See-Ya!

Sienna helps Alex contact his mother, and he is finally leaving her. But, is that what they both want?

 I awoke with a jerk, only to find a distressed-looking Alex hovering over me, sweat beaded on his forehead. A grim line was planted on his mouth and his eyes were wide with fear.

'Oh, thank god, you're awake.' He whispered and leaned back, closing his eyes like a giant relief had come over him.

'Mmm…' Was all I could reply as I sat up. The sun was no longer shining on me, I noticed as I looked around. I wasn't even next to the hole in the floor anymore. I was in a room. I realised in a flash that I was in my guest room downstairs, on the bed. I glanced at the hole in the wall which stood there like a prize and reminder of the events that took place earlier. A shudder crept down my spine.

My shoulder was throbbing like a b***h, and I could feel dried blood all over myself. Strange how the way you picture things to work out, just completely blows away in reality. All that was meant to happen last night was, I would go downstairs to escape the noises and creaks of upstairs, I would snuggle up in the guest room and fall asleep. The next day I would hang out by myself then invite Rachel and Tilly over for the night.

Ohmygod. Rachel and Tilly were coming over tonight!

My mind froze, and everything that had happened hit me. What was I going to do? Call the cops about the house collapsing? Would someone notice a huge chunk missing of the house and report it? No, they couldn't. The part of the house that collapsed was out the back, not viewable from the road or neighbours prying eyes.

But, still. I couldn’t just leave the house like that until mum and dad came home. I mean, the rest of the house would be exposed to the elements. Well, the hallway anyway.

'I have people coming over tonight,' I managed to whisper through cracked lips.

'That's not very likely, Si. You have to go to hospital.' Alex replied, concern throughout his gorgeous British accent.

'I am so not going to goddamn hospital.' I said quickly. Maybe too quick. I hated hospitals. With a passion.

‘You could be badly hurt, and I’m certainly no doctor,’ he said, compassion within his voice.

I almost cried out loud. This guy could not be serious. He was actually worried about my wellbeing?

‘No, I just…I need my friends over. They…they’ll know what to do.’ I hope, passed through my mind in a wave. I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. It’d make him too worried.

‘Are you sure? I’m not going to pressure you to do something you don’t want to, but you have to be 100% sure. Are you?’ I felt his warm hand on my shoulder.

‘Yes,’ I lied. A wave of shock and panic sent through my body from my toes to the tip of my scalp and I wanted nothing more than this strange, enchantingly scruffy but good-looking young prisoner out of my house and away from me. I just wanted to be alone. ‘Do you know if you mother still lives here?’

‘I hope so. If not, well then, I’m fuc…’ He stopped his sentence with a fake cough. ‘Sorry. I forgot I’m not down there with an a*****e anymore. If mum has moved, I’m in a lot of trouble.’ He screwed his face up.

‘I’m sure she’s still be here. I mean, she’s probably searching for you, right? You just…disappeared with no trace. She must still be searching for you. If you were my son, I’d be searching for you.’

His face eased up as he smiled. ‘Thanks. Do you have a phone? I etched my home number into the prison wall,’ As he spoke, I started to walk out of the room into the hallway with him following me. ‘I never wanted to forget it, so I know it off by heart now.’

When he had stopped talking, we were directly facing the phone that was hung on the wall. His face was expressionless as he stared at the phone. ‘Thanks,’ he muttered. There was still no emotion on his face. I couldn’t tell whether he was happy that he was finally going to talk to his mother, or scared, or upset or anything. There was just…nothing.

‘What if…’ he started, but I picked up the phone and shoved it in his face before he could finish the sentence.

‘You’ll never know until you ring.’ I said, giving him one of my infamous death stares.

He looked hurt for a second, but then his face was expressionless again as he took the phone from me and silently dialled a number, took a deep breath and held it to his ear.

He stood frozen for at least 20 seconds, when his face suddenly erupted into a bright smile. ‘Mum, it’s me.’

I let out a deep breath as I leant against the wall in relief as he told his mother that he would explain everything as soon as he got home.

When he hung up, he turned to me and a certain happiness was etched into his face that certainly wasn’t there before.

‘I’m going home,’ he announced happily.

‘Great!’ I tried not to sound too relieved. I couldn’t have standed another second having strange company. ‘See ya!’ I said and turned to walk up the stairs, to the broken house. I was so lucky that only one room had collapsed, and it was clean, too. Like someone had got a blade and sliced the kitchen off like a piece of cheese. Where the remains of the kitchen lay now, on the other hand, was not so clean. It had landed in the other lounge room which was now like a wood and old kitchen appliance heap. It kind of reminded me of the rubbish tip as I walked past it to the stairs.

I put one foot on the bottom step when Alex’s hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back down so I was facing him.

‘Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me, Si.’ I wished he would stop calling me that. ‘I can never repay you enough. But I can’t help but wonder…what are you going to with…’ He pointed toward the floor.

I closed my eyes and threw my head back in annoyance. ‘I have no idea. I need to sleep on it. So, bye…’ I tried to wriggle my arm out of his hold, but he was too strong. I couldn’t stop myself before I whispered ‘God, what did you do when you were in prison, push-ups and chin-ups twenty-four-seven?’

He laughed as he let go of my arm and apologized. ‘Yes, pretty much. I wanted to kill that stupid guard so I would just do push ups, sit-ups, chin-ups on the bars, all day and night when I couldn’t sleep just to scare him. I even bended one of the bars once when I punched it. That’s how agitated he made me. After that, he kind of backed off a bit.’

‘I can see why,’ I said, staring at his bulging muscles. He followed my gaze and grinned.

‘I suppose I’ll see you later?’ he asked. ‘After all, we don’t live too far from each other.’

If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought he was flirting. ‘Umm, no I guess not. But, yeah, I might see you later, maybe. It’s possible.’

‘Do you go to school?’

‘Yes, but aren’t you 19?’

‘Very observant,’ he grinned. ‘Yes, I am. But I never finished school. Maybe I’ll go back there when my life’s not so crazy.’ He glanced at the clock next to his head. ‘I have to go. I’ll see you later, Si, and thank you so much again. You’ve saved my life.’

And with that, he bent over and kissed my cheek lightly before disappearing out my front door, and closing it behind him.

‘No problem,’ I muttered to myself as I clicked the lock on the door he just closed, and headed upstairs where my warm bed was awaiting me eagerly.