Unconditionally

Chapter Nine

"Aunt: the sister of your father or mother; a person who can give hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister and share love like a friend."

It doesn't rain that often in Arkansas, but when it does, it rains. After Ashton dropped me off last night, I changed into my pajamas and headed straight to my bed. I fell in a deep sleep and woke up around nine with it still being dark out. It's pouring down rain. Sill and I stood on the porch with cups of coffee in our hands, watching the rain fall from the dark clouds. You could hardly see anything two feet away.

I set my empty coffee cup in the sink before turning around to face my aunt.

"If any one calls, do you go out?" I ask her curiously.

If I was in my aunt shoes, then I would not being going out in that weather. Anything could happen. With the job my aunt has, she probably does go out in this weather. Sill nods her head. I was right. Lightning strikes and I jump slightly at the crashing sound. Sill laughs at me and pats my head as she walks past me.

"Still scared of thunderstorms, Mackenzie?" She mocks.

I roll my eyes and bite my tongue. Okay, so I may have hid under the dining room table when I was little, and in my closet, and in the kitchen cabinet. I don't necessarily know why I was- am -afraid of thunderstorms, but something about the crashing of lightning and the rumbling of thunder can scare the shit out of me.

I'm perfectly fine when it rains, I love it actually, but when all that extra stuff starts coming, that's when I draw the line between love and scared shitless.

Glancing out of the window above the sink, I notice that the rain starts to pour down even harder. I shake my head as I walk up the stairs to my room. If it keeps raining like this then everything in town will start to flood.

In my room, I put in Forrest Gump in the DVD player and get comfortable in my bed. Today is going to be a lazy day. I can't go anywhere with the weather like this, so I'm stuck here. Two hours later, I'm starting to dose off before my aunt barges into my room without knocking.

Sill has my clothes from last night in her hand and a scowl on her face. Her eyebrows are raised, waiting for me to give her an answer, and she starts to tap her foot. "Why do your clothes smell like smoke and cologne?"

I sigh and get out of my warm bed.

"Ashton and I went to a bonfire last night; nothing happened if you were wondering." I say to her.

Sill barks a sarcastic laugh. "Mackenzie, do you think I was born yesterday," She asks me. "I have lived here all my life so I know what happens at those bonfires. It can get crazy over there sometimes, I don't want anything happening to you because you're being careless, or someone else is."

"Aunt Sill, I don't go to all the bonfires. This was the first one that I've been to in a long time."

My aunt inhales deeply and throws my clothes at my hamper. Before she leaves, she gives me the look.

"Before you go somewhere, please tell me beforehand so I don't stay up late for you."

With that hanging in the air, Sill closes my bed room door. I stand there, staring at where my aunt just stood, in shock. Never have I've seen- noticed -her stay up late, waiting for my arrival. I always assumed she went to sleep as soon as she could with my uncle.

But now that I know she actually cares (no I wouldn't say cares), now that she notices my absence, it makes me feel somewhat bad for what I have been doing. Not getting home until the late hours, having my first alcohol drink, getting a tattoo.