The Last Time (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 2

Puck whistled a bird-like tune as we walked toward Granny's house, in the dark.

After Puck had let me go in the park, I checked the time and it was seven at night. Granny was probably furious about the fact that I had left the school without Puck.

As soon as I stepped into the house's doors, my suspicions were confirmed.

"Where the hell have you been?" Granny shouted.

She had the landline in her hand, and behind her sat Daphne and Uncle Jake with their cell phones in hand.

Puck took his hand off of my shoulder and pulled Granny away from me.

Granny sent me to my room, even though sending me away didn't stop me from hearing their voices.

"I'm sick of her disobeying me." Granny said.

Puck sighed, "She needs her space. You need to get that. She will never get better if you don't give her some space."

I heard the creak of the old springs in the couch that told me that Granny had sat down.

"Don't you understand that we can't do that. After what she did to her wrists... I can't let that happen again."

Another creak from the couch.

"Don't worry, Old Lady. If you give her some space, I promise not to let anything happen to her."

I moved away from the door so that I couldn't hear it anymore. I couldn't stand how they talked about me. Like I am some sorry excuse for life that needed constant supervision.

I stood in front of the dresser that held my makeup and hair supplies. I looked at my face, which was still puffy from crying in the park. My eyeliner was running down my face.

Rubbing my eyes, I walked into the bathroom. I grabbed the makeup remover from the edge of the sink and dabbed some onto a tissue.

As soon as I finished taking the makeup off of my face and took a shower, I heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in."

I rubbed the towel through my soaked hair as Puck walked in. His hair was wet and he was wearing army pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. It looked as if he had just gotten out of the shower too.

He waited until I had finished drying and brushing my hair before he spoke.

"You okay?"

I looked at him with my most serious face and said, "You don't have to watch me. Granny will never know. Really."

Puck walked over to my bed and laid on his side so he could watch me in the bathroom.

"I know. But I care about you so I want to make sure that you are safe."

I walked out of the bathroom and sat at the edge of my bed, purposefully positioning myself so that I didn't touch him.

"I haven't been in danger since the war. It's hard to deal with the losses, and no one understands that. Maybe Daphne, but she barely knew them."

Judging by the face of pity that Puck was giving me, he knew that I was talking about my parents.

After the war had ended, I thought that my life was finally getting back to normal. I thought that I would have both of my parents, my grandmother, and my sister living in Ferryport Landing. I thought that I would have had Puck as my boyfriend and be one of the most popular girls in school, like I was all those years ago.