Escaping the Past (On Hold)

A Secret Companion

Chapter 4- A Secret Companion

             I was trying to avoid my hunger, but the rumbling of my stomach escalated to the point of resembling an erupting volcano. I looked over at my clock hanging on the wall and it was 5:15 pm. I had been locked in my room for nearly two hours, avoiding my mother, and I still wasn’t ready to face her, but it was inevitable.

            I walked down the hall, down the creaking steps of my staircase, and into the dining room where I found my mom sitting at the dining table slumped over in her seat. As I walked by her, she straightened her posture and suddenly she said, “I’m sorry, Dakota.”

             But I ignored, “I said I was sorry!” My mom shouted, getting up from her chair and following me into the kitchen, “It was the only way I knew how to handle it!”

            Her comment stuck anger in me. It would take more than a simple apology to make things better between us. I stopped rummaging through the kitchen cabinets and whirled around to face my mother, “It would take more than a simple apology to make things better between us! What you did, what you are doing hurts! You act as if he was never here! He was here mom! He lived in this house, sat in this room, and shared memories with us! And you act as if didn’t.”

            I paused to give my mom a chance to defend herself to offer some kind of retort, but she didn’t have a response. Angrily, I grabbed a box of Oreos from the top self of the cabinet and left out the back door, making sure to slam it shut. She didn’t stop me and I didn’t look back. I marched across my backyard and approached the fence separating my neighbor’s property and my own.

            I threw my bag of cookies across the fence and my body followed after it. I picked up the packet of Oreos lying on the ground as I walked pass them and walked up the steps of my neighbors’ back porch. Lightly, I tapped on the glass window trying to get the attention of my secret best friend.

            “Aidan, wake up.” I whisper-yelled. I furiously rubbed away tears that streamed down my face, feeling stupid for crying. About five seconds later, I heard shuffling followed by a loud thump then the window flew up.

            “Hey,” Aidan greeted rubbing his eyes tiredly, his voice slightly hoarse, and his appearance disheveled. He stepped back so I could climb through the window and into his bedroom.

            “Were you sleeping?” I asked amused at his sleepy state.

            “Yes,” he growled, walking over to his closet and pulling out a blanket and two pillows. Already knowing that something was wrong with me, Aidan looked over at me concerned and asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

            I paused for a second, remembering all that had happened today and how much I just wanted it to all go away so I shook my head in response and said, “No.”

            He nodded his head, “Alright.”

            Aidan was a very simple and understanding person. He wore a plain T-shirt and blue jeans everyday and combed his light-brown hair back into a simple style. And if he knew something was troubling me, but I didn’t want to talk about it he wouldn’t force anything out of me. He waited until I was ready to tell him. And he was the only person who knew the real me.

            Aidan held one end of the blanket and handed me the other so we could spread it out. I sat down on the blanket across from Aidan and set the Oreos down in the middle of us. He grabbed an Oreo out of the bag and broke it in half, licking off the cream first, then popped the cookie into his mouth.