𝓙𝓪𝓷𝓮 (18+) | ON PAUSE

Chapter 10 | We Meet Again

Rayne.

We lay on the couch as we eat the Ezells.

Jaylin lays on one end of the couch and I lay on the other end as we both have our legs laying on top of each other. Sharing one big blanket as we watch cartoons.

We watch Gumball and Darwin. Classic.

We do some girl talk. And surprise surprise, she talks about Andrew.

Never knew that THE Andrew Grave can be a sweet guy. Men.

I watch her have the box of chicken on her chest, one hand holding the chicken and the other hand carrying the bread. She's weird.

I like it.

But something is off.

Sure, she laughs at the TV almost spilling her box of chicken like nothing had happen but something happened to her that she happened to not hear me scream for 5 minutes outside her door, that she has this shockingly long red bruise like on her neck that I could already tell what it is.

Anyone can tell what it is. For someone like me who enjoy's murder documentary's. It's not that hard to tell that she's lying. So far she's said that her dad isn't here and her mom is dead.

Rest in Peace, Jaylin's Mom.

But for her dad, I don't know. But the fact the floor was a mess, I figured that she was strangled there.

She's so small. She laughs so innocently at the TV. See?

I feel my back pocket buzz. "I'm going to answer this." I get up from the couch as I get an 'okay' nod from her. I sit on the staircase as I see the contact name.

"Dad"

I sigh and bring the phone to my ear. "Hel-"

"Where the fuck are you?!"

I hold back the second sigh. "I'm–I'm at a friend's house." I start fumbling with my sleeve. "Fuck, Rayne—'I'm at a friend's house'—DON'T BULLSHIT ME!" I move the phone away from my ear. "You know the fucking rule about that."

"I know..."

"Get done with that 'I'm at a friend's house' business and see you at home." And the line goes dead.

Those last four words got me dead.

I go back to the couch and see Jaylin passed out. She was halfway into biting into her chicken. I grab the chicken out of her mouth and took the box of chicken and placed it on the coffee table.

She was the first friend. The first friend to talk to me.

The first friend that made me realize that I'm in this world too.

I bring the blanket over her as she tosses and turns to her side, dropping her arm off the couch slamming it against the coffee table. Ouch.

I wince. That's got to have to hurt later.

I pick up her arm and placed it back inside the blanket and tucked her in. She can't be left alone. She's a person who has been alone for a very long time. She just hasn't found the right people to not feel lonely with.

Fuck. I don't want to do this. I pick up my phone, grabbing my keys and heading out the door.

I dial a number. Getting in the car and starting the old car. "Come on, pick up Andrew," I mumble to myself.

On the last ring, he picks up.

"Jaylin." I say her name, listening to what he has to say as there's no sound on the other line. I pull away from the phone, looking at the phone if its into voicemail or he actually did pick up. "Hel-"