"Good morning, sunshine," i heard him call, attempting to catch up with my fast paced walking.
"Piss off, Alex," I mumbled back to him, not in the mood to socialise so early in the morning.
It was currently 8:30 am and i was trying to make my journey from my house to the school, the school which happened to start in 10 minutes or so. You see, i had set an alarm but i had been too busy watching this anime my older brother had recommended me, that i only went to bed at around 4;30 am. This meant that i had slept through my 2 alarms, my mother's screaming and Alex' stupid knocking on my window. Here i was now, attempting to make it to school on time before I received another tardy. One more and my mother would probably lock me out of the house. That would be fine, since i could just sleep over at my friend's house, however he was on a trip with his parents and wouldn't be back for another week.
"Sunshine!" Oh yeah, he was still here.
"What?" I exclaimed back at him. He was really getting on my nerves.
"Do want a ride to school? You're going to be late if you walk there."
I wanted to disagree with him however, due to the fact that i was, indeed, going to be late and the fact that i disliked doing any sort of physical exertion, i replied, "Fine."
Alex smirked, the kind of smirked that irked me to my very core.
"Couldn't resist me, could ya," he said, handing me a helmet.
I scoffed, "Don't think so highly of yourself, I'm only going with you so that i don't get thrown out of the house."
"Yeah, yeah, wouldn't expect anything differently from you."
For some reason, he sounded rather defeated but i didn't think too deeply about it.
With that, i sat at the edge of the bike, wrapping my arms around his waist, slapping the back of his head when i saw him smirking, to which he whined. He started up the bike, the engine roaring as puffs of smoke trailed behind it, as it sped along the road.
***
Thankfully, i arrived just on time, although i still received a lecture on how punctuality is 'an import life skill that i ought to learn in the future'. Sorry, miss, not my fault that school decided to interrupt my sleep. Anyways, a negative about this whole situation is that now i'm indebted to Alex, meaning he could ask for any favour that he would like. At any time. Knowing him, it could be anything. I swear he was born to torture the hell out of me. Though that would be impossible, as he was born 3 months before me. Regardless, the point was that he was extremely annoying.
For example, when we were younger, he used to follow me around everywhere, pulling at my pigtails or simply teasing me at every chance that appeared in front of him. For some reason, he would always joke around and tell everyone that we were dating and there was this one occasion where he proposed to me with a gummy ring. It doesn't help the fact that we've been neighbours since we were 4 years old, when his family had moved to the house next to ours.
I may say that i find him annoying but i wouldn't say that i hate him. I mean, there was a situation where Alex wasn't a complete dick.
***
I was currently wrapped completely in my blankets. usually, the soft cotton enveloped around me would give me comfort, however, today, all i felt was suffocated. As my tears wet the sheets, i felt as though i was drowning; drowning in my tears, in my sadness, in the covers, it all felt as one- one wave which surrounded me, cutting me off from any help that i could receive, forcing me into the darkness. I felt as it pulled me under, silencing my sobs even as they racked my chest.
It was currently 3 pm. Not even 2 hours ago, my father had packed his bags and left. I had begged him to stay, tears running down my cheeks like rivers, my voice hoarse. My brother had grabbed him, pulling him away from the door, as my mother stood in the kitchen, face blank, as though she were numb inside. Regardless of my brother and I's cries, my father refused to sty. Without looking at us, without even saying a singular word to us, he left. We chased after him, trying to pull him away but he wouldn't budge. He kept on trudging. Soon, he reached the car where he was met with a woman that i had never met and a child who was perched on their mother's hip. As soon as my father got near them, he placed a kiss on each of their foreheads.
I called out to him, hand grabbing on to his arm, "Dad, please don't leave."
Finally, he turned around to face me and opened his mouth to speak. I wish he hadn't though.
"Get. Off. Me." I heard him his, "Marrying your mother was the worst decision of my life. Having you was the worst moment of my life."
"Please, dad, I'm sorry I'll do better but please stay. I beg of you," I cried, "I'll do whatever you want just don't leave, please."
He didn't even bat an eye. Instead, he entered the car.
I tried to run towards the car, tried to catch up with him. I didn't even realise that more tears were running down my face, too focused on trying to drag my legs to go faster, ignoring the burn in my through and the exhaustion that filled me.
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
I kept on screaming that same old word, over and over again. I finally stopped running, too tired to continue running, my heart beating quicker than what would be regarded as healthy. The adrenaline had left my body, a darkness seeming to fall around me. Before it enveloped me, though, i heard someone call out my name "Aiko!"
And that's how we arrived in this situation, pathetically crying and hoping my father would magically appear and tell it was all a joke, that he didn't in-fact hate me. I was foolish to think that would ver happen.
At that moment, i heard someone knocking on my bedroom window. Groaning and sniffling, i wrapped myself in my blankets and trudged towards it. Looking through my curtains, I spotted a familiar set of hair. Wiping my face, i unlocked the window, allowing Alex to climb inside. I looked at his face, watching him frown.
"Can i hug you?" He asked me. Without even thinking, i wrapped my arms around him, crying into his shoulder.
He immediately hugged me back, whispering sweet nothings in my ear.
"A-am I n-not good e-enough," i gasped out, between sobs.
Alex pressed me against his chest harder, "Hey, don't say that, you're absolutely incredible, okay? Don't think about yourself like that, you are more than enough. you're beautiful, kind, smart, there aren't even enough words to describe how amazing you."
I sniffled, "It's my fault he left, he hates me."
"Aiko, don't you say that. It's not your fault, your father is a coward, he just used you and your brother as an excuse for the shitty stuff that he's done," he held my face lightly in his hand, making me to look into his eyes.
He wiped my eyes, bringing me back to his chest and gives me a kiss on my forehead, "Hey, do you want to pick out an anime for us to watch?"
I looked at him, shocked, "B-but you h-hate anime."
"I'll have to trust that you'll pick a really good one, okay?" He patted my head, "how about you go pick the anime and I'll go grab some popcorn, I'll be right back, okay?"
He went to my closet and grabbed one of my hoodies, handing one over to me and grabbing a tissue to wipe my tears away. Alex left to go to the kitchen and i placed the hoodie over my body, laying down on my bed and surfing through Netflix.
A few minutes later, Alex came back with some popcorn, as i clicked on Parasyte.
"Have you chosen something?" he asked, sitting down next to me. I nodded.
"Great," he smiled, "Do you mind if I lay down?"
I rolled my eyes, "Of course you can, you dummy."
He chuckled slightly, laying down on the bed, grabbing the laptop and propped it on his legs. I followed suit and laid down next to him, on my side.
"What did you pick out?"
"Parasyte," i mumbled back, moving closer to the laptop.
"Cool," with that, he pressed play, adjusting the screen so i would be able to see it better.
I didn't realise it however, a few episodes in, i started to feel the fatigue hit me. I leaned my head against Alex' chest, too tired to even realise it, and closed my eyes, sleep taking over me.
***
