Guardian

chapter eight

I woke up with a major headache not quite remembering what happened the night before yet. I looked over at my alarm clock. It said 10:26. I moaned, thinking: thank god it's Saturday. I went to stand up when I suddenly felt a rush of pain in my legs. The memories from last night hit me like a ton of brick and I fell down on my bed. What happened to my knife last night? The thought terrified me. I tried to reason with myself that it was just the alcohol, but I had an eerie feeling was telling me that it wasn't. I lifted up my pant leg to see that it was neatly bandaged up. I didn't remember doing this. I looked around the room. Something was off about it. Then I realized that there was no stains on the floor. Based on how much I had been bleeding last night there should be some blood stains. Even drunk I had trouble believing I had cleaned up last night. I felt a bit of panic when I spotted the knife on the ground. Slowly I walked over and picked it up. I sighed in relief when I saw some blood on the knife. I don't know why but this reassured me. I figured I should return the bottle of scotch before my dad found out so I scanned my room, but I couldn't see the bottle. I scattered all my drawers, looked under my bed, through my sheets, in the closet, but nothing.

This is not good, I kept thinking to myself. I paced back and forth in my room as if the bottle would magically appear out of nowhere.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I heard from the kitchen. Oh shit... My dad burst through the door. "Kellin, what the hell did you do?!" Before I could even answer he grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to the kitchen. On the floor there was a broken bottle of scotch.

"What is that, huh?" All I could do was stare at the shards of glass. "First of all, I told you not to touch my stuff! Not only did you do that, but you broke the fucking bottle too!" I couldn't speak, couldn't move. I had no explanation for this.

"Scotch is expensive! What do you have to say for yourself?" He screamed into my face. Once again I didn't speak. He picked up a piece of glass and thrashed in across my face. I yelped as I covered my face to try and stop it from happening again. He pulled me to the front door. Once he had opened the door, punched me in the gut as hard as he could he threw me off the front steps. "Don't come back," was all he cared enough to say.

I was struggling to breath after the impact of my father's punch. I barley comprehended what had just happened, it happened so fast. I had to focus on breathing for several minutes before I could collect my thoughts. Blood was staining my pants, I guess I had hit my leg when I tripped down the stairs, and after what had happened last night... What had happened last night? It was a little fuzzy and nothing made sense. I was starting to feel...I couldn't think of the right word... I got up and started walking nowhere in particular. I had nowhere to go. What was I going to do? Only one solution came to my mind. My father wouldn't look for me, and I almost guarantee no one at school will notice

Lost in my own thought I realized I had ended down by the lake. I sat down on the dock and just stared at the view. I watched the little kids playing in the sand on the other side of the lake. I watched the wind whistle through the trees. I watched the birds fly by. Birds are so lucky. They are free, free to go wherever they want. If they don't like their location they can just fly away, fly as far as the eye can see.

I realized I must have been sitting here for hours because I saw the sun was starting to set.

"Haunted..." I whispered to myself. The word I was trying to think of before. I felt haunted.

I fell asleep on the dock that night.

I swung my dripping wet bangs to the side. It was Monday afternoon and I hadn't ate anything since Saturday night. Why I hadn't just killed myself yet I don't know. I guess I was just scared. I had tried slashing my wrists a few times, but all I did was pass out.

I was behind the liquor store sitting on the grass. No one else was outside because it was raining. I didn't mind the rain though, it smelled nice outside. I was staring down at the pile of grass I had ripped out of the ground when I heard some footsteps that quickly turned into running footsteps. Whoever it was, they were running towards me.

"Kellin! Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked. I looked up to see Austin standing in front of me

"Why are you here?" I asked quickly, avoiding his question.

"I-I don't know, I got a note in my locker saying to come to the back of the liquor store after school." he stuttered, looking just as confused as I was. Who would write that? Someone else probably wanted to meet up with Austin.

"Anyways, you're not looking so good...and I didn't see you in school today." I forgot how bad I must have looked to him. My face was even more bruised, not to mention the big scar from the broken piece of glass. There was the blood stain on my pants, and to add dramatic effect I was all wet.

"I'm fine Austin," but it didn't sound convincing at all. I stood up but almost immediately I fell back down. Austin caught me before I could hit the ground.

"Whoa, you don't look okay to me...where do you live? I'll walk you home." The question was floating around my head. Where did I live. I couldn't comprehend the question. Where did I live? Where did I live?

I felt dizzy. "I, uh..." The sky was spinning. I tried standing up again.

"Whoa there," Austin said, catching me as I fell (again.) Next thing I knew Austin picked me up and threw me over his shoulders. That's when the world went black.

I woke up in an unfamiliar room on an unfamiliar bed.

"Morning sunshine," Austin said in a sing-songy voice, carrying in a sandwich. "For you." he stated, handing me the sandwich. "You're too skinny! I could lift 3 times your weight! So eat up mister." I hesitated, but I was so hungry. Slowly I reached for the sandwich. I bit into it and it tasted like the most delicious thing in the world.

"Thanks," I said with my mouth half full.

"I didn't know where you lived and you kinda passed out on me, I so brought you to my place." I looked around Austin's room and I was quite surprised. It was not what I had expected.

Absolutely everything was in perfect order, the posters hanging perfectly straight on his black walls. His bed sheets looked perfectly made other than the fact I was lying on them. There were new crimson red sheets perfectly folded and pressed on the desk, waiting to be put on his bed. Austin's room looked completely metal, except everything was way too tidy.

"So..." Austin said rocking back on his heels. "Where do ya live? I'll drive you!" Austin had a big smile on his face. I almost smiled myself; there was something about Austin that could light up a whole room. Instead I looked down in embarrassment. I had absolutely nowhere to go. I shouldn't be bothering Austin, and his kindness was surprising especially after...

I looked back up at Austin who was waiting for an answer. I should just thank him and tell him I'll walk home. However, for some reason I really didn't want to leave, so I told him the truth. "Well, I... um..." I mumbled. "I kind of have nowhere to go."