Chapter Three

I MUST HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP AT MY COMPUTER DESK LAST NIGHT while working on my homework. My back is stiff, just like the rest of me. I’m just glad that I managed to put my medication away and finish my food beforehand. But the fact still stands; I’m stuck here two more days before I can go back to school. And I have no clue what those two are planning for today and tomorrow. Nor do I even want to find out. Knowing my luck, they’ll be dragging me wherever the dragon wants to go. And that’s shopping until your feet hurt so much you feel like you can’t walk anymore.

I’m just going to have to tell them that I can’t go anywhere today. I want to finish my homework before I forget it, which I tend to do sometimes lately. I just hope it’s a plausible excuse to not be with her.

“Koda, it’s time to get up. We’re going to the park today and have a picnic with the weather being so nice out.” I hear my father call through my bedroom door. But it shocks me that it’s not something that involves shopping.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and knock once on my wall, letting him know that I don’t want to go. But I guess he could tell I’m close to the door, because I’m still at my computer desk, and waltzes right into my room a moment later with a disappointed look on his face.

“Come on Koda, you can take a break on your homework for a couple of hours.”

One knock on the wall.          

“Alright, fine, your mother and I are leaving in a few then so take care of the house okay? And make sure your laundry is done also. I’d like to wash our clothes when we get back.”

I sigh quietly with a small nod, then write him a note asking if I’m supposed to set anything out for dinner tonight.

“I already got it set out, and I’ll make it when we get back.” He says, and I can hear the front door opening and closing. I guess mom’s happy that she gets dad all to herself for a while.

I wave to him before I hear him walk away, yelling a good bye from the front door and I slump back onto my computer desk. Letting my forehead hit it harder than I should, but it wakes me up a tad. Coffee sounds good too. And breakfast, but I have no clue what we have that I could eat. Last I checked, we needed to go to the grocery store.

Looking at my alarm clock again, I take note that it’s nearing noon, which means I overslept by a few hours but isn’t that bad considering that I have slept for twenty-four hours once. That was the first week my mother was officially sentenced behind bars for the supposed three years they promised me.

Not wanting to start thinking like that again, I get up and get my medicine from my bedside table and head on into the kitchen. Making sure I got the coffee started when I search for food. Deciding on a bowl of Lucky Charms, a glass of orange juice and a glass of water with the coffee will cut it for now. As long as it’s something light until I put something together for my lunch.

I might just go somewhere and pick me up some Chinese. I haven’t had it in a while. Will just have to let my father know where I’m going is all.

I’ll have to message him. Since the dragon got out, I’ve been trying hard not to text him if he’s with her. She doesn’t need to know I have a cell phone. She’ll probably claim that I have too many rights and s**t. But I’ve made up my mind and after I get some food in me and finish my juice, I take my medicine and go back to my room with what’s left of my water and finish my homework as fast as I can. I have to shower before I put my laundry in and before I go anywhere if I want to be out of here before two.

 

#

 

I should have made sure I checked the weather before leaving home. It’s too hot out. I only walked about a block and a half and I’m already starting to sweat. I’ve already messaged my father, made sure I brought a bag with a couple notebooks, a few pens, my house keys and my wallet and phone. My plan in the dragon not finding out that I have a phone backfired because I just know he told her about it. I’ll have to deal with what she’ll try to dish out on me later when I have the time to think about it.

I made sure my homework was done, though I know I’ll just find something else I need to do that I forgot. This usually happens with English homework, when we’re assigned to read a book and type up a book report on it. That’s it! I knew I forgot I needed to do that this weekend. And it’s due Monday too. Just my damn rotten luck I guess. I’ll just have to stop at the library in town after I get lunch.

“Hey Koda! I didn’t think you’d ever leave your house.” A familiar voice yelled out in friendly gesture, and when I look up to see who called me out, it’s a neighbor across the street from our house and down a few buildings. Mr. Harrison, a retired teacher from my school and currently a cop. Though all he does is redirect traffic and sometimes patrol the streets, he doesn’t get anything with too much excitement. Unless you count that he’s the one that had to break into my house to get my mother off of me. It was him who saved my life and I will always owe him greatly.

I shrug with a small, soundless scoff before walking over to his side of the street and don’t look in his general direction. Besides people from school, he’s the only one outside my house that’s even tried talking to me on a regular basis. Especially with me being mute. He understands that I’m not ignoring him, unlike what everyone else thinks.

“I’m going into town, would you like a ride? I can see you’re going in the same direction and all.”

I pull out my phone and typed out a message saying that I’m going to get Chinese for lunch and going to the library afterwards.

“You still bury yourself in those pages don’t you?”

