Caged In

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Finally the tears had stopped streaming from Alyce’s eyes. Although the tears had stopped, she still ached inside.

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Alyce’s head turned eagerly when she heard Blake arousing from his deep sleep. “Hey Blake,” she said in a tone that sounded too eager.

“Hey,” he muttered.

Alyce sighed. “Look, earlier I wasn’t directing the scream necessarily towards you. I was just upset.”

“Okay,” Blake responded unhappily.

Alyce paused. “Okay? That’s all I get?”

“I owe you something?” Blake said with frustration in his voice.

Blake’s tone of voice stopped Alyce’s heart for a split second. “No,” she said weakly, and turned around so that she couldn’t see Blake.

Right on cue, the man barged through the door. “Alyce, Slate, and Skye. Outside."

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“So what was with that drama fest earlier?” Slate asked curiously while raking leaves into a pile.

“What drama fest?” Alyce asked as if she had no clue what he was talking about.

“You, Blake, screaming at each other? What was that about?”

Alyce stopped raking and leaned against the dirty old rake. “I accidentally yelled at him earlier, and apparently he’s very sensitive and it went too far,” she said in a blur. She started raking again, but faster.

“I can tell you’re upset, Alyce,” Skye said.

“Him yelling back at me…it hurt,” Alyce responded, her throat aching.

“Just go apologize,” Slate said as if it were the obvious thing to do.

“Already tried that. It just got worse.” Alyce propped up against her rake again. “I’m so sick of this place. I just wish I could be like every other teenager, living their normal lives.”

“Maybe one day we will,” Skye responded.

“Doubt it!” Slate said loudly.

Skye elbowed him in the side. It might hurt, but he deserved it.

“Hey!” Slate exclaimed, rubbing his side. “What was that for?”

“I was trying to be optimistic and you totally crushed it!”

Alyce just stood in the sidelines, watching another one of the infamous but completely entertaining Slate and Skye fights.

“Well my mom raised me to tell the truth,” he responded.

Skye just looked at him, sighed, and started raking once again.

Suddenly, Alyce felt like she had been hit with a dodge ball right in the stomach. She sat on the ground and tried to make the pain go away. Before she knew it, her tears had stopped streaming, and she was looking up into the blurry faces of Slate and Skye.

“Are you okay?” Slate and Skye asked in unison.

“No. No, I’m not.” She stood up and pondered the biggest decision of her life. Alyce tried to yell out the plan to Slate and Skye, but her voice wouldn’t allow her through the pain. Besides, it would probably just cause more trouble. The life changing decision had been made. Alyce ran as fast and hard as she could into the road, not looking back. Once she reached the end of the driveway, she heard the man’s voice yelling out “Stop!” Alyce wasn’t under anyone’s command anymore. She was on her own. She was a daredevil. She was running away.