When hidden from the light

Chapter 20

I looked up when I heard my name. The woman's voice sounded familiar. Did I know her? She had a mask on as well. Then I looked behind me at the man. His voice had sounded familiar too.

"How do you know me?" I asked.

I turned around when the man with the bloody leg stepped forwards, holding onto the wall. He then took off his mask and there, standing before me was my father.

"Dad." I said.

He smiled.

"It's been awhile."

"Hey Josiah." My mother said.

I smiled. They found me, and they still cared about me.

"I missed you guys." I said.

There was a brief memory that flashed through my mind of when I had left.

"Just let me leave, let me be alone! You don't need to ever see me again, I'm just making your life worse."

I put on a smile again and ignored the memory.

"You didn't bring Ariella here too right?"

"No, your sister is still at home." My mother replied.

I relaxed a bit more.

"We should probably get out of here before Renée comes with more guards." I said.

My parents nodded.

As we walked outside, my mother and father told me that my sister, Arielle didn't know where they had gone, so it would be a big surprise, seeing me. I wondered if she would recognize me as soon as she sees me or not, I had changed a lot. The drive to my family's home was long. My mother introduced me tot he others, there were 4 people other then my mother and father. They were all friends of the family: Jake, Seth, Mandy and Allan. My Mother and father met them after I left, apparently my father got sick and they helped my mother care for him until he got better. They said my father felt really bad after I left and my mother missed me a lot.  We finally arrived at the house. It hadn't changed much since I left. They told me that no one was rude to them and that most of the families that had been rude had moved away. So me leaving had helped, I thought.

I entered the house, following my mother.

"Mom? I make the spaghetti sauce like you asked, did I do it properly? Does it look okay? The noodles are still cooking, they are almost done thou-"

My sister stopped talking when she saw me. She had shoulder length dark hair and she was a little shorter then me.

"Dad... who is this?" She asked.

"You dont recognize him?" My father replied.

"I wanted you to confirm who I think it is." She explained.

"Josiah, is it really you?" She then asked.

I nodded, she remembered me?

She ran up to me and hugged me, I was surprised at first, then I hugged her back. Seeing my sister after so long brought tears to my eyes, I had missed her so much.

A few moments later, we all sat on the couch, my parents friends had left. I sat beside Arielle and smiled. We were all quiet for a moment until my sister asked,

"Josiah, what has your life been like?"

"Pretty good, although I missed you guys." I replied.

I had missed my family, but saying my life had been pretty good was a lie, I just didn't want them to worry or feel bad.

"I'm sorry we weren't there to see you graduate." My mom said.

"It's okay, I took online classes anyway so there wasn't a graduation." I replied.

There was a small silence before my dad spoke.

"Do you have a nice home, you're living comfortably?"

"Yes, I have a house." I replied.

My sister got up and left to go to the kitchen to make sure she didn't burn the food and my father followed her to help. I sat quietly with my mom for a bit, then my mother gave me a hug.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up and changed for supper. You can sleep in your old room. Oh, and your dad's clothes probably fit you now." She said, smiling.

I walked up the stairs to my parents room and looked through this door for clothes that I liked. I then headed to the bathroom to have a shower. After my shower I put on the clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. I was still a little pale. I was happy to not be wearing the clothes that Renée had given me, I didn't want anything to do with those people. My hair was a little messy and I grabbed a brush from on the counter and got rid of the little knots.

A few moments later I heard "supper" being called and I rushed down to the kitchen.

The food was really good. I had forgotten how much my family talked during meals, normally I would sit alone at my table and eat in silence or with some music playing and I wasn't use to all the talking. When diner was done I helped clear the table of dishes and then I headed upstairs to my room.

When I opened the door I smiled. It looked a lot like when I left. I opened the clothes doors to find them empty, no use keeping clothes I would fit in. I had a picture of my family and me on the bedside table and I looked at it for a few minutes.

I then got into bed and lied there for a few minutes before getting out and heading to the bathroom. Once I locked the door I pulled up my shirt to survey my scars. They weren't healing very well but then again I wasn't really giving them a chance, I've been doing a lot of physical activity lately and I've reopened a few of my older scars. I searched around in the cupboard and found a few bandages and stuff. After I put new bandages on and wrapped the old ones in toilet paper then threw them in the garbage so no one would notice I went back to my room.

Hello! March break is coming up very soon, I'm excited, how's my book?