The Third Word

Chapter 32

Home-
I sat down to watch TV. I had been ignoring Stace's calls for over an hour. She thought every fight could be resolved with a sorry but for me, it was the end of it. Not anymore.

Mom brought me fruit salad and asked why I skipped cram school.

"I fought with Stace so don't answer her calls." I said.

"Few days ago you were so desperate to call her and you've fought already?" She chuckled.

"Anyway, how's dad?"

"The doctor said there's no internal damage but the light-bulb burnt a bit of his hair." She said and we both burst out laughing.

Dad was still at the hospital because he was being paranoid that he was severely injured. They were running all sorts of tests on him to assure him that he was perfectly fine. For the time being, it was just mom and I alone in the house.

After dinner, mom went to her room to finish some pending work on her laptop and suggested me to study since I had been missing cram a lot recently. I did as she told me and went upstairs.

So then, let's check if there's someone else here.

I checked my room thoroughly and locked all the windows. Sadly, it had become my daily routine.

I wasn't in the mood to study, yet I sat down in front of my laptop and watched pre-recorded lessons while taking notes.

Until midnight, I was feeling sleepy. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened until then, so I believed I could go to bed at ease.

I turned the lights off and laid comfortably on my bed but I couldn't close my eyes. I wasn't at rest. I felt that the moment I would close my eyes, it would lurk around my room and watch me sleep.

"I'm being paranoid, I know, but...is it really just in my head?" I spoke to the darkness surrounding me.

"I'm not hoping for a reply, so just hear me out. My life is fucked up because of you." I said and I felt a cold breeze around my cheek. I heard a knock on the door and saw mom's silhouette enter my room.

"Honey, are you asleep?" She asked.

"I'm not."

"Good um... I need to get your dad his laptop. He decided to work from hospital or he won't get his pay." She laughed.

"But it's too late. It's almost 1 AM-" I said.

"No it's alright. I'll be going now." She said.

"Let me come with you. It's not safe to drive alone at night." I said and got off my bed. I was wearing shorts and an oversized sweater so she told me to change into something warmer and went downstairs.

I sighed,"If anyone's here, let me change in peace." I could sense something around me again, like I sensed before and couldn't shower because of it.

I decided not to change and went downstairs. I was going because I didn't want to be alone and also because I didn't trust mom's driving at night. She looked really worked up, so I couldn't let her go alone.