Split

Sneaking Out

It was a few days since I'd visited Barry and Dennis and was woken by a noise in my room. I brought the covers up to hide my body as I stared into the darkness, already beginning to tremble. I could hear my racing heartbeat and heavy breathing and felt like hiding under the duvet... but that was childish-if there was someone in here with me, what would the blanket do to protect me?
I flinched as my eyes stopped on a dark figure near my window and my breath caught in my throat. I felt my pulse course through my body, my heartbeat getting faster still.
When the person took a step closer I realised they were familiar; the glasses were a giveaway and Dennis stepped a little more into the light of the window. It took a few seconds for my body to regain movement and I sighed with relief, "what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see you," He walked over and stood next to my bed, "I'm not supposed to be out but..."

"Barry won't be happy."

"I don't care, I wanted to see you," he leaned in and kissed me on the forehead, "Don't worry I'm not after anything, I kinda just wanted to sit here with you for a while," He said, noting my reluctance to move.

"You can do that," I smiled, "how did you get in?"

"The downstairs window was open."

"You could get into a lot of trouble, you know..."

"I know, I just couldn't help it... and Hedwig wanted to see you too. I made a deal that he could see you for a while if he let me come here," He removed his glasses and folded them in a pocket.

"Okay," I was excited to see Hedwig again, it seemed like forever since I'd spoken to him.

"Hey Casey!" He suddenly piped up, a little louder than I was expecting and jumped on the bed next to me.

"Hedwig, you have to be quiet, people are sleeping in the house and we can't wake them up, okay?"

"Oh, okay." He motioned that he was zipping his mouth shut and then grinned, his next words a whisper "I missed you, why haven't you been to see me?"

"It's complicated... I wanted to, but I can't risk getting you guys in trouble. If I visit in public then I can only talk to Barry or Dennis, if I talked to you as well then people would get suspicious."

He looked down a fraction, "okay... but you'll see me again, right?"

"Of course I will, it'll just have to be when we are away from other people, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I'm not stupid..."

"I know you're not, which is why I know you'll keep letting Barry decide when you can come out... won't you?"

"But Mr. Dennis said I could this time..." He looked flustered, probably thinking that I was telling him off, "He said I could see you if I let him take the light-"

"That's fine, you haven't done anything wrong, just make sure that there's no one around when you have the light."

"Okay."

I smiled, "It's good to see you. How is everyone?"

"They're okay, Jade keeps asking about you. She said you and her..." He searched for the word, "clicked? She said that you would be friends."

"What about Patricia?"

"Oh, her... she... she's not so good. They won't let me try and talk to her anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because the group decided that they don't need her anymore. Etcetera."

"That's horrible, you all need each other whether you know it or not... what does she say about that?"