It's a Cold World Without You

It's a Cold World Without You 6

Saturday morning. Hailey groaned, glancing at her alarm clock that told her it was nine AM. She rubbed her hands over her face, not pleased with the prospect of having nothing to do today. A whole day with no distractions. She wasn't sure she could handle it.

In the meantime, though, she figured breakfast was in order. Had to keep up appearances for her lovely aunt, whom she'd told that everything was fine.  

Just opening the door to her bedroom, Hailey immediately knew she was the only one awake. Silently making her way down the stairs, having avoid the step the creaks loudly with even the slightest of pressures, she arrived in the kitchen. Lucky Charms was her favourite thing to eat in the morning, so if anything would work it'd be that. She poured the cereal and milk into a bowl and sat down with it at the table that sat in the middle of the kitchen, rarely used. 

I took her half an hour to choke down half of her breakfast, and by then the rest had gone soggy. Frustrated with herself, Hailey dumped the bowl with the remainder of the cereal into the sink. 

Once back in her room, Hailey slid down to the floor, wondering when, if ever, this would be over. She glance up to catch a glimpse  of herself in the mirror. Her make-up was smudged  around her eyes, making the bruise-like circles beneath seem worse and make her eyes appear sunken into her skull. Her cheeks were hollow, her skin pale. Slowly, Hailey stood, keeping her eyes on the image in the mirror, not believing it was her. The figure moved with Hailey, slowly and unblinking just like her. Hailey removed the sweater she wore, just to see if the rest of her body would be in as bad a condition as her face. She looked down at her now bare arms, noticing her wrists in particular, where the bones stood out predominantly. She lifted her tank top  to run her fingers over her stomach. Never had she ever been quite so thin. Close to it, but never dangerously skinny, as she appeared to be now.

Heaving a defeated sigh, Hailey dropped her shirt, bent over to pick up the sweatshirt which she threw onto her bed, and went to take a shower.

***

After showering, dressing, applying make-up, and straightening her hair, Hailey sat on her bed at a loss at to what to do with the rest of her day.

It was a little past 11 now, and Hailey could hear at least one person moving around in the kitchen downstairs.  Hailey figured it was Aunt Diana and not her mother.

She was thinking about the differences between her mother and her aunt when her phone vibrating on her nightstand broke into her thoughts. Opening her phone, she found a message from Ryan:

"Hey Hailey, watcha up to today?" 

Hailey sat on her bed for a moment, stunned, before replying:

"Why, got something in mind?"

His reply came almost instantly:

"I'm sure the two of us can come up with something. I'll pick you up in 10."

She agreed with him, pulled on her shoes and jacket, then climbed out her window, scaling the tree outside of it to the ground. The last thing she wanted was to be forced to deal with her aunt. She straightened her clothing before walking across the lawn to sit on the curb.

Sure enough, Ryan was true to his words, and his car came racing down the street within minutes, pulling up smoothly next to where Hailey sat.

Hailey ducked into the car, flashing a smile at Ryan, who returned it easily. "Hey Hailey," he greeted cheerfully. "Hey yourself, where are taking me this fine day?" Hailey joked. 

Pulling away from her house, Ryan glanced at the blonde girl next to him before replying, "It's a surprise, of course."

Hailey smiled and relaxed into her seat, along for the ride. Hey, she reasoned with herself, whatever we'll be doing it's better then whatever would've been happening at home.