HIDDEN (Hide Or Die)

Chapter 6

KYLE'S P.O.V.

I felt my mother's palms push their way from my back to my shoulder, easing me out of her hug. My eyes were cast down and I kept them there, until I felt mum's fingers nudging my head upwards.

"Oh my, is that really why you were crying?"

I looked into her eyes, she was always good at reading me. Or maybe I was just that open of a book. I nodded, and she nodded back. She knew it was more than just that and she was trying to coax me into telling her, but accepted it all the same when I silently begged her to keep it at that.

She got up, disappearing in my bathroom for a quick moment, she came back with one of my spare face towels, wet, which explains the faucet turning on just a second ago. She sat down exactly where she was and used the cloth to wipe my face. Only now did I feel the burn the licked all over me, prominent in my face but spreading even to my wings.

"I thought about it and... your points are valid. So I came to the conclusion that it'll be good for you."

I looked at her with wide, anticipating eyes, waiting on her to continue. "Buckle up kid, we're enrolling you in hell two days from now." we burst out laughing at her choice of words and the humor behind them, until her words settled in. I half gasped as I latched my hands on her shoulder, I resist the urge to shake her because- well she's still my mother and I'd like to keep myself in the safe zone.

"Why not tomorrow?" I inwardly cringed at how whiney I sounded, but two days is a bit too far, giving the current circumstances. What if Andrew suddenly decided he wants to marry her before he realizes I'm a better option? Okay no that's just me over-exaggerating. That won't happen in two days- but still!

"Oh be reasonable my boy. I need to get your paper ready- you too need to get ready." She chuckled at my eagerness, and I tried not to blush so hard. But perhaps she was right. I need to be ready to face so many people at once, and the change of pace for my life. I need to prepare myself for his rejection, as well.

"Tomorrow, I'll make all the arrangements to enroll you in school, alright? Now stop crying for me, honey." I nodded and tried to smile, and although my plan was now set in motion, only a small weight lifted from my chest, the heaviness was still there and I couldn't entirely get hyped up.

She played with my hair for a few minutes longer, before deciding on getting dinner started. She left my room, and I fell back on my bed, my eyes gazing up at the stars cutouts.

One of those stars... huh.

******

I tuned off the sounds from around me, the sizzling and boiling of water in the kitchen where mum is cooking, and the slight buzz of engines turning off as people began to pile up again into the neighborhood and into their houses for the day.

Life here is quite routinous, everything happens the same every day, minus certain things, obviously. For instance; everyone wakes up at six in the morning, two of our neighbors to the far left will get out to walk their dogs, at the same time the newspaper guy comes in. only for the elders at the far end of the neighborhood who are old school and won't use their phones to check on the news. Fifteen minutes past six our neighbor next door will go out for a jog through the woods. He's a guy in mid-twenties, only saw him a handful of times, but from what I heard-rather observed- he lives alone, and is very workaholic. He's nice and polite but introverted and prefers to keep to himself.

After more of a decade living in the same neighborhood with the same people, I figured out the pattern long ago and them, waking up super early and all the commotion no longer banged against my ears and woke me up. That, and the fact I learned how to control my senses.