Unchained

Chapter Thirty Two

And away life went for me.

Moments soon trickled into days which morphed into weeks. Everything seemed like a routine - waking up, eating breakfast quietly with my mom, or my dad, depending on who stalked out of the house first. School was a drag - my friends still ignored me and Mr. Hauge still looked at me in the disgusting way I realized he had always done. But then there was David.

David was always waiting for me at the front door, standing by my side as Tamara and Shayline glared at us, and giving me a hug before setting me loose to Mr. Hauge's class. He would always walk me home after the bus ride, and sometimes stay with me and we would work on homework together.

Sean, somehow, had not contacted me since the mall episode. My dad told me one rainy morning that with him and my mom in the process of a divorce, he didn't want Sean around to see everything exploding into chaos (not his words, I translated them out of anger and swear words... not to mention more yelling from my mom).

Every night I cried myself to sleep, thinking of the horrible memories. Somehow, my subjects were either increasing in their difficulty or I was just becoming too lazy to put in the effort. My mom cancelled all my music lessons and proceeded forth to selling the piano. She wanted enough money in case my dad decided to "whisk it all away for his selfish use" (her exact words). Ryker still had not returned, and I didn't even think anyone, besides from my heart, was looking for him anymore. While David was the only one by my side, I was still curious if I could trust him. I don't know why, but I felt like I barely knew him, though I did. We were more alike than what met the eye.

On the weekends, David and I would go out. Not go out go out, but go out. Maybe we'd fly in the sky and soar to other cities or even another state (yeah, I was home kind of late and did my mom care? No). Sometimes we'd race - by running, that is - and I realized just how far I could go. David wanted to help me master my incredible abilities (that's how he put it) because he felt like we were one of a kind. Still, he never specifically addressed to me why we were like this. And frankly, I didn't care. My soul didn't want answers - it just wanted peace.

One drizzly day, on what felt like a Sunday, David and I were sitting atop a tree, staring at the vast distance. Actually, David was sitting. I was levitating myself.

"How far do you think we are now?" David asked me.

"From where? The city?" I replied. He nodded. I shrugged. "Eh, maybe fifty or sixty miles. Seventy if we really tried."

David laughed. "There goes out night - flying back home in an effort to be home before dinner." I didn't say anything, I just stared at the setting sun, wishing I could fly into it and be gone forever. Maybe if I hadn't come back to life, mysteriously, all this crazy commotions wouldn't be happening to me. Maybe everybody would be better off if I was just dead.

"Avaley," David whispered, suddenly jumping from the tree and flying next to me. "I know something's up with you. You've been so... Down for a time now."

I blinked rapidly, trying to get the tears away, since crying had been what I'd done most for the past few days, or weeks, or however long it had been. "I'm okay," I said, wiping my eyes on my sleeve but David knew me well enough to not say anything. We held each other in an awkward embrace, since we were sort of standing, and then David pulled back and said, "Wanna head home?"

I nodded. Not really, because that meant fighting parents, bad grades and a teacher who had all the wrong ways. And much more to come. I wanted to stay here, with David, someone who finally understood me. 

And then we set off, flying towards the sun and towards home. David and I didn't really say much - I just couldn't bring myself to say anything, really. Something had downed upon my heart that made me feel like every living moment something was wrong. Every turn I took something was there to bring me down, something was there to mock me in my misery.