“Ariel,” I hear somebody saying my name the next morning but I don’t want to get up so I just pretend to be asleep. “Ariel, we have to go to school today, you know.”
“I’m not going,” I mumble into my pillow.
“You have to go, dear,” Leda sighs, sitting beside me on the edge of my bed. “I heard about Adan and I know that it sucks but you can’t just stop going to school.”
“Yes I can,” I argue. “At least for today I can.”
“I’m not leaving you alone though,” She states. “But I can’t stay home today because I have a huge test in Williams’ class and you know how that prick is with absent work.”
“You can go to school without me,” I assure her with an exhausted yawn. “I’ll be just fine here by myself, I promise.”
“Ariel,” She whines. “Come on, I’m sure that he’s fine. Over half of the guys over there are alive, they just haven’t released any names yet so he’s definitely alive.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mumble. “Go to school.”
She sighs again before standing up and walking towards the door. “I’ll take care of this,” She assures me just before leaving the room.
I take that as a sign to go back to sleep but I’m not even halfway unconscious before I hear Leda talking right outside my door but she’s not talking to me. “You hate school, Lake, so just stay here with her for the day.”
“Why do I have to be her babysitter though? I don’t even get paid,” He complains.
“You don’t get paid?” She wonders. “You mean, you’re not living here rent free? Because that’s a pretty huge pay if you ask me, mister. She’ll probably sleep all day anyway and then I’ll be back after school so you guys will be fine. And be absolutely nice to her, do you understand me, Lake Quincy?”
“Okay,” He sighs. “Fine. Go take your nerdy test for nerds.”
“Jerk,” She jokes (even though this is absolutely no time for jokes) before poking her head through the door. “Ari, Lake is going to stay with you and I’ll be back here as soon as school lets out, okay? And if you hear anything from Adan, text me.”
“Will do,” I assure her as I close my eyes and pray for sleep to come to me again despite the shit storm that is my life right now. Before I’m even half way asleep, I hear somebody walking into my room and because I heard Leda leave, I assume that it’s either Lake or a serial killer. I can’t decide which one is worse.
“Do you want to check the news or something?” He asks me awkwardly after a few moments of silence.
I shake my head without lifting myself out of the pillows. “I want to sleep.”
“Okay, well then I’m going to leave,” He tells me.
I don’t know if he means that he’s going to leave the house or he’s just going to leave my room but either way, I just don’t care because all I want in this world is to sleep right now.
Luckily, after Lake is gone, I am finally granted that wish and I find some more sleep. It’s full of worrisome nightmares about my big brother and how unprepared I am to be an only child but it’s sleep nonetheless. The next time that I wake up, it’s a little past noon and Max is pawing at my nose, seemingly worried as to why I’m sleeping so late because I rarely ever do that. I pat his head tiredly to assure him that I’m alive and then I check my phone for any information from my dad but there’s nothing. He said that he’s going to try everything in his power to find out Adan’s status but if he can’t find out within the first few days, he’s coming home. I really hope we find out within those few days but not because I don’t want my dad home, I just don’t think I’ll be able to function for more than three days without knowing if my brother is dead or alive.
YOU ARE READING
Goodnight Moon
Teen FictionAriel Brooks lives a good life. She has an amazingly large house and a wonderful puppy and a great best friend. She even has one thing that most teenagers would die for- her own house. Well, not technically, but she does live by herself. Her dad is...
