Orphaned

Chapter 4: Afterschool

Life sucks! My whole day had her in it. My life may not end if she stops bugging me with her stupid questions. I’ve had enough! School’s about to end along with my life. Things should get better. What should I get for surviving school today?

The bell rang, and John sighed quietly. He buckled the backpack’s custom harness and walked outside. Kailee followed him around. She tried to do what he did, but it wasn’t easy for her. Without hesitating this time, she was on his tail… on a roof. “Hey! John!,” she called, but it just made him run faster. “Hey! I need to talk to you! Slow down!”“Why should I? You’ve been bugging me all day!” He then Jumped down onto a smaller roof, then jumped off without slowing down. He entered a crowd of people, but didn’t slow down. Kailee tried to copy what he did, but when she landed on the ground, he was nowhere to be seen. She looked at the nearest map. She was near the mall, which was three miles away from her house. She walked home from the mall.

I was finally home at 4:00. No one noticed that I was late. All of my chores were already done, so I stood off the balcony. John reached his rock while I was staring at the water near his rock. That must be the perfect place to be, I thought to myself. The water was calm, and no one was swimming. I could smell the water over the rail. I wanted to talk to him, but I remembered what he said, “You’ve been bugging me all day!” I decided to go talk to him.

“Hey, John,” I called, “I need to talk to you!”

“What do you want now?” he complained. I didn’t know he was so touchy.

“I neeeeed to talk to you!”

“Okay, fine, what do you need to know, I’m done running.”

“Cool. I need to know what happeed to your parents.”

“Heh, no. Anything other than that?”

“Just tell me. What do you have to hide?”

“Everything.”

“‘Everything’? What do you mean? Why everything?”

“I told you, everything. That’s what I have to hide.”

“Okay, but--”

“I said so.”

“But--”

“SHUT UP!” He pulled out the sharpened army knife and said, “When I give you an answer, it’s not gonna change! Why can’t you just leave me alone? You follow me everywhere! Just leave me… alone.” John stood there a moment. He thought of what to do, then closed the knife and ran away thinking to himself, asking questions.

As the sun finally set, I climbed up the lamp I put out the night before. Wondering what would happen, what was the impact, how would she take it. Multiple thought strolled around in my head, some sitting on the benches sticking around until a contradicting thought came by then switching places. None of them left me, but they were going around the block. A worker came and looked at the lamp intensely, as if finding out why it isn’t on. He walked around it, rubbed it with his hand, and found the cut I made the other night.

I pulled out the ID, and compared the man to the picture. They weren’t similar at all. The man walked away, but quickly came back with a small, sharp knife. He cut it open and saw the broken wire. He then ran off. I heard the car drive off, and stayed there for a while. I was getting off the pole when the man’s car came closer to it. The light almost touched me as I jumped off the lamp. The ground greeted me with a silent sound. The man pulled out a flashlight and worked on the lamp without noticing me. I ran to the rock, but she never moved an inch. “Why don’t you go home already?”

“Who said I have to?”

“I did, now go!”

“Fine, you still have to see me tomorrow.” She walked away. John smiled proudly. She went into her room and turned off the light. He watched the balcony making sure that she didn’t come back out again. Lying on the rock, he felt the spray on his face. He put the bowl next to him as he waited until midnight.

As midnight came, I woke up and lied in bed. The sheets and blanket were on the floor. I got out of bed to get the sheets and the blanket, but when I looked out the window, he was sitting up on the sand. Staring through the darkness like a giant window, I could see him clearly.