Chapter 3 - A dinner decision that changed everything

Ashley and I headed towards the dining room, and if you looked closely you could see sparks of electricity building between us. When I got to the dining room I saw the scene that I always see, a perfectly tidy room, with family pictures plastered across the walls, the light slightly deemed down which made a warm and inviting atmosphere and the wooden table with a fancy cloth on it set with plates and stuff, and food!

Oh gosh the food, just the sight of it made my mouth water and my stomach lurch, sorry for the gruesome description but I was so hungry! A bowl of chicken drumsticks with gravy hot out of the oven, mash potatoes with cream and corn on the cob, all my favorite stuff!

Before I knew it my body took a will of its own and ran to one of the chairs and set down, but I knew better, no one eats until everyone sits down. So I looked at my mom, who was washing dishes after making the meal, and my sister who was sitting on the other side, staring coldly at me, so I gave her a nasty look back.

Then the front door's bell rang.

"Dad is home", my mom said, a statement which she had repeated every night since I can remember. But I never got tired of it.

I ran like a mad man towards the door catching up with my mom.

 "Dad!", I said as I saw him at the front door, giving me a wide smile, which I retuned back and gave him a bear hug. I love my dad, I don't know if more than others, but he is a great guy. We look very much alike, the same messy dirty brown hair and gray eyes. He has always supported me, weather I did good or bad in school, and he is the one who encouraged me to pick up drawing in the first place, he bought me my first sketch book.

My dad went inside, with his suit and suitcase in hand up the stairs to change, so the rest of us set around the table waiting for him. He came back dressed like he is about to head towards the beach, Bermuda shorts and an oversized shirt, but hey give him some slack, who wants to sit in a constricting suit all day?

He sat down, we said our prayers, and now I can eat!

I grabbed two drumsticks onto my plate, licking my fingers tasting the sour sweet gravy, then took a phist size amount of mashed potatoes and was very tempted to lick the serving spoon clean which probably showed on my face because my mom gave me a look, so I put the spoon down.

 "Sorry" I mattered with an innocent smile.

"Didn't  you eat lunch at school Randy, you seem like your starving", my mom said with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Oh, yeah sure I have, don't worry about it mom", I answered her, but I lied.

In reality that day when I sat down to eat my lunch at the cafeteria, instead of having my sandwich I got a fist thrust in my face. Yeah, been bullied most of my life, and my lunch taken every day is part of the deal, I would rather do that than fight and end with my face down in the toilet, I would rather eat nothing then drink toilet water thanks.

Instinctively I looked at the corners of my eyes in my sister's direction. She gave me a pathetic look of sympathy when she was sure mom wasn't watching. So I returned back to looking at my plate,'mmm…what else is missing?'

Minutes went by and naturally a conversation started between my parents, you know about the boring stuff, car payments, work hours, bills, a vacation to at the lake house …. , wait what?!

 

"Wait, what did just you said?!" I said with of mouth full of mashed potatoes, making sure I didn't imagine what I just heard.

"Sweetie don’t talk with your mouth full", my mom said.

After I swallowed my mouth full I looked at my dad, and I probably had the most excited expression on my face, but that was short-lived.

My parents exchanged looks of concern, and then I knew the next words that were going to come out of them, I can't go.

As if reading my mind my dad gave me a sympatric look, much better then Ashley's because he meant it.

"Sorry Son, but you're grounded, mom called me during work."

I dismissively put down my napkin after wiping my mouth with it, and rapped my hands around each other, looking at the table cloth sadly.

"Don’t worry sweetie, there are plenty of vacations ahead of you".

"Yeah if he doesn’t get grounded again", my sister murmured quickly under her breath, eating another piece of chicken.

I just couldn't take it, I was boiling inside, and so in response I stood up causing my chair to fly and crash into the wall with a loud thump, and I gave the angriest look at my sister which was pretty easy.

"Ashley, what...Randy sweetie wait!"

But before my mom could finish her sentence I was storming up the stairs to my room, and shut the door so hard behind me the flier on it fell to the floor.

I fell down on my bed, my arms covering my face. I just couldn't stand it anymore, why was I always the one who gets to be grounded, why I am the one with the lousy grades, stuck with a demented sister who has fun at my expanse and misery. She could have helped me with those bullies if she put her mind to it, but no, I mean why would she, I'm just an annoyance to her.

I took my arms from my face and ran them across my uncombed hair, giving out a long sigh, with my mind racing over what happened suddenly I couldn't help but go back further into my past.

All the times when I tripped and fell in school and was laughed at, all the times when those bullies took my lunch and beat me up, just because I was smaller than they were, and my sister who was looking sadly at some far away corner while everyone were cheering on. All the times I got caught during class because of listening to music and sketching, my only way to escape reality.

Suddenly I came back to reality and felt my face damp with tears. 'suck it up', I told myself and wiped my face with my hands. I headed towards the bathroom to clean my face, opened the light and then I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked at the reflection of a skinny boy, about 5'4 with untidy hair and stormy gray eyes filled with sorrow of all the things I regret and all the things I could have done better if only I put a small effort into it.

I turned the fossit, and cold water was pouring into the sink. I cupped my hands and washed my face, the cold icy water waking me up from the little world that I sank into.

