the house was silent for a week straight.
tyler trapped himself in his room for days on end, only coming out after his father left for work.
his father worked a lot; leaving tyler alone for most of the week and sometimes into the weekend. he didn't complain, though, he liked being alone.
but he never truly was.
the girl was constantly nearby, and he could feel her presence sometimes.
like now.
he was laying in bed, almost falling asleep, when his door creaked open lightly. his eyes opened and he peeked on the other side of him; seeing her.
"what do you want." he mumbled, not looking at her eyes.
"i wanna talk." she stepped in closer, then sat on the bed.
"i didn't invite you in here." he groaned.
"but i've needed to apologize." she sighed. "please just listen to me."
tyler huffed, reluctantly sitting up.
"i know your dad was really mad at you last week," she began. "but it's my fault. i shouldn't have messed with your sister's things."
tyler looked at the ground.
"but i have a question," she grabbed his attention.
"why did you take the blame?"
he gulped, not thinking about why he did. sitting up and actually looking at her this time, he sighed. "i don't know. he would have killed me even more if i had someone else just staying here, especially in that room."
"so you did it to protect me?" the girl stared directly in his eyes, not blinking.
tyler did the same, but quickly looked away from the eye contact. "guess so."
she looked away as well, then stood up. "well... thank you." and she walked out of the room.
~~~~
