Messages on a Coffee Cup

Chapter 12

I grabbed his hand as he lowered his head in shame.

   "It happened a lot when I was eleven. They said I was a mistake. That I never should have been born," he said, choking back a steady stream of tears.

   "They'd hit and kick me until I was unconscious and even then, they wouldn't stop."

   "How'd you get away?" I asked, again truly dreading the answer.

   "I ran," he sais as he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket. "I ran to my best friend's house and from that time on, his family became mine. I still live with them now."

   "And your parents never came looking for you?"

   "Nah," he answered through a sniffle. "I was an abomination to them. The last thing they wanted was to look for their missing piece of shit son."

   I looked at him, the pain was visible in his eyes, and kissed him on the cheek.

   "Don't say that ever again," I pleaded, tears cascading down my chin. He pulled me in to an amorous hug and gently cried in to my shoulder. 

   "I'm sorry."

   "Me too," I muttered.

   We just sat there, huddled on the roof of Kimberly's house in the cold March wind. He leaned and kisses me on the forehead.    "I don't know what I'd do without you," he said sweetly.

   "Ditto."

   About fifteen minutes later, Kim opened up her bedroom window.

   "Hey are you two done over there? The Kraken has been released if you know what I mean!"

   "Shit! Mom's awake."

   I kissed Ethan goodbye and he scurried down the ladder as fast as he came up earlier. I quickly climbed into the small window and flung myself onto the mattress seconds before mom opened the door. She poked her head in, looked around, and closed the door as me and Kim pretended that we were asleep. 

   Soon enough, we weren't pretending. At around three-fifty, I gave my conscience permission to leave my body and enter the vast and colourless world of dreams.

~

   I awoke, three hours later, to the sound of Kim's annoying alarm clock. 

   "Kim! Turn that shit off!" I yelled frantically.

   "Ughh. You turn it off! You were the reason that we went to bed so late!"

   I got up off the bed and slammed my throbbing hand on the screeching alarm clock. I made my way back to the mattress and sat on it, pulling my book out from under my pillow. Most people find it weird that I sleep with books stashed in and around my bed but it comes in handy when you have a minor case of insomnia and can't seem to get more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

    "June 6th," I said to the my worn out copy of The Fault in Our Stars. "You better be good or I swear to God I will flush you down my toilet. Again." 

   The movie comes out on the sixth and I couldn't stop thinking

about it. Only 100 days left. It's a love-hate relationship I have with this book.    

   Kim glanced at me with a puzzled look on her face.

   "Stop talking to 'Gus' and get ready for school. We gotta leave in like five minutes."

   I rolled my eyes at her and reached for my bag. I decided to wear my Marianas Trench graphic tee, dark blue skinny jeans, and black converse. I took my hair out of the messy bun I had put it in to sleep, and shook my head to liven my curls. I quickly applied a bit of mascara and cover up, making it appear as if I hadn't been slapped, and bolted out the door into Kimberly's car.

   She put the keys in the ignition and turned them eagerly to start the car. And guess what? It didn't fucking start!

   I'm so done with this bullshit.

   Oh conscience, I couldn't have agreed more.