Colourless Skies

31. Avoiding The Inevitable

Wednesday arrived, and so did Leah at her  school's gates. It was almost impossible to believe that just a day ago, she was about to befriend death and now, she was going to enter the halls of Moorcroft High, like any other mundane.

The first person she encountered luckily, was her only friend left, who didn't spare a minute in bombarding her with questions.

"Where the hell were you? Why didn't you come to school yesterday? I was so worried, my God Leah!"

His outburst made little to no sense to Leah until he jabbed the next statement like ice right into her heart.

"I even went to your house, only to have your parents glare at me like I have two heads."

"W-what... what did t-they say?"  She said immediately, her voice came out hoarse and rough, the way it is after endless weeping.

His next words flowed like honey, but stung like poison.
"They said where else were you gonna be besides school."

"They thought you were staying here late to work on a project"

The rest of the day flew by like wind, only grabbing Leah's attention when it blew too swiftly, which wasn't very often today. It was a quiet day, and Leah didn't know if it only looked that way to her or if it really was. Neither Zach's constant nagging or backhanded comments fired at her, nor the yells of the frustrated teachers and the usual overwhelming buzz of the crowded students brought her out of her frozen state.

Terrified thoughts captivated her mind, slaving it into thinking the worst of everything. 

'When did Zach go to my house?'

'Why did they say that?'

'Why didn't they look for me?'

'Was I gone that long?'

Eventually, but in finality, she made herself believe the barefaced lie that her parents thought she had left for school, and excused Zach with a 'late because of project' statement, since they couldn't be bothered to check where she actually was.

Change in actions didn't mean a change in intentions.

Walking home had always been a guilty pleasure for Leah, she absolutely lived for this time; not because of what awaited her, but because it was although a minute amount of time, it was nonetheless time for her freedom to thrive.

The dull and mysterious town did little to veil the beauty of a simple walk on a breezy day.
The rustling of leaves at the slightest blow brought them in a new limelight. The songbirds were mute but the unbreakable silence created a tranquil atmosphere, but only for those who preferred to be by themselves.

The afternoon sun had come out, and was starting to rob all the wintry chills from the air, leaving it blazingly hot. Afraid of turning her wounds into horrible and painful blisters, Leah hurried home.

After all, purple wrists and ankles, a wounded back, and bruised, chapped lips that she tried to desperately hide everyday, would only become more obvious.

At home, the absence of her parent's torturous activities and harshly blunt scoldings turned Leah's hurt cold. They knew silent treatments would injure her more than physical wounds.

But she couldn't turn back time now.

After three debilitating hours of home assignments, she cranked her now sore neck to look at the time on the clock above her head. Six in the evening, she knew she neither had enough time nor the resources today to complete the project she had dramatically stolen from Zach.