Only One I Call Home

Chapter 4 - "To live is the rarest thing in the world..."

Chapter 4

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Some people exist, that is all.”

-       Oscar Wilde

April 2011:

Things were so different in here now.

I had a new roommate after Bianca had left and she was nice but we didn’t really hit it off greatly. Trey was doing surprisingly okay after his dad died. He still hadn’t spoken to his mother but he had been allowed to attend the funeral and he’d seen his little brother, who he told me, was extremely happy to see him.

There had not been one day where Trey and I hadn’t spoken. We’d even convinced Rob to do weekly trips to the library to bring us back books, which we read together in our spare time.

We’d discovered that there was a spot in the fence that we could sit on either side of and talk when curfew came around. The ground was cold and hard but we still managed to spend hours after eight talking there every night.

I had been here three and a half months and it felt like a lifetime since I’d been swimming or been for a run or even looked at a beach and I was becoming home sick to a place that I had never called home until now.

“I miss chocolate.” He whispered.

I laughed and nodded. “Me too. Bianca’s sister used to bring her some and she’d share it with me but she’s not here anymore.”

He groaned. “Damn, so if I could convince one of my mates to bring me some that would be completely allowed?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Do you have any mates?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, am I allowed to call them?”

I laughed and nodded. “Yes, one call a day, remember?”

He rolled his eyes and stood up. “Come on then, let’s get going.”

When we reached the phones he dialled in a number and I leant against the table, waiting for him to talk to the person on the other line.

“Hey, Carl!” He seemed surprised that he had answered.

He smiled at me.

“Why don’t you come down and visit me today, I’m getting pretty bored.” He told him. “Awesome, would you mind bringing me a few things?”

He waited a moment before replying. “Um, just photos of whatever you can find oh and some chocolate wouldn’t be too bad either.”

I laughed and shook my head.

He rolled his eyes as the person on the line continued to speak. “Yeah I’m fine. I’ve even made a friend. How’s Alex?” His face dropped a little. “Maybe one day you can sneak him in for a visit or something?” Then almost a whole minute later he sighed. “Alright, well I have to go. See you later.”

So three hours later Trey and I were patiently waiting in the meeting room with at least ten other people. There was a buzz and the gate opened and then all the visitors walked inside. You could tell who had visited a hundred times. They waltzed over to their loved ones like any other day but then there were the newbies, the scared and completely vulnerable looking ones.

Trey stood up and waved to someone in the crowd. “Carly!”

A tall, blonde girl with pretty blue eyes and a wicked smile slowly walked over to our table and sat down. She dumped a bag on the table and Trey peered inside happily.