Masked (now an EBOOK on Amazon)

Chapter #11

                 CHAPTER #11

The phone stopped vibrating a few seconds later. I looked up at Ray to see him giving me a concerned look.

“You okay?”

“I guess. It’s just been so long. Why would he call me now?”

“I don’t know. Guess you’ll have to wait.”

Just then my phone vibrated again. It was a message.

“From: Aaron

Sub: Hey”

I showed it to Ray and asked him if I should reply to it.

“No harm in that, is there?”

I shrugged and sighed. I replied to him saying ‘Hi.’ The next message he sent was ‘How are you doing?’ I could have broken the phone that instant. How could he ask me that? I just got back from Juvie for god’s sake. When did he get so…insensitive? Nah, that wasn’t the word. It was ignorant. They say that ‘Ignorance is bliss’; he must be feeling pretty peaceful right now. He had ignored me for the past few years; ignored my sadness; my anger; my confusion at being hauled to jail; and he had ignored our friendship.

I took a deep breath in and replied, ‘Good, I guess. What about you?’

A few seconds later, his name popped up on the screen again.

‘Yeah, I’m doing really well.’ Okay. He was doing well. I had a million things to say to him at that moment which couldn’t be expressed through a few words. But I knew that, if we were to ever talk again, face- to- face, I wouldn’t say a word. I would probably just stand there dumbly waiting for him to say something. I didn’t know what to say now either so I just put the phone in my bag and looked at Ray.

“Play another song, will you? I need some distraction.”

“Coming right up. Any song that the lady requests.”

“Lady? Really? Well, can you play ‘Wonderwall’?”

“Of course, that’s my all-time favourite.” Saying that, he began to play and softly sing the words to the song. Damn, he was good. I sat there, enjoying his music until my phone vibrated again. I waited until he was done playing the song. I clapped and told him he was an amazing guitarist.

“Thanks…it’s what I do when I’m bored or feeling a little low.”

“What was it today? Feeling low or just dying of boredom?”

“Bored. Really bored.”

“Hey, how come you’re in college before anybody else every morning?”

“I don’t…it’s just…”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me anything. I was just wondering. It’s okay. I’ll just assume that you want to play the guitar in solitude so you won’t have hoards of girls flocking to you, ripping off a sleeve of your shirt or begging for an autograph.”

He grinned at that.

“Might be true. But really, though? It’s…waking up to a house with nothing but the smell of food and our cook to keep me company is not the greatest thing in the world. When mum was alive, we were happy; just me, her and dad. When she died, it was just dad and I. He felt that the two of us couldn’t handle being alone so he got Sandra to stay with us. She stays with her daughter who is 4- in the servant’s quarters. Okay, that entire thing was unnecessary, sorry.”

“That’s okay, go on,” I said.

“Yeah, so…my dad works from 6 a.m. to almost 10 p.m. So basically, I wake up just to see Sandra. Don’t get me wrong, I like her but…my dad’s never around, mum’s gone. Why would I want to stay there? I’ve fallen into a routine lately; get up at 5, be out the door by 6 and be back home at around 9.”