The Light's Calling

Chapter 8

"How cute is my uncle?" Destiny said as we lowered ourselves into our seats.

"What do you mean? And why does it matter?" I replied.

"Elijah" he said. At least that is what I think I heard. He was a well-dressed man, and he looked to be about my mom's age.

He kept saying nice things to my mom, and I know it was because she looked absolutely stunning. My mom seemed to want to stay with him for a date. I know it had been a while since she had been out without us, but it just didn't feel like the right time, not today. As I sat there wondering about the interaction between my mom and this strange man, next thing I know, we are walking away from the table and out of the door. Karma offered to take us home, but it didn't make sense because my mom had brought us, and it only made sense that she take us home too.

"I will see you all later tonight, honey," my mom said as she waved at us from the table.

What is happening? I thought to myself. Why was Karma even trying to find my mom a boyfriend. She was perfectly fine without one, and what about my dad? What would he think if he knew she moved on so quickly. I know it's been like 4 years since dad died, but still, that's just not enough time, and why is this guy even single at such an old age?

I jumped into the car next to my brother even though I didn't really want to, but I was not happy on the ride home. Destiny sat in the front with her mom, and all I could hear were clicks of the camera.

We were finally home, and my brother opened the door to let us in. I'm happy we can finally stay home alone because my brother is 15, but it sucks at the same time, especially at this moment because while we are stuck at home, mom is on some last-minute date with some man we have never met.

As soon as my brother went to bed, I began to think of a plan. I needed to get out. I needed an escape. I stayed up all night thinking until the silence in the room was shattered by my mom's annoyingly loud laugh.

I got up and walked over to the door to shut it, but I suddenly saw something that I had seen before. It was a light that shined under the crack of my door.

I wondered about it, but I didn't want to go outside because I could hear another voice in the room with her. I couldn't tell if it was a guy's or girl's from the whisper, and I was so upset that I really didn't even want to find out.

Suddenly, there was silence, so I slowly made my way out of my room through the window. I quietly snuck out to the tire swing hanging in the tree between two swings and sat down on it. I could feel the breeze hit my face like a freshly packed bag of ice, and a slight chill took ahold of me. I needed to be alone, but no matter what I did my mom or brother were always there looking for me or with me. I started to hum "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran, and I lost my self in the rhythm of the swing that soon matched the tune of the song. I could feel the it go back and forth and back and forth, and I felt the breeze catch the tips of hair. I swung back with my eyes closed, and I could see the sunlight break through the lids of my eyes. I heard nothing but the echo of my own hum, and I relaxed enough to just let the momentum I started with swing me back and forth some more, but all of a sudden, I felt a quick jolt as the rope to the swing swung me with such force that my legs kicked out to the side and almost threw me onto the floor. As I sat there appalled at this abrupt interruption, I looked up to see a familiar face. It was Anthony.

"Hey! What is wrong with you? Don't you know to make your presence known when you're at a stranger's house or even at your own house? I hate that you just did that, as I was enjoying a moment alone with my swing by myself. " I yelled at him.

"Sorry, sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to...um.. scare you like that...twist....swing" he asked.

"Yeah!" I replied.

"Can I sit with you?" he asked as he walked closer to my swing.

"Sure" I said as I scooted over to make some room on the tire swing for Anthony to sit.

He quickly sensed that there was definitely something going on, but he didn't want to ask again. He asked to hold my hand, and I said yes hesitantly, but I pulled back before giving my hand to him. We swung back and forth together in silence, looking up at the stars and the clouds passing by, but next thing we know we are awakened by the bark of the neighbor's dog. I wiped the dew off of my face, and I giggled when I looked over at Anthony and saw some dew on his eyelashes. I reached forward and swatted it off as if it were a bug, but I forget to warn him, so I accidently smacked his eye instead. I studied him carefully for a second to see how he would react, but all he said was "Dew... it's my thing. Weather and anything else that is in the atmosphere is my thing. You should have left it there; I'm collecting samples."

Anthony had a way of turning every awkward moment into an even more awkward moment. I wasn't really sure if he was joking with me or if he was being honest, but he broke the silence between us when he burst out in laughter, as he realized I was actually considering the verity behind his statement.

"Good morning" my neighbor shouted out at us.

I waved and politely smiled at my neighbor, and I saw Anthony collecting his things to go from the corner of my eye as I turned to face my neighbor.

"I'll catch you on the flipside" he said, as he started jogging back home.

I went back inside through the front door, and I found my mom sleeping on one side of the couch with Karma on the other couch across from her.

I snuck by her and Karma as quietly as I could and got dressed and ready for the day. I put on the first outfit I could muscle out of my definitely needs to be cleaned out closet.

I needed to get out, and I felt like today would be the perfect day to make an adventure of it. I needed to get far away from everything because I felt the need to be anywhere but here.