Speaking Isn't My Strong Point

FIFTEEN

Waking up to the bright sun that shone through my blinds, I yawned aloud and tried to stretch out my crushed limbs. I tried to anyway.

I needed to go to the hospital to check out my ribs and arms, but how could I explain to them what had happened?

I couldn't just say, "Oh yeah, these guys who have been trying to find me for ages decided to murder my dad and beat me up." Like that would go down well. They would get the police involved, which would make everything so much worse.

Mr Redford really would kill me at school. I wondered what would be the best place to hide a body in school. Was it the canteen's fridge? Was it a hole in a wall behind an achievement's cabinet? You know, the cabinet where they put all of the trophies that they had won over the years.

I hobbled over to the shower and turned on the steaming hot water. I had missed hot showers. Especially, standing under it and relishing the warm feel of the water as it hitted my back. It was the best feeling in the world. Nothing could beat a good old hot steaming shower.

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I glimpsed at the text book with my glasses propped against my narrow nose as everyone around me chatted and conversed about the wonderful trip to the forests. Every classmate of mine was gushing about the trip, whilst I was stuck reading this gigantic text book on "How to write a good diary entry." And my 'favourite' "What's key to Travel Writing."

Mason wasn't even here to endure the pain with me. I hadn't seen him since the incident with Mr Redford. In fact, I hadn't seen Mr Redford either, which had me jumping for joy inside. This must have meant Redford had gone. I was hoping it meant for good, but I couldn't get my hopes up. After all, they still wanted money from me.

"Hey, Leia. Did you hear about what we saw on our trip?" A person beside me asked excitedly.

"Oh, no," I coughed, shifting my glasses back up my nose a little. "I kind of don't want to hear about the trip. It makes me sad that I didn't go."

The person blinked a few times and turned around to the person behind them, ignoring me completely after. That was why I had no friends. I wasn't very good at communicating with other life forms.

After what felt like a decade, the bell rang for lunchtime, bringing relief to me. I hated how everyone got to speak about their trip whilst the unfortunate ones had to sit and read a gigantic text book. It wasn't fair. What would happen next time if there was a trip? I had no guardian anymore. The school didn't know that only the people that killed him did.

What was I going to do? I couldn't exactly live without him because otherwise I would need to pay bills and deal with 'adult' stuff.

Then suddenly a thought sprang to my mind. I needed to get a job. It couldn't be full-time, but part-time could work out even though I would have to sacrifice my resting days. God, when did my life turn into such a mess? When that guy decided to ruin your life by killing your mother and your father.

"Yes, thank you subconscience," I muttered to myself.

"HEY!"

I jumped at the loud sound, which made the person burst into a fit of giggles. I spun around to see a very exhausted Sara on the floor, clutching her stomach.

"You s-should have seen the w-way you reacted," Sara gasped for breath, pointing at my very annoyed face.

"Wow," I deadpanned. "I forgot to laugh. Sorry."

"It's a-alright," she chuckled, still giggling like a maniac.

"Sara! What are you doing on the floor?" A baffled Ashley asked as she glared at her best friend on the dirty hallway floor.