Escape // l.h

.3

Chapter 3.

My hands shook as I turned the door handle, walking into my dark apartment. The air had gotten so cold that my face felt stiff, almost frozen. I walked down the hallway, flicking on the kitchen light and placing my backpack on the kitchen table. 

“Why do you always come home so late?” I turned around to face my little brother standing in the doorway with a look of confusion covering his face. 

“Go back to bed, Nick.” I mumbled as I unzipped my backpack.

He sighed, “Mama fell today and I had to help her.”

“Why did you let her get out of bed, Nicolas? You know she’s not allowed to!” My voice raised louder than I had intended. I regretted it after the look on his face turned scared. I never yelled at him, I hated yelling at him. This stress was getting to my head. 

“I-I’m sorry…” His head hung low, “She said she wanted to call you.”

I took a deep breath, “Okay, well next time, you take the phone to her.” My voice returned to normal and I sat down in the kitchen chair. “Is she okay?”

“She said she was fine,” He shrugged. “but I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you seem sure?”

“She yelled pretty loudly and she hasn’t said anything since.” He pulled a water bottle out of the fridge and took off the cap, pressing the bottle to his lips.

“Has she woken up?”

He nodded, “Yeah, but she just stares at the wall.” He took a seat next to me and his blue eyes met mine, “Luke?”

“What?”

“Is there something you did that made mama sad?” His eyes were filled with sadness. I knew that he was too young to understand what was happening to her, and he definitely didn’t understand what was happening to me. As much as I hated lying, it seemed to be the only thing I lived on, so I did what I did best and lied to him once again.

“No, mama just gets like that sometimes, one of her medications does it to her.”

“Oh.” His gaze fell from mine, “Well maybe you should go check on her.”

I nodded and began to stand up. “I will go check on her, but you need to go back to bed. It’s one in the morning and 10 year olds should not be up this late.”

He smirked, “Okay, Luke.”

I turned out the kitchen light and walked up the stairs to mamas room. I pushed open the already cracked door and walked in, closing it behind me. Her curtains were drawn, making it overly dark in the room. The only light was coming from a small lamp in the corner of the room that was never turned off. She laid on her bed, awake, but not moving. She held her stare with the wall as if she was in a staring contest, and winning. 

“Mama?” I walked into the middle of the room, waiting for her to acknowledge my presence. 

“Where have you been, Lucas?” Her voice was firm, she sounded as though she was ready to yell my head off.

I swallowed hard, “Working.” Lie number two. 

“I don’t get it,” she sighed “sometimes you come home early, and sometimes you don’t come home until morning. I know I haven’t been to the store recently, but I know it closes at 8. So tell me, where were you really?”

I knew this would happen eventually. For the past few weeks I could feel her catching on. She would drop hints by asking me if I were sure I was really at work. I always thought that I would have a plan for when this time came, but now that it’s here, I have no idea what to say. So, once again, I lied. “I was out with my girlfriend.”

The word stung as it came out of my mouth. I had never said that word before, the word in itself made me feel sick. I wanted more than ever to have one, to be wanted by someone that I wanted equally as much if not more. I longed for the feeling they showed on tv and in the movies, but I knew it was something I could never have. 

Her head finally turned, losing her staring contest with the wall. “Lukey, you have a girlfriend?” Her eyes widened with joy. 

I hesitated before nodding a little, “Yeah.” Lie number 4. 

“Oh! How wonderful! It’s about time! Tell me, what is her name?” The sound of joy in her voice made me happy. I just wished I could actually give her that happiness instead of feeding her lies. 

“Um…” I searched my brain for a female name, any name. “Melody.” It flooded out of my mouth without permission. After I had said it I wished I hadn’t. I wished I could rewind and take it back, take it all back. What would I do if she wanted to meet this Melody? I had no way of even interacting with a girl, let alone bring her home to my mom to play the part of my girlfriend. 

“What does she look like?” Joy still sounded in her voice. 

I hated to break her, but I didn’t want to tell anymore lies tonight, yet I finished off with one more. “Um ma, I’m pretty tired, I wan’t to go to bed.”

“Oh,” she returned her gaze back to the wall for round two of the staring contest. “I understand. Goodnight, Luke.”

“Goodnight mama.” I walked out of the room and shut the door behind me. I walked down the hallway, passing Nick’s room and was happy to find him asleep in his bed. I smirked and closed his door over. 

I walked into my messy room. Clothing was spread all over the floor and empty soda cans were kicked around the room. I picked up the pile of clothing on my bed and threw it onto the floor, then crawled into bed and turned off my lamp. As I stared at my ceiling replaying the past few minutes in my mind, I wondered how Melody was. It had been a week since I ran into her in the coffee shop, and we haven’t spoken since. I liked her, she had this attitude about her that pulled me in. I wanted to know her. And I knew that somehow, someway, I would get to know her. Even if I had to do what I did best, and lie. 

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A/N

I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long! I have been really busy lately and I haven't gotten the time to update, but I pomise I will be updating more now. 

But anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. It kind of gave more of an insight on Luke's family. I promise it will get better, just stick with me. 

Thank you for reading! 
I love you

xx