Daphne

1 // Not quite dead inside

Listen to: Ribs by Lorde

    I've always liked being alone. Sometimes a girl has to just ride her bike at night and breathe. People are just...suffocating. You can't even tell a person to screw off without your AP Physics teacher Mr. Bennet trying to get you suspended for it. Every time, without fail, the universe finds an adult to give me the exact same speech after telling someone to shove it. "What are you going to do when you're an adult?" they ask. "You can't tell your boss to screw off when they say something you don't like, Daphne." Yeah. As if my IQ were low enough for them to somehow reason that as an adult I'm going to take the one person who pays my bills and buys my food and tell them to shove it. Is it that hard to be creative though? Can't they threaten me with anything else than my own maturity? Anyways, I'm sure this is boring for you to read. I'll tell you about my day. 

    After my dad and I got into this huge fight about barbecue sauce and my so-called failing health, I decided it'd been a while since I snuck out. I waited until I heard my dad shut the TV and all the lights off at 11:30, then heard him shuffle down the hallway and close his bedroom door. I texted Charlie under my covers. 

"Yo, wanna go get some food?"

"dude im already in bed fr"

"Come onnnn I need to get out of here"

"ur lame, fine"

    I felt a tiny rush of adrenaline, just enough to get me to actually get out of bed and maybe even enough to propel me out of the house. I've done this like a billion times but I still get so scared that I'll get caught. But I guess that's the fun part. I lifted my covers and gently tried to get out of my 20 year old mattress without making more noise than the Apollo 11 launch. I grabbed the oldest pair of shoes I have, but hesitated to actually put them on. Holding onto my sneakers and wallet with my keys around my neck, I crept down the hallway between my dad's room and the front door. I know all the places the tiles creak when stepped on, but in my nervousness I accidently stepped on a creaky tile and heard the slow pop. I winced, stayed still for a bit, and then moved on. I finally got to the front door and exited the house with careful precision. On my front doorstep I stopped to take a deep breath and just smile for a bit. It's the little moments that count, you know? I slipped into my garage, grabbed my bike, and headed out of our front gate. I quickly mounted my bike and pedalled. I really, really pedalled though. After I was well out of our neighborhood, I stopped pedalling and glided through the midnight streets. The dark trees hung over the sidewalk, disguising me to any potential neighbors or adults who might tattle on me. That was the first time I felt free in a while. But the realization that I had a place to be hit me like a truck, and I turned into Grady's parking lot. 

    Charlie and I first discovered Grady's Health Market on our first excursion. After sneaking out and meeting up we realized that there's not a whole lot to do as two minors in a suburban town at midnight. So we rode up and down all the streets in our neighborhood, trying to find something that was open and a little more interesting than the common seven eleven. An hour passed and we started to lose hope, but then we decided to cross just one more intersection. A sizable building with the name "GRADY'S HEALTH MARKET" plastered over the top of the awning in large cartoonish letters. At that point we were both tired and desperate enough to go just about anywhere with a temperature above 65 degrees, so we walked in. This store is like, next level vegan. Definitely a hipster's wet dream. Charlie's a carnivore but he's a flexible guy, and I'm vegetarian, so it was good enough for the both of us. We bought some iced teas with our collective $6.53 (completely in coins of course) and sat down at a table in the tiny cafe extention of the store. Since then, we go there every once in a while when home or life gets rough for either of us. Don't ask me why a tiny, seventh-day adventist market is open until 2 am, but it worked for us nonetheless. 

    I saw Charlie waving from inside Grady's through the window in the cafe, sitting at our table. I locked my bicycle next to his and walked inside. 

"It's been a while since we've been here dude," Charlie said in a soft voice.

"I know man, I guess the insomnia's starting to wear off."

"So what's up dude?"

"I don't know, I got into another fight with my dad and it's just been kind of hard for me lately."

"That's some major suckage dude. You need to go sucker punch a tree. Trust, it helps." I let out a small snort and a chuckle. He always finds a way to make me laugh.

"How do you manage to find so many different ways that I can break my knuckles in? The utter complexity, the creativity." 

"Whatever man. Did you ever text Serena again?"

I scratched my neck. "Nah. I think I'm gonna leave her alone. She's not really that into me, I can tell. Besides, I think I'm just gonna chill for a while. No girlfriends. At least, not until next year."

"Oh, okay. That's cool. I think I'm going to copy you, probably just ward off girls for forever."

"Yeah right, like you could even if you tried."

"Hey man, I have the willpower of two million jedi knights, all up in here," he whispered while pointing to his head, like the crackhead he is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! I've never written and actually committed to a story on here, so feel free to share your opinion! I worked really hard on starting this and writing a nice opening, and I hope y'all enjoy! I'll probably be pretty active in the next week since I'm still on winter break, so expect more chapters! Love, Elliot.