Blocked

Nine

     In my world, there wasn't much to be scared about. You'd think having your mom die in the birth of your baby sister, then having to be a second mom to your family would be scary enough. But, no.

     Some obsessive guy has to parade into your life, and stalk you.

     "Hailey, come get some breakfast," I heard dad yell from the bottom of the steps. Yeah, I was hungry as hell. But I wasn't in the mood to sit at a table with Ben glaring at me from the other end. I was going to wait.

     "Later. Not hungry," I called back, and laid back on my bed. My back was so stiff that it immediately became sore when I laid back. I tensed up real quick, then relaxed. The pain went away.

     "I'm getting too old for this shit," I mumbled to myself, then smiled. My mom always used to crack jokes like that when things got rough for her. That was her little way of making things better. If you can't laugh at yourself...

     My phone suddenly started vibrating again, and I picked it up to look at the caller ID. It said '1 New Message'. I opened it, and the message read:

                                                      "What's wrong?"

     God, he really doesn't know how to take a hint, does he? I replied:

      "You scare me, and I don't like you. Now please, delete my number. Bye."

     I didn't really like being so mean to people, but you couldn't say he didn't have it coming to him. Anyone who doesn't get the picture by now deserves such a rash statement.

     I waited for his reply, and never got it. Maybe he finally understood.

     "Good," I said, and tossed my phone to the other side of my bed. I closed my eyes and rubbed at my forehead, breathing out slowly. I was so stressed, I could literally feel it. Like a little meter that was filled almost all the way. I wanted desperately to get that little meter back down to normal.

     Something told me that wasn't gonna' happen anytime soon.

     "Hailey, breakfast, now!" I heard my dad call, and I grunted and got up. I combed my fingers through my hair. I really wasn't in the mood to eat breakfast with a loathing set of people, but I had to apparently.

     I unlocked my door and walked out into the hallway, suddenly feeling  something. It was hard to explain. But, something didn't feel right. Like that feeling you get when someone walks into a room, and you don't see them. But you feel their presence. A shift in the atmosphere.

     That's what I was feeling.

     "Dad?" I asked, looking behind me and down the hallway, towards the guest room.

     "Or... Ben?" I asked again, and felt it again. No one answered, and I just couldn't convince myself to walk away. So I slowly walked down the hallway, up to the door to the guest room. The door was open just enough for someone to fit through it. Maybe Izzy had gone exploring, again.

     Just as that thought crossed my mind, I heard Izzy yelling in her baby talk from downstairs. That definitely crosses her off the list.

     "Hello?" I said, quietly, making my way up to the door. I started to peek inside, and my heart started pounding through my chest. Suddenly, dad broke the silence.

     "Hailey!" I heard him yell, and I jerked my head around to look down the hallway. I sighed to myself and walked away from the guest room, making my way to the staircase and down it, then into the kitchen.

     "Yes, father?" I asked, pulling out my chair and sitting next to Izzy in her high chair.

     "What were you doing?" he asked, feeding Izzy small bits of pancake.

     "Nothing. I didn't hear you. Sorry," I said, looking at him, then glancing across the table at Ben. He was sitting with his hand across his cheek. What a drama king.

     "You wanna' say anything to your brother?" he asked, looking at me. I rolled my eyes and looked at dad.

     "Ben, I'm sorry I had to slap you for being such a brat," I mumbled, giving dad a pissed off look. He just shot me one right back.

     "You didn't have to lay your hands on him, at all," he said, his voice raising.

     "Why do you always need to take his side? You weren't even there, you don't know what happened," I replied, my voice raising as well. It always got like this when me and my dad argued. It was like a competition on who could get their voice the loudest.

     "I heard enough," he said.

     "Obviously not enough to know who the hell is telling the truth, and who's  just being a whiny little idiot."

     "Hailey Mae, stop!" I could tell he was getting to the point of snapping, because his face was getting bright red. That's okay, though, because I already got there.

     "Why don't you just fucking make me!" I yelled, and got up from my chair, pushing it in so hard that it bounced off the table and flew back a few inches. Izzy started screaming, and I just ran upstairs and stormed through the hallway, walking in my room and slamming the door, locking it behind me. 

     I felt my eyes start to tear up. I always started crying whenever I got really angry. Dad just didn't understand. He wasn't there last night. He didn't hear what Ben said, and how he said it. It was almost like he was mocking the death of our mother.

     No, I'm not happy that I hit my little brother. It just happened out of nowhere, on impulse. If I could do things over, I probably wouldn't do things any different. I think he deserved getting hit. I just didn't enjoy it.

     Call me a bitch. But, Ben is just as guilty as me.

     I rubbed my eyes and pulled out my computer chair, sitting down on it. I moved the mouse, lighting up the screen. It was still on a bunch of networking sites. I decided to check one of them. I clicked the refresh button, and in the alerts box, it read '1 New Comment'. I clicked on it, and it took me to the comments section of my profile.

     It was a comment from the screen name 'Pryce Is Right', that read 'Rate me, 1-10'. It seemed like a cheesy and stupid screen name, but I right-clicked on the name and opened the profile in another tab.

     My breath caught in my throat as the page loaded and revealed my secret admirer. It was Cameron.

     I closed that tab, and replied to the comment.

     '0/10. Not my type. Sorry.'

     I clicked on his profile again, and scrolled down to the bottom, clicking the 'Block User' link. It suddenly took me to a page that read:

      'Price Is Right has been blocked.'

     "Good," I said, and shut down my computer. I got up and went over to my bed, leaning down and picking up my cell phone. I skimmed through my numbers, and opened Cameron's contact. I then went to options, and scrolled down until I saw the option 'Block Number'. I clicked it, and sighed when it said 'Number Blocked'.

     If he was blocked, he couldn't talk to me anymore. I'm just going to have to be more cautious when I go out, from now on.

     I had nothing to do, anyways. After that argument with dad, he probably won't even let me go anywhere. I laid back on my bed and sighed, looking up at my ceiling. A sudden lightness came over me, and I couldn't help but smile.

     "Try getting to me now, creep."