Supernovas & Escapism

Chapter Twenty-Nine

      Glory, as it turned out, was different to Xavier in so many ways. If they didn't look like they were siblings, then you might have never believed it. But their same pointed features, and short black hair (shorter on Xavier because duh) seemed to be an inherited feature from their father. From the photos I'd seen of him, he seemed typically average of a man who had just lost his wife; the always tired look in every photo, and each smile tainted with this idea that maybe he wasn't doing so well. They all shared that look. It was a weariness that drove them down and made them seem significantly older.

     She herself couldn't have been any older than twenty, but all the stress lines, and other faults made her seem like she could be approaching her thirties. Maybe she realized that and stopped trying to care what people thought of her. It would at least give some insight into why she wore the baggiest of tank tops, and beyond repair faded jeans.

     When I had finally left the room, almost fifteen minutes after Xavier's explosive exit, she was waiting in the dining room. She'd poised herself well, ready to spot me before I even had a chance to escape. Again, the window was looking promising, but even I knew that falling a story whilst feeling like a truck had just hit me was not going to be the best idea. Hell, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to make it back down the stairs. There was a part of me that just wanted to stay here hiding forever, but I knew full well that I had already overstayed my welcome.

     With each step, down, my lungs burned. They hadn't felt like this last night, but that might have had something to do with the adrenaline of the moment. Something about sneaking into someone's house whilst not trying to wake anyone up would do that to you.

     At the bottom step, I could see enough into the dining room to see that Glory was sitting there expectantly. What she was expecting, I didn't really know. Was she expecting Xavier to come back? Was she expecting her father to come home at any minute? Was she expecting to talk to me? The latter seemed the most plausible right now, but I was really in no mood to talk.

     I had places to be.

     Okay, so I had nowhere to be. I didn't even consider where I was going when I had scaled down the steps.

     Truthfully, I still didn't feel like going home right now. Today was a Saturday, and Saturday's were really the only time where you had to avoid being in the house the full day. My father's moods had become predictable in that he would always be more aggravated at the weekend, due to hangovers, and the feeling that he was stuck.

     The floor groaned as much as I did when I finally hit the landing, still holding on tight to the worn guardrail. Glory's head instantly popped up from her phone as she clocked me.

     "Hey," she said trivially, as if I were some old friend. A faded smile seemed to stretch across her face. Her posture was poised and curt, but her eyes gave her away.

     "Uh, hi," I replied back, not knowing the protocol of this kind of situation.

     Moving closer to the dining room, I couldn't help but notice the murky bottle on the table. It was one I'd seen many times before, mostly because it was the exact brand that was often sent flying towards my face. Seeing it just made me wince, not that anyone would notice with a face as distorted as mines right now.