I nod this time, not bothering with typing another message out.

“Well, you’ve piqued my interest in Chinese now, so I’ll give you a ride today. To lunch and to the library. And you can’t refuse, because I was going to the library soon today anyway.”

I began shaking my head quickly, mostly because I’m unable to pay him back for the gas money I’ll feel like I owe him.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not gonna fret over it.” He said, and opened the passenger door to his two door silver Sunfire and I hesitantly hopped in, not wanting to be any more rude than I already have been.

Once the two of us are buckled up and the engine started, we’re on the road towards the hill to get to the upper plat of Sycamore Grove. And the ride is quiet all the way there even with the radio turned off. But it was only a five minute car ride so it wasn’t anything to be unnerved about with the silence. It was actually comfortable.

When we get inside, there isn’t a huge waiting line and I order a chicken dish with soup and he orders a beef. I’d pay for my own, but he insisted and I didn’t want to cause a scene so I just let him pay for my food. I’ll definitely have to pay him back somehow.

“So, what do you need to go to the library for?” He asks while we wait for our food.

Sighing quietly, I pull out my notebook I write in for conversations and a pen and tell him that I’m going for something to do because it’s boring at home. He doesn’t need to know it’s for homework.

“Must be tough sitting at home when she’s there.” He says.

I nod to that, but the conversation stops for a moment when our lunches are done, Mr. Harrison gets up to get them and our drinks. And I’m glad the conversation stopped. There’s no need to bring my mother up at this time.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but, how is life now that your mother is home?” Mr. Harrison asks when he comes back and hands me my food and chopsticks, which in truth, was not what I want to talk about. But I know he worries. Hell, I’d worry too if I was in his position.

So I write; Well, it could always be worse. And when we are alone in a room together, she still degrades me like the piece of s**t she thinks I am. And when I give him my notebook to read the message, I open up my container and took my chop sticks out of their wrapper.

I don’t eat right away, because my appetite is slowly dwindling so I just push it all around for a moment. And when he gives me my notebook back, I add; I mean, I’m not totally alone with her, so that’s all she’s done. And she pretends like nothing happened when my father is around which is normal.

“So she’s definitely not changed since she got locked up.” He states in a groan when he’s read the whole message.

I shake my head before taking a bite of food. Chinese was a good idea today.

“I’m going to talk to my boss, and see if I can get it arranged so you can stay with someone else until you graduate high school.”

Just hearing this idea makes me nearly choke on my bite of food before grabbing my notebook and scrawling in chicken scratch how my family is either out of state or refuses to even talk to us. Also to add to that, all of my so-called friends have avoided me like the plague since my mother went to prison.

“Now that’s not true, you do have a friend. Remember Valerie?”

I scoffed quietly at his words as I continued to eat.

“Told me she’s been trying to get a hold of you for the last few weeks since school started, but you’ve ignored her. She still wants to be your friend, Koda, don’t push her away. Pushing her away is what people like your mother wants.”

I pretend I’m ignoring him, almost wishing that he didn’t bring her up in this conversation, or any conversation. But he has to every time I’m with him. Mr. Harrison just sighed heavily and got to eating his own food. It became silent for a little bit until I stopped eating mine as I’m half way through and just pushing everything around.

The next thing I know, he’s reaching over to push my messy hair aside and looks directly into my eyes. And of course,I can’t stop myself from flinching at his touch, and make eye contact with him for just one moment. And it’s in that moment that I wish I hadn’t, because he starts looking serious.

“You haven’t slept well since she got home, have you? And you look like you’re eating less again.”

I only shrug and refuse to look up at him.

“You should stay the night at Valerie’s tonight. She’ll be delighted. And her parents have always liked you. They’ll welcome you.”

I mentally grunted at that one as I ate a few more bites of my food before covering it back up and sip at my soup.

“Fine, be on her good side that doesn’t exist for you. But, if you need to get away, here’s my number and always keep Valerie’s number close by too. Call either of us if she gets to be too much for you to handle.”

I stare down at the card he placed on the table in front of me. It has both his cell phone number, work number, and scribbled in his chicken scratch that’s better than mine, his boss’ number if I can’t get him on either of the first two. I nod to him to let him know I wasn‘t ignoring him, finishing up my soup and I throw away its container and the chopsticks. Putting the egg roll in the container and close it up I stand and stretch a bit. I grab my notebook and scrawl; I’m gonna skip on the library. I think I have a book at home I could read.

“I can d-”

I accidentally slam my bottle of pop on the table to quickly shut him up before he can finish his offer, then write that I’m just going to walk home.

“Alright, see you later then Koda.” Mr. Harrison nods, not at all upset for my outburst, which I’m surprised about, and I pocket his card before I leave with my drink and leftovers.

