Stone x Reader

Chapter 4: Hiding in Plain Sight

   It was hell.

  There you were, standing for what felt like hours, while your parents pounced, and prodded you like a pin cushion.

  "The audacity to keep us up at this hour!" Your mother shrieked. "Staying out there doing God knows what! Do you know how embarrassing it is to find out that your child ran off from the people who were trying to be helpful?! And all for the sake of pride!!!"

    Wait a minute... you supposedly ran off from them?... RAN. OFF. FROM THEM?! Did those snot-nose kids lie to your parents?? And what does that even mean, "all for the sake of pride"? You brain may have been half-dead, but you needed to say something. You weren't gonna let this happen after the night you had!

  "Mother I was lost!" Your father cut in, "Of course you were lost! What else did you think was going to happen? That you were smart enough to find home all by yourself?"

"No! I-"

    Your mother was taken aback. "Did you just say no to your father?!" You were really in for it now. "No! I- I mean, I didn't mean it like that! Mother if you could just-" "If I could just what Y/N? Tell me. If I could just, let you sabotage all of the hard work we've done for this family? Or perhaps I could just let you waste away because you're not grateful for the things we provide for you!"

   You were choking back tears. It wasn't the most mature reaction, but you were exhausted from everything that happened. And you wanted to stand up for yourself for once, you really did. But you knew that you already lost this fight.

   And that was the unfortunate reality of all the interactions with your parents. They would always win, and you would lose with your head hung low. At this point you were too tired to care. And then there came the unnerving silence that followed the lectures. They were all waiting for you.

  With a shaky breath, you did what you were taught: "I apologize for making a mistake." Your father encouraged you to finish, "And what was that mistake?" "I embarrassed both you, and myself. I'm sorry for running away from my... friends." You tasted bile from saying that word. You didn't even want to face your "friends", or anyone else for a long while.
  Your mother broke the silence, "Sigh. You are forgiven."

  That was your cue to leave. You forced your glued feet to move. And as you shuddered under their steely gazes, you realized something;

  "Where is my room?" Your dad responded, "It's on the top floor, at the end of the first hall." Despite everything else, your dad had the decency to always answer your questions.
Finally, after everything that has happened that day, you collapsed onto your bed. Not even bothering to take your shoes off.

     You unfortunately woke up. You don't know how long you slept for, but you knew it wasn't enough. After multiple failed attempts, you forced yourself to get out of bed. And while you were rubbing the blurriness out of your eyes, you actually got a good look at your room. It was a little less spacious than your last one, but you preferred that in a way.

   There were piles of boxes, bags, and suitcases littering the floor. It looked as if someone chucked it in your room and called it a day. "What the..." Well this was a great start to the day. Nothing better than finding out that someone (besides your parents) couldn't care less if your things were destroyed. You tried your best to organize the mess, but eventually you just shoved it into a corner and decided you'll deal with it later.

     After a few minutes, you gathered the courage to face the day. It wouldn't be all that bad right? Your parents don't usually bring up your mistakes unless it was in their lectures. And maybe you could pretend that nothing happened with Hilda and her gang. You were good at pretending after all. With a deep breath in, you opened the door and walked down the halls. You got lost in your thoughts -yet again- when you tripped over something.