Bloodstream (#2 Blood Series)

Chapter 15

I know I'm in trouble the moment I walk into my house. As I walk up the three steps to my door an air of nervousness, annoyance and fretting hits me. It's obvious that my mother knows that I've been gone all night and now there is going to be hell to pay.

Mom appears in the lobby, her eyes blazing and accusing. Oh crap. I've been gone all night and I don't even have my phone so if she had tried to call me I couldn't answer. Ever since I got back I've been using my old Samsung but now I've lost it too during the excitement of last night. I forgot to ask Nathan if he had it and now it's too late.

"Where have you been, Haley?" Mom snaps as soon as I walk in.

I'm going to have to come up with an amazing lie to get me out of this one. Mom might not remember that I disappeared for three months but Dave sure does and he already suspects something. Once upon a time it was easy to lie to my parents because I hardly ever did and therefore they had no reason to doubt my word. That's not the case anymore. You see, in order to be a good liar you have to appear as truthful as possible. But nowadays anyone can see that I'm carrying a lot of secret which makes selling the lies that much harder.

I take too long in figuring out what to say. My mother takes it as a sign of rebellion and narrows her eyes at me.

"Do you enjoy making me fret for your life?" my mother asks. "Do you even realize how much it scares me when I don't know where you are and you can't be bothered to pick up your damn phone and call me? I'd even settle for a text message but no, I guess that's too much to ask from a rebellious teenager!"

"Let me handle this, dear", Dave says to her faking comfort. My ever independent mother simply nods and looks away. I don't even recognize the person she has become. I left behind a strong woman and came back to a cowering little girl. Anger shoots through me as I look at her. How can she allow herself to get so blinded by one man? How can she not see what's going on? Dave has her so tightly in his hooks, she can't even think clearly.

"Haley, you are to be grounded for indefinite amount of time", Dave says then with the most preposterous voice possible. It's obvious that he's enjoying this. Controlling me gives him some kind of sick gratification. I'm the only who has stood up to him, I keep defying his rules. I should have seen this one coming a mile away. He's probably been waiting for a chance like this to justify regulating my life to my mother.

"What? You can't ground me!" I exclaim infuriated. I bat my fists to stop them from shaking and grit my teeth. I usually try to control my anger around Dave because I know that by throwing up a tantrum I'll surely be treated like a child. But now I can feel my anger rising and I know that after pushing it back so many times this time I won't be able to calm down anymore.

My mother glares at me. "I support his decision. Haley, you are out of control", she scolds me. I can't believe this. My mom is actually defending Dave's dictatorship? Is she really going to let him run our lives? He's practically a stranger!

"For the love of God!" I yell exasperatedly and head for the stairs. Their annoying habit of talking about me like I'm not even here is driving me insane. I have barely reached the first step before my mother calls out to me.

"Where are you going? Young lady, we are not done talking about this!" she seethes. I know that I've upset her and I'm sorry about that but I just can't deal with both my mother and Dave right now. The confrontation with Nathan drained me all of my energy. I didn't want my secrets to hurt him so I kept quiet and let them hurt me. And now that one of them is out, I don't know how to feel. I'm like an empty balloon that someone has popped.