Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Three

"Just leave her be, Leighton." It was Dan's voice that woke me, muffled by my closed door but still loud enough for me to discern, having spent years growing up spying through closed doors on the rest of my family. I opened my eyes slowly, finding it dark in my room, the only light coming in from the hallway as a small stream underneath my door and from the faint glow of the moon in the windows behind me. I searched for my phone in the dim lighting, finding it resting on the comforter by my legs, and checked the time, surprised to see that it was after nine o-clock.

"It's been hours, Dan," I heard my sister protest, her voice stern and conclusive. "She said she was going to take a shower, but never came back downstairs. I didn't even realize how late it got until you came home, I was so preoccupied by the boys when they woke up from their nap. I upset her, and I need to make sure she didn't run off already." The door started to move in its frame and I snapped my eyes shut, controlling my breathing and staying as still as possible while the light from the hallway flooded the room and brightened my closed eyes, praying neither of them would notice the half-empty bottle of gin laying by the opposite side of my stomach, which I had fished from my suitcase, wrapped in articles of clothing with a few others that I had swiped from my mother's collection on my way out this morning. M

"See, Leigh, she's still here. She's just sleeping," I heard Dan whisper, and the light in the room started to decrease as I heard him ask, "Why would you think that she would run off?" I kept my eyes closed even though I heard the door click back into place, hoping that somehow shutting my eyes would also shut out their words.

"She told me she met Isaac in town," Leighton sighed, and I could imagine her running her hand back through her cropped hair, the way my sisters and I all did when we were feeling remorseful or defeated.. "I told her she needed to be careful."

"That doesn't sound bad."

I wondered why they were still standing outside my door, why Leighton chose to have this conversation here. She had caught be eavesdropping and fake sleeping enough times to know better.

"That's not all of it," Leighton interrupted him, and I could picture her holding up her hand the way she always did to speak over someone if they had interjected. It was a habit she had picked up from her mother, and one that I hated on both of them. "I told her to be careful, not because I'm worried her getting hurt, but because I'm worried about what she might do to Isaac. Loren's going through a lot right now, more so than usual, and I'm concerned about the repercussions of her getting involved with someone like Isaac. Especially because of the impact it might have on you... God, I sounded just like our mother." Her voice raised marginally to an exasperated tone, and I could picture the look on her face as she came to the same conclusion about the way she reprimanded me that I had.

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, finally connecting some of the pieces of Leighton's concern together, wondering if that was her intention for having this conversation right outside my bedroom door.

I had forgotten that Dan was a police officer, and that just last week Leighton had texted us that Dan had been promoted to a ranking officer, the specific title of which I had forgotten shortly after she told us. It made more sense to me then why Leighton would be concerned about me getting involved with their chief of police's son, but that didn't make what she was saying hurt any less. It was worse coming from her than anybody else, because she understood what I was going through more than anyone else, and that's part of the reason I had come to her this summer, because as much as I would never admit it to her, I needed her help, not her judgement.

I rolled onto my back, waiting as their voices diminished and the footsteps in the hallway told me that they had retreated to their own bedroom, then I sat up. I changed out of the cotton shorts I had put on after my shower into a fresh pair of jean shorts and pulled the first sweatshirt I could find over my head before slipping into a pair of beat up white sneakers, hiding the bottle back in my duffle bag and creeping out of my bedroom, phone in hand. The light in my sister's bedroom was still on, and as I quietly shut my own door behind me, I could hear their muffled voices still, my name reaching my ears again as I descended the stairs.