I can only pray that my parents don’t come home too early. I’d like a little bit more time of solitude before the dragon comes back.

 

#

 

I feel like I ran the whole way home, which in truth I only ran the last half of the distance. Mostly because Valerie lives between my house and the four-way stop sign on my street and I didn’t want to run into either her or her parents. I’m just lucky that they seemed to have gone out today. And when I’m inside, I’m welcomed by a cold, empty house that’s all to myself until my parents decide that their picnic is over. I’m just hoping it isn’t over until I can get some of my reading done. Which reminds me, I still need to pick out a book out of the tens of books that I have already read.

Locking the front door so I won’t have to worry about it later, I head on to my room and put my leftovers I’m going to finish in a few minutes on my computer desk and search my book shelf for something to read. I chose something I’ve read recently and decide to just write the report on what I remember the book is about. And before I could put it down on my computer desk to go to the laundry room to put my clothes in the dryer, my phone buzzes in my pocket.

The only other person that could be messaging me, besides my father, is Valerie. And I’m really not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.

But something inside me makes me get my phone anyway and look at my message. It was her, like my intuition told me, and I’m not at all pleased that she was home when I ran past her house. My phone is buzzing again, she’s now saying she’s coming over, and that she knows I’m home so I can’t fake not being here like the last time she tried to come over. I should have known I needed to take the side roads home to bypass her house. Why I didn’t do it is beyond me. And knowing her, she’ll be here any minute.

I’m jolted out of my thoughts when there’s a knock on my front door that echoes throughout the whole house.

“Koda, I know you’re home! Open the door now!” Valerie’s voice calls through the door, and I have no choice but to answer.

I send her a glare that asks what she wants as I crack the door open, stopping it short so she couldn’t come in.

“You’re a righteous jackass, ya know!” She snaps at me, which I do deserve. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks. Why are you ignoring me? And let me inside.”

I glare harder at her for suggesting I let her in when I’m the only one home. But the saddened look she then gives me makes my resolve crumble a bit.

“Are you kidding me? I can visit for just a little bit, ya know. Now let me in.” She says, and forces her way into the house. I don’t stop her, because she does have a temper when she’s upset. And I seem to have made her beyond upset already.

I take notice in her appearance now that I don’t have a choice, and realize that she’s colored her hair a deep auburn color. It’s also short and choppy and she’s even started wearing skinny jeans and long sleeved shirts. She’s never liked skinny jeans before.

“What are you up to lately?”

I don’t tell her anything as I throw myself into the couch and turn on the television to see what’s on while she took the armchair. I might just as well wait until later to do my English homework.

“I forgot, you don’t talk to anyone still…” she sighs when she’s welcomed with silence from me before turning to look at me. “She’s already playing her mind games on you?”

I pull my phone out, since it’s easier to text her instead of hand writing all my responses. Telling her that she’s still playing the emotional and psychological bull s**t on me along with starving me out once in a while when she believes that she can get away with it.

“You can report that, ya know. She’s not allowed to do anything that neglects your health or mental stability. You just need to lift your shirt and if it looks like you’re losing weight again like back then then that’s enough proof right there.”

Scoffing at the idea, I send her a message saying that the proof could be fabricated.

“You always have to find the bad in everything don’t you?”

I glare at her again, wanting the conversation done with by now. This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk to her right now. She always brings up things that I don’t want to remember. Things I want to forget.

“I’m sorry, I just never thought she’d actually get out with good behavior, ya know. I want to help you put her out of your life forever. She doesn’t deserve a wonderful person like you.”

I don’t send her a message regarding that because she knows what my thoughts are. Always has since we last really sat together and talked like this before everything turned for the worse. That was also the last time I even talked to her at all.

“What book are you reading for English?” Oh, that’s right, she’s in the same English class as I am in.

I text her that I’m just doing a report on the most recent book I’ve read and hope for the best.

“That’s bold.” She says, just as the echo of two car doors opening and closing sound from the driveway.

Damn it, I didn’t even hear them drive up the driveway!

I can just feel the color drain from my face as I heard talking get closer to the front door.

“Relax Koda, she can’t do anything about me coming over.” Valerie says, but that’s not what I’m worried about.

“We’re home Koda! Oh, hey there Valerie, long time no see.” My father said when he opened the front door and walked in. I could swear he smiled knowing that I finally have her coming back over.

But I’m not staring at him, I’m watching my mothers’ face warp from her usual scowl at having to be near me to actual shock that I have someone over and that I’m even friends with a girl. I can just see the gears turning in her mind; the gears of my torture being planned from the beginning to my end.