Testing Trust (Wattys 2014)

♥Chapter Twenty-Seven ~ Sick and Tired♥

Two Days Later. . .

I barely slept last night or the night before. The thought of Samantha being kicked out still keeps me up and I really can't understand why. I should be happy and running up the walls. Hell, I should be throwing a party that she's finally gone and out of my life, but something is telling me that I shouldn't celebrate. It's telling me to just keep quiet and move on, like the situation hasn't even happened.

I can't believe I'm actually getting up for school. This week has gone by way too fast. It seems like it was just yesterday where Adam and I were coming to my house and then...the incident happened. I still shutter and it has even already found its way into my nightmares as if I didn't have enough already.

Once I got out of the shower, straightened my hair, and threw on some clothes, I was ready to go. As soon as I walk to my door, I pause, looking at the lock. Usually, I keep it locked knowing Samantha would probably be trying to get in, but not last night. I actually kept my door cracked. I had no intentions in locking it last night, and I didn't. It looks weird, like seeing a fish walking on land.

As soon as I'm in the hallway, I look at the end to my father's room. Usually, I could hear him snoring from where I'm standing, but I can't hear him at all. I decide not to bother him and walk down the stairs, not even bothering to even grab a bite to eat before I go. Instead, I run over to the closet where I grab my coat and Hannah's Christmas gift. I place her gift into my backpack and then throw my coat over my shoulders.

I head outside, contemplating on whether I should take the bus or just walk. A loud honk of a car pierces through the silence and causes my heart to race and skip at least twenty beats. My dad rolls down the car window and smiles, leaning down so that he can see my face.

"Come on, I'm taking you to school," he says. My face brightens instinctively with a smile. I haven't heard him say those words in years.

I run to the car like it's my last time ever sitting in it.

It might be. My inner voice protests. I try and not let it bother me.

Once in the car, I smile at my dad who is smiling back at me. He actually looks happy, the smile is doing a good job of covering the heartache that's only visible to me. I place my backpack in between my legs and make myself comfortable in the chair.

"How did you sleep?" He questions as he begins to pull out of our driveway.

"I slept okay, it wasn't the best." I admit. I'm not going to lie to him, I would never do that. There's no reason to keep anything from my dad.

"I didn't get much sleep in either, but the five hours I've gotten should do the trick," he says, trying to make a joke out of it.

"How are you and Adam?" He steps on the gas and makes a right.

"We're good. Really good," I smile.

"I'm glad you both are each other's company," he lets out a long breath and I know he's going to say much more. "I know what happened the other day was a lot to have you see, but it was for your own safety and Samantha's as well even if it seems like it's not. I've tried many times to help Samantha and she has done nothing but push me away. I am still her father, and I love her, but it was just her time to leave. She already had left to begin with."

I know what he means when he says 'she already left'. The words strike me surprisingly because it was true. She left a long time ago, as soon as she picked up the bottle filled with the golden-brown liquid, she was gone.

I don't have much else to say to my father. Silence filled the car and contaminated the air around us. The reason we always have such awkward conversations is because we have millions of things to talk about. But the entire thing is that those subject are either not worth talking about or just shouldn't be talked about at all. Of course we covered the basics between a teenager who will be going to college soon and her father. Things like school, grades, colleges, etcetera. We even decided not to talk about him going back to work tonight.