I Had To Leave You

Chapter 10: Horrors

The cafe was a little busy, but it was alright. It was my turn to lock up for the night so I wiped down all the tables and benches and locking the bathrooms.

"Bye Ruby," Jeremy said as he pushed the glass door open.

"Seeya Jerr," I replied from behind the counter.

It was almost seven-thirty so I locked the glass door and drew down the blinds. After cleaning and locking everything, I went into the back where the lockers were, and since no one was there I decided to change back into my casual clothes. The cafe uniform for girls was a navy blue dress that puffed out at the skirt, it came with a black apron tied around the waist and some black flats.
I pulled off the apron and stuffed it into a box, then pulled off the dress and stuffed it into my bag. I searched through my black bag for my jeans and plain white, cropped t-shirt. I heard a high pitched whistle from the doorway and my head snapped over, my eyes landing on Liam's steady figure leaning in the doorway. It took me a minute to realize my situation.

I was in my lacy blue underwear, alone, with Liam. Great. The world hates me.

I squealed a curse and dived behind a row of grey lockers in a feeble attempt to cover myself.

"Well, I came to see if you wanted me to drive you home but if you really want to I guess I could do it on a bench." He said, an evil smirk on his lips.

My face turned even redder as I glared at him. "I hate you."

"I love you too." He replied smugly. "Here."

He tossed my bag over to me and turned his back so I could change. I silently cursed myself for not closing the locker room door as I pulled on my faded jeans and white shirt. I slung my bag over I e shoulder then kicked Liam in the butt.

"Let's go, Ranger Rick," I said as I slipped past him and out the back door.

After he sauntered out, I locked the large, metal door and hid the key under a rock in the plant pot. I slid into his black ute and buckled myself up.
We drove home in a comfortable silence as the radio played soft music. By the time we got home, it was almost eight-thirty. We decided to have a late dinner at my place because I really didn't want to face my mother alone and he wanted to sleepover at my place.

"So, our choices are frozen pizza or... Frozen cheese pizza." I said, looking through the freezer.

I didn't make an effort to be quiet, I didn't really care if my mother and Ian were sleeping, this was my house.

"Hmmm." Liam tapped his chin and squinted his eyes as if deep in thought. "Isn't meat lovers your favourite?"

A small surprised smile formed on my lips. He still remembered my favourite pizza after five years.

"Yup," I confirmed.

"Then meat lovers."

I placed it on a tray and shoved it in the oven. Frozen pizza wasn't the best but it was better than the pizza that I tried to make once. It had turned out as black as charcoal and hard as diamond.
While we were waiting we talked about everything and nothing, as cheesy as it sounds. Well, we talked until my mother came into the kitchen, then we fell silent.

"Did you have a good day at work?" She asked me as she got four plates out of the cupboard.

"Yea, I guess it was ok," I said warily.

Why did she care if I had a good day at work? The oven timer went off and I pulled it out, setting the tray on the stove. Liam and I grabbed two slices each and my mother put two on each plate.

"Could you two please try not to be too loud?" She asked as she went down the hall. "Me and Ian are going to go to bed shortly."

I rolled my eyes and led Liam up to my room. He peered around it and then sat at the small desk that was pushed up beside the door. I perched on the tip of my bed and took a bite out of my slice.

"You changed your room." He remarked.

"Well, you can't expect me to keep it the exact same way I had since u was twelve years old," I said through my mouth full of food.

He nodded. I suppose it was a little different. I had painted the walls black and I know what you're thinking, how could a child paint walls? I didn't. I paid someone else to do it for me, my mother hadn't taken her credit card with her so I had used that. I also had a small wooden bookshelf against the far wall that was stacked with all my favourites. Poison Study, touch of power, Harry Potter and quite a few others. Because I didn't have any friends at school, I read at recess and lunch, that was another reason why I was an outsider. My social skills we're not that great and I wasn't particularly fond of people. Not specific people, just humans in general. They were annoying a d wide, even though I'm a human as well but at least I admit it. I shook my head and continued to devour my dinner. When we were finished we turned on Netflix and watched a horror movie called it. The movie was about a cannibalistic clown who would ear whoever said its name, pennywise.

"We should probably go to sleep, it's getting late," Liam suggested after the movie finished.

I nodded in agreement even though I knew I wouldn't sleep tonight. I laid on top of his chest and listened as his breaths even out and he fell asleep. I found myself constantly peering over at the four and the window, even though I knew that it was closed. I closed my eyes and tried to relax into Liam.
But I found myself peeking through spotted eyes at the door. Stupid horror movies, stupid clowns. Ugh.
I won't be able to sleep a wink. I sigh and slowly sit up, rubbing my eyes. Liam shifted in his sleep then settled back in, snuggling into the pillow.

I rubbed my eyes again and slipped out of the covers. I carefully tiptoed downstairs and turned in the kitchen lights and pulled a knife out of the draw. I know it was stupid to think that a killer clown was actually in my house but you would be scared too if you saw the movie. I dug through the pantry and pulled out a jumbo bag of marshmallows, crackers and a few chocolate bars. I turned in the stove and started to melt the marshmallows onto the crackers and squares of chocolate. I heard shuffling behind me and snapped my head around. There was nothing there, nothing but a floating red balloon. Fear slowly crept into me as I stalked towards it. I felt a tap on my shoulder and whirled around. I screamed as rows of razor-sharp teeth greeted me, as well as a white have and red eyes.

"Ruby! Ruby!"

I gasped and my eyes flew open. Liam's worried face filled my vision. My eyes darted around the room, sweat building on my brow.

"Hey, Darlin' you're okay." His voice was soothing. 

I brushed him off and swung my legs off the bed and threw the covers back.

"Babe, are you alright?" He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his chest.

I stood and stumbled into the bathroom, then splashed my face with cold water. I tried to erase the image of the freaky clown from my mind, but I couldn't.

"Roo?" Liam met my gaze in the mirror. "You were screaming in your sleep."

I'm never going to watch another horror or see another clown.
Ugh, horrors.

Make sure to go and check out my other books too!
Thanks for reading.