Aurora

Chapter 4

My coat sagged in the heavy rain as I ran from the house to the car and back, forgetting that I had left the keys in the car.

Under the thick layers of rain, there was sweat that I was desperate to wash off in a hot shower but I was slowed down by my mother's rage at the door step.

Her presence suddenly formed an ominous storm cloud around me and her eyes locked on mine. Suddenly, it felt as though I was engaged with a monster instead of my mother.

"After locking Helena in the bathroom, I'd have thought you learnt your lesson. But no, instead I have a stubborn daughter who doesn't care one bit about getting into trouble!" She pulled her nightgown tighter around her, the cold air enveloping us at the door.

She brought up the incident with Helena- suggesting that she was extremely angry and I would need to give it a day before she would listen to what I had to say. Helena...a girl who almost completely ruined our lives. A girl who I locked in a room simply because I was sick of hearing her talk bullshit.

I frowned,"Mom, you know why I locked her in. And today, my reason was Thomas. He's gone...mom please understand."

"Thomas was nothing but trouble. There's no surprise he is in a bigger problem right now! I don't care if he's your boyfriend, you risked your life and relationship with your parents by leaving the house after hours...IN A CAR YOU CANT DRIVE YET. Since when did you decide the police aren't right about what they chose to do?"

I didn't know what to say. I had so many things to say but all I did was let out a scream, "How can you SAY THAT MOM?!"

For a moment, I thought she might've picked the lamp beside the door to throw it at me but she simply dragged me by my arm and shoved me towards the stairs.

"Take a shower and get to bed. When you're ready tomorrow you can explain why you think it was okay to risk your life."

If I wasn't fuming, I might've had the energy to yell and shout and fight for my case but I didn't want to. My night had already been eventful enough already and the only thing on my mind was sleep.

It was perhaps an hour I spent, in the hot, soothing shower before I felt myself nodding off and decided to get out and get to sleep. Though it was already 3am and I'd have to be up for school in less than 4 hours, I fell into a deep sleep trying to keep out my thoughts.
-

My alarm began a nauseating headache at 6.50am.

Maybe last night was a dream. Please. Please be a dream.

My phone pinged, and I picked it up hesitantly.
Malia had sent a message, begging for yesterday's event summary; it was a conversation I didn't anticipate. I sighed in defeat. It was not all a dream- it was very real.

Meet me at school gates.

I hauled myself out of bed and rapidly got changed in order to avoid the conversation with my mother. Another conversation I wasn't anticipating.
I had to leave as soon as possible if I wanted to avoid my fate.
..

It was 7.55am by the time I got into the school gates to see the weary looking Malia with her dark hair up in a ponytail. I frowned, searching for a look of reassurance from her. It seemed she didn't care about her look that morning: strands of hair sticking out, worn-out jeans and a T-shirt.

"Are you okay Ror? I'm sorry, I should've come to the station yesterday."

Malia avoided eye contact as we walked into the school building accompanied by a crowd of people.
I shrugged my shoulders.

She continued, meeting my silence,"If I knew Thomas was kidnapped, I'd have come to you."

"But there's something wrong...the police won't cooperate. It's like they... oh lord...did it on purpose."

Malia clasped my hand, "Don't be so cynical, I'm sure they have a good reason."

I sighed, "It looks like I'm the pessimist in the relationship."

"Hey! That's not true. Every time I fail a test, you tell me not to let the teachers keep reminding me and prove that I accept it by failing all the rest. Consistency girl, consistency. That's the key. Whether you tell me to do worse at something supportively or do better- you are still optimistic either waY!"

I was dragged along to lesson, despite the fact that I didn't want to attend them. Any of them. Nor did I want to encounter Helena.

Helena hadn't confronted me in a while, but the thought of her made me cringe.
Our story was complicated and our hatred was even more complicated. After light of recent events, following up me locking her in the changing rooms for 2 hours without a phone, it escalated rapidly.

Not a single one of my family member wanted to talk about Helena because everything would eventually spiral out of control much more fatally than it did the first time. Aside from Helena Atkinson, my family and my life was as plain as a Mary Sue.
Malia dragged me along to college parties, my mom hauled me to stupid family gatherings and good old Sebastian hauled me to football, rugby and other sport events. But my life just wasn't book-worthy to say at the least.

But that's the lie I tried to tell. And so did everyone else.

-
"AURORA!"
My body trembled at a voice snapping me out of my daydream. I blinked several times, absorbing the scene in front of me.

"YES! IT IS." I answered, not realising that I was actually paying attention to my chemistry class. I had turned a half ear to the lesson, the other part of me was focused on finding Thomas.

People turned to glance at me, faces painted with amused  smirks.

I dropped my eye to ground level, a wave of embarrassment flooding through me.

Mrs Collins let out a deep sigh, putting her glasses back in place, "Listen to me, Ashford. You're my brightest student..." she paused, turning to another student "Yes Michael, she is brighter than you" before turning back to me, "Don't stop being the brightest student. Pay attention. Please."

Helena turned around and frowned.
She tried to console me but I ignored her attempts. Although some of her friends saw me as the evil carcass growing on their asses, everyone knew that I couldn't have been more nice to Helena than I was.

Yesterday, was a blip. A blip of negativity. I had never been so angry and let down in my life.

But today was a new day, and I wanted to thrive.The day was becoming long and hard already, especially with Thomas in the back of my head constantly like an itch but it was a new day.