catch them?"

My parents both lock eyes with each other for a moment before looking back to me. "No, but someone called in saying they spotted Rey Johnson near Upstate New York. They're getting closer. Don't worry about it. We didn't hire the greatest attorney in the country for nothing."

"You're talking more. Maybe school is just what you needed." My mom says, her smile bright.

I shrug off her lame attempt at a subject change and throw my plate in the sink before jogging back up to my room and blasting my music on high until the stress seemed to float away little by little.

*******

I walk into my creative writing class and roll my eyes once I see who is sitting directly in back of my assigned seat. I slowly walk over to my desk and drop my books down, making a loud noise echo and bounce off the walls in the classroom.