A Rainy Day [COMPLETE]

Chapter 19

"I know you might not admit it, but I'm doing you a favor," Luke's words rupture the silence. My eyes stay pinned to the windshield. I know he's doing me a huge favor and is going out of his way to do so. If anything, I should be thanking him, but I'm not usually the greatest person at saying it. "I know we just started dating, but I don't want you going back there anytime soon," he says in an almost fatherly way. "I'm saying this for your own protection. The apartment you live in isn't safest. Most of the windows are shattered, the paint on the building has been chipping off for what seems like decades, all of the gates are covered in rust, and barely anyone lives there. They can't even count their rooms right," he comments. I harshly bite the bottom of my lip and slug my head back in the headrest.

He was right. The apartment was basically uninhabitable and falling apart. But in a way, it was the only place where I was somewhat safe. If I lived in a higher-class apartment or even an apartment complex, my parents would have a better chance at finding me. The place was also extremely affordable and I ended up saving a lot of money on the side.

It wasn't awfully dreadful living there, but it kept me safe, that is until a month ago when my mother called me.

Mother. She called me.

"Luke, what's today's date?" I eagerly ask, feeling my anxieties crawl through my skin. My breath hitches a minute too early without even having heard his response.

"Well, it's not Friday the thirteenth." I send him a serious face and wait for the actual answer. "August sixteenth." My head turns back to the windshield. I count the days since the day they called. Since the day they said they were coming to visit. A wave of worry washes over my once peaceful face.

"They'll be here in a few days," I mumble to myself, believing that my words were safe from escaping my mind.

"What did you say?" Luke catechizes, but all I hear are the thoughts clouding my mind. All the horrible memories of my family. All the pain and suffering I had to endure. The place they sent me to when I was just sixteen. Why visit now? I haven't seen them in years. I thought I was supposed to be abandoned. Forgotten. Rejected.

Suddenly, the door beside me opens and I see Luke standing behind it. After stepping out, he goes to retrieve the few clothes in the trunk and my eyes are trawled by an enormous building. I stare at the beautiful structure in awe and admiration.

"Luke," I call his name in a slightly deeper tone, "where are we?" He saunters back over to where I'm standing, then stops to stare at the building.

Luke exhales a deep breath. "Where at my place."

His eyes switch to me as he smirks, then places two fingers under my chin and closes my hung open mouth. "Don't let your mouth dry out." His grin broadens as he heads over to the glass steps leading to his front door.

His house is monstrous. One would think that a wealthy, successful person lived here...oh wait.

The exterior of the house is black with light brown, wooden boards built here and there. The to his front door is made of perfectly cut stones, pressed into the ground. We climb the clear, short staircase and arrive at his fantastically expensive door. Rectangular mirrors reach from one side of the door to the other. The amount of thought put into this entrance gives me a small headache. I recognize the finger ID sensor on the handle hidden under a small keypad.

A confirmation sounds and the familiar click of locks unlatching hit the air. "The door looks like it cost more than the entire house," I joke with a smile.