Then I heard a knock at the door and the sounds of it opening.

"Hey worm, my mom forced me to apologize so let's just get it over with".

I rolled my eyes; she would do anything to get out of trouble. "Yeah yeah sorry", I answered in a monotone voice, and washed my face again.

 I started remerging for a towel and when I found it and wiped my face in it and opened my eyes I saw my sister holding it, so I snatched it from her, giving her a cold look.

"Listen worm, I don't like apologizing more than you do but if I won't then mom wouldn’t let me go with them, and guess what that means."

I contemplated the thought in my mind, my sister and I, home alone, no TV or computer and her watching over my every move.

So I gave a big sigh and said "ok ,come on", I put the towel on the counter and went with my sister downstairs to apologize to my parents for our…actions, and hopefully kick my sister out of the house for a few days.

My parents were both sitting in the living room, talking quietly and when they saw us they went silent and turned their heads towards us.

"Umm…" , I stuttered, then nudged my sister.

"Um…yeah we a...came to, apologize." she said in a small said voice, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes, though I hope my parents didn’t see that.

"Yeah, we are sorry for our horrible actions and we are not going to do it again, are we Randy?"

 Wow, I think it's the first time she called me that way since I started telling you this story, but she only refers to me by my real name when my parents are around.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for my stupid, stupid actions", I said with a sad hollow voice that didn't even sound like it's mine, which apparently caught my sister of guard too.

"hmmhm"…I coughed "Sorry".

"Well, that was very sweet of you Randy, but that doesn’t change the fact that you're still grounded this weekend".

"Yeah thought so", I murmured under my breath, shuffling my feet  back and forth on the carpet.

"As for you young lady", my mom referred to Ashley who, I saw from the corner of my eyes, looking back at me with a concerned , and I just shook my head.

"I'm sure Ready can handle being alone at home for a few days."

"Thanks mom", my sister said, and I could see she was trying to suppress a smile, with not much success.

I just couldn't handle the unfairness of the whole thing so I went upstairs.

"Where do you think you're going?!" my mom shouted at me.

"Nowhere", I answered.

"Don’t talk back at me young man", she said with an angry look in her eyes.

"So, what are you going to do about it ha?! Ground me?" I shouted back, and ran up the stairs, shutting the door behind me, and I nearly stumbled and fell on the flier that used to be hang on my door but now was on the floor.

"Urgg",I said with frustration and took the flier and tore it with utter hate. When I was done I fell on top of my bed again.

I hate this, hate it! I thought in my mind, which was racing like crazy with thoughts spinning around causing me a headache, and I shut my eyes hard in response.

'I just…just want to fix it' I thought. And by 'it' I mean my life.

Then a thought came to my mind which pushed away all the others, making a clear path and it was the only thing that I saw in front of me,the same thing that I have thought about ever since I could remember.

'I wish I could…change everything…go back and start over, make new events and get rid of others, get even with bullies and be who I want to be'.

I thought about this forever, to travel through time and be like a super hero, and don’t tell me you have not thought about it yourself, having a power like this would be an awesome thing, like beyond amazing, but it's all wishful  thinking, I mean there is no one who can do that, not a human being anyway.

But that's what I want, to rule time, to be a Time-Lord.

 

 

 

Reviews

[MR_BERG]

Randy is becoming very interesting. He is out of time and place for his age. He's ready to be a young adult but is struggling mightily with the puberty thing. I'm usually not a fan of "perfect parents", but they work for your tale. You've got me

[Trevor]

does everyone in this world know what a time lord is and what they do? is it just common knowledge? cause that's what it sounds like at the end. and if not, then how does he know about time lords?

[Steve]

You are very insightful in your dialogue between your characters...i am impressed

[Sasha]

Ooo, I like the hint of foreshadow at the end.
Again, this is very relateable and easy to empathize with. I also noticed there was much less technical errors which made the read even more smooth and enjoyable than it was before. It was endearing the way Randy rushed to his father when he got home and compared himself to him. And I was glad in a guilty kind of way when he finally snapped and fled from the table. The food reminded me (as if I needed any reminders) of how I haven't eaten all day which makes me hate you a little. But this is still a really nice story.

[Steve]

This story is developing nicely......keep going

[ChristianM]

Great stuff.
You have to be careful though of shortening words while describing things. Because to 'cus will not fly for a publisher or editor. But I love the descriptions you give for your characters and it's jept my interest throughout so far.
Keep it up.

[.]

Oooh! the story continues and is getting better! Yay! *Smiles!*
Your characters are becoming more developed with more personality and it really works well for the story line!

Keep up the great work!
*Hugs!* - Tara

[Ryan]

A really great chapter (: really nice use of imagery to giv picture to your story (:

[Eclipse of the Rising S..]

Great chapter. You did a great job on making the sister mean. There are a few spelling errors but ignoring those the chapter was perfect. I really liked it and I'm looking forward to more.

[FatalRewind]

I liked the beginning, it reminds me of an episode from Inuyasha where the lightning forms from stare to stare.

This chapter reminds me too much of my brothers actions. It's rather sad actually. Few spelling errors, and one part could do with some re-editing, the I'd rather bit. Other then that, good chapter.