The birds chirped in the background as she walked back. The fall leaves all red, yellow and orange, ruffled in the slight chill breeze of the morning. She let her thoughts wander; a horrible idea really. She didnt like her mind when it was too empty because thoughts would crawl into it. Things she never liked to think about but always found in the background of her subconscious. To focus on anything other than that she began counting her footsteps. One by one. She had focused so well that she blocked out all the thoughts, all the insecurities and her surroundings.
"Hello! I thought I heard someone back there," her neighbor Claire said. She snapped back to attention when she heard Claire trying to talk to her.
"Oh, yes ma'am I was just skipping some stones down by the river and listening to the nature." She swallowed horsely, it was difficult to lie but she had to. Claire was an older lady, but not elderly. If you made any comments about her age she may have your head. She was a well tempered lady until you started guessing numbers.
"Well thats good to hear darling, im glad you are having fun!"
"Yeah fun..if thats how you want to describe it," she muttered under her breath. Claire was a nice lady. It was hard to keep things from her but she didnt feel like telling anyone. Giving a forced smile she nodded and continued walking to her house. It was a modest single story house in the woodlands. It looked in decent condition despite the slight weather damaged roof tiles. Her dad would always say it made it seem more rustic and added character. She didnt see how anything damaged could ever look beautiful.... As she approched the front door, instead of knocking she slid the floor mat to reveal a silver key. She didnt want to annoucve she was home just yet. She had to clean up in the bathroom first to check that her waterproof mascara was actually waterproof and hadn't run all over her face. Unlocking the door she slowly slid inside and past the living room where her family was watching a tv show she didnt recognise. Her room was the second door on the right. Just before that was the bathroom. She was relieved to see her makeup was still in its proper spot rather than everywhere else. When she walked back to the living room she took a seat on the far end of the couch. They were watching a cheesy game show that looked like it would have better fit in to the 80s rather than now. Finally noticing that she had been sitting there for quite sometime her mom turned off the tv.
"So where have you been you were gone for several hours?" her mother questioned.
"I was hanging out at Megans house," she replied dryly.
"Well im glad you were doing something productive, do you still have any homework to do for Monday?"
"I'll go work on it," she said not really answering her mothers question. When she got back to her room she couldnt concentrate on her homework so she layed down in bed.
