When My Life Changed

Chapter Three

"Lavina, have you hung the washing out yet?" mum calls.

"I'll do it as soon as I've finished this chapter!" I shout back.

~I was nearly at the shore. I could only hope that he hadn’t seen me swim around the bay. I would be a good kilometre from home by now. ~

“LAVINA!” mum tears the book away from my hands. I’m glad that I didn’t have a good grip on it, otherwise she would’ve torn the pages.

“You have your responsibilities, so go do them!”

“Mum, I have two paragraphs left. Can’t I just read…?”

“NOW!” she yells at me. She doesn’t mean to, I tell myself. She’s just had a hard day. It still doesn’t excuse the fact that she just tore me away from my only escape. I’ll just have to hang out the washing extra fast to get back to my book.

I subconsciously hold my head high as I walk past mum and out of my room. Perhaps I could get a lock on my door.

As I peg the clothes on the washing line, I hum to myself to try to control my emotions. If I don’t find a release from my suffering then I’m going to burst.

Soon the song I’m humming, True to Your Heart by Stevie Wonder, starts coming out of my lips. “...You must be true to your heart. That’s when the heavens will part, and baby shower you with my love…”

“Stick to your day job,” my sister says.

“You’re not the queen so you’re not the boss.” I’ve never been the best with comebacks, but I always do my best for Carol. She’s been my mortal enemy since I gained a mind of my own. That was when I was roughly three.

“I’m doing my piano practice in a minute so you’d better shut up. I don’t want to be distracted.” She huffs off with her nose in the air.

Finally; the last peg. Back to my book. As if on cue, mum calls out, “Remember Lavina to do the kitty litter!”

It only takes a few minutes, but I still grunt with displeasure. What sort of cruel world is this?? Does everyone here go to some sort of bad timing academy that I’ve never heard of? Just scoop the darn poop, I tell myself. When that’s done you can have Kristy back. Then you’ll find out what happens to her.

It turns out that I don’t get to read any more of my book. For the rest of the afternoon Carol makes me help her to learn lines for a production. Then comes tea, then homework. By now I’m itching to get my book back. It’s a clinical illness that I have, or it would be, that my curiosity always gets the better of me.

Finally it’s time for bed, which means that I’ll get to read. At last! It’s Friday night so I won’t have to worry about getting to sleep early on to get up for school tomorrow. I’d be kicking up a fuss if school happened on Saturdays.

“Goodnight,” mum kisses me on the forehead. She turns off the light and closes the door. I wait for a few minutes, stroking my cat in the dark, then jump up and turn the light back on. Usually I like to use my lamp to read but according to Carol and mum, it’s bad for my eyes.

~ My clothes stuck to my skin as exited the water. My shoes were soaked and made squelching noises as I walked. I would’ve taken them off if it hadn’t been for the lack of light. In the time it had taken me to swim away from the man, the sun had nearly set. Thankfully I could still see where I was going; I just couldn’t see what I was placing my foot on.

I tripped over a root that was protruding from the ground.

“Do you need a hand?” a smooth voice asked me. I forced myself not to scream even though I was pretty sure who it was. Instead I slowly turned my head in the direction that the voice came in.

It was the bikie.

His helmet was off, allowing me to see a few of his features in the fading light. His hair was black, of that I was sure, and his skin was brown. I looked behind him at his motorbike, wondering if I would make it there in time, and if I would manage to get it started before he caught me. ~

“Lavina, dear, it’s nearly midnight. You need your sleep,” mum speaks to me. Her voice is quiet so that she won’t wake anyone else up.

“Right on it mum,” I say quietly. I put my book down and jump up from my bed. I kiss her on the cheek before turning off the light and closing the door. I blindly find my way back to my bed and jump under the covers.

I wait five minutes, ten. Then I grab my iPod from under my pillow. I ignore the missed alarms and notices from my games and skip straight to General. I turn the brightness up as high as it will go and grab my book from the bedside table.

 ~ "I woudn't do that if I were you," he said calmly. I looked up at him again. "That was quite a jump you made before. I don't know why." His voice was smooth, almost like the edge of a knife.

"I'm not scared of you," in reality I was, but I didn't want him to know that. He cocked his head to the side.

"Why would you be?" I didn't want to believe it at first, even though I could hear it in his voice. Confusion? Why would he be confused?

"Because...because," I couldn't put it into words.

"Why would you be scared of me? I'm your brother's friend." My brother was eighteen. I didn't know who half of his friends were. "He asked me to come pick you up from the park. He said that your mum was going to take you out on a surprise pizza trip."

Wow. Blow to the head much.

"I called them when you jumped off the cliff. They sounded pretty upset," his voice was matter-of-fact. Of course they were upset. I jumped off a cliff for crying out loud!

When I didn't respond he just reached out his hand and said, "Let's go. I haven't rung them yet to tell them I found you." ~

I put my iPod on charge and put my book back on the bedside table. What an anti-climax. All that stress just for being paranoid! Am I like that? I decide not to think about it now. Thinking hurts, especially when I'm tired.