It Can't Rain On Planet Crayne

• Chapter Six : Crazy Eights •

• Chapter Six: Crazy Eights •

        The slam of the front door had me jolt awake. My eyes darted around my room and I started to immediately panic. One ball of salty sweat cascaded down my forehead, I wiped it quickly with my wrist. I heard my mothers voice.

"Gavin?" She called into the hallway. Shit shit shit shit. I'd fallen asleep and now my mother was going to come in and see Hiana and strangle me. I jumped up, ready to jolt Hiana awake. My eyes looked beside me where she had sat before but they hit the cream colored carpet and nothing else. She was gone. One half of me hoped she was safe in the shed but the other hoped she had just went somewhere else. 

My door swung open. "Hey honey!" My mother held a take out bag in one hand and her briefcase in the other. "I thought I'd pick up something for dinner on the way home. We can eat while we play!"

I ran my hand through my mess of hair and gave a smirk. "Yeah, mom, that's awesome. Is dad home yet?"

She turned to leave as she answered. "No, he's caught up with a client and I don't think he'll be home until later. I was thinking we could play cards instead? Crazy Eights? Used to be your favorite when you were younger!" 

The memory of spending summer afternoons playing cards with my grandfather was a nice one. It truly was my favorite game and my grandfather taught me everything I knew. He used to joke around and say that I could be a professional Crazy Eights player when I grew up. We buried him with a deck of cards just last year. Things were much better when he was still here. Dad had been working later hours since his death and I suspected my parents marriage had suffered. My mother would never let me see that though. 

I followed my mother into the kitchen and she unpacked the food as I dealt the cards out. It was nice to do something that felt typical. I had even almost forgotten about Hiana while we ate and played. Only almost thought. I knew I'd need to come up with some excuse to go see if she was in the shed where I assumed she was. 

I laid my last card down. "Ha! I win again!"

My mother smiled and her eyes crinkled at the sides. "You know, sometimes I worry about you because you just hide away in your room and play video games. But then I see you like this and I know I have absolutely nothing to worry about."

I gave my mother a smirk but I couldn't help but think she was wrong. If only she knew what had been going on in my life lately. I helped collect the cards and file them back into the pack. I cleared the table as well, hoping the nice gesture would make her less likely to ask questions when I said I was leaving. 

"Hey, mom." I started, "I'm gonna go bike over to Logan's house and play cards or something."

I slid the cards across the table and shoved them into my pocket. The cards were a desperate attempt to make my story more believable. 

My mother turned around from tossing the trash into the bin. "Okay, just make sure you're home before it's dark."

It was hard to believe this was my mother. She used to be one of those parents, afraid of everything, who never let me go anywhere. But ever since my grandfather died she seemed a lot more easy going. I knew it was probably because she was worried about dad but I told myself maybe she had realized the importance of living life to the fullest. 

I let the door close hard behind me. The thought of opening up the shed door and seeing nothing was both my nightmare and my day dream. I moved towards the shed, everything around me in slow motion. The wind passing through the leaves of the tree even seemed slow.

I grasped the handle, opening the door gradually. My eyes scanned. Bike. Lawn mower. Hiana.

"Hey!" She smiled wide at me. She had been sitting crosslegged on the blankets I'd laid down for her. I'd forgotten to leave her with something to do but she didn't seem bored at all. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of weird alien stuff she could have been doing. I remembered her correcting me. I knew she wasn't actually an alien but I wasn't sure what else to call her.