Dandelion Children

Chap. 8| Eli

I hated feeling helpless, but it was a position I was growing more and more accustomed to.

As I circled around my block for the fifth time, all I could think about was Aaliyah and how terrified she'd looked. How scared she'd been. And her screams...

My God.

I wish I would've done more. Hugged her tighter, spoke softer, anything. But instead, I was sitting in my car playing the "what if" game, feeling helpless. I should've stayed with her.

I should've, should've, should've.

I pulled out my phone and checked the time. It was only 9:47.

As I held my phone, I noticed the marks on my hands that were becoming more and more visible. I cursed as I pulled my sweatshirt sleeves over my hands, unable to stand the marks myself. My father had been home when I got back from my short shift at work and he was beyond pissed. He blamed me for there not being any food in the house though I'd walked through the door with a handful of groceries that I'd been able to lift from the store. So, in order to "punish" me, he decided to beat me to the point it physically showed. My body still ached. As punishment he was going to be more dickish than usual and make me have breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready on a specific schedule, and if not...there was going to be far worse than a few burns on me.

I thought about how I had to lie to Aaliyah and instantly felt bad. Though I was used to the delicate game, I hated lying to her. And to add more insult to injury, he put out his cigarette on me. It hurt like hell but I wasn't going to let him see me crack. So I sucked it up and took it like a man. But just looking at them ignited a phantom burning sensation to course through me as if it were happening again.

I sat in my car for a few moments and watched my father's car through the rain-stricken windows hoping to see him hop in and get called in for a late drive like he did sometimes, but it's as if the universe heard me and did the exact opposite. I cursed under my breath and pulled into the parking lot in front of the duplex a few houses down from mine and parked in the visitor's space. I wasn't about to walk into that house with the amount of fury my father had shown me mere hours ago and I definitely wasn't going to sleep there. Luckily for me, I always kept extra clothes in my backseat along with a blanket and pillow for taking naps in my car during free period or when I skipped.

I quickly, yet carefully changed out of my wet clothes into dry ones, cautious to make sure that if anyone walked out of their house I wouldn't be fully exposed. Once I was clothed, i pulled out my phone and opened my messages app. I was instantly met by the group chat I had with my lacrosse teammates updating me about practice.

LAX Warriors [Kendall]: Bro, u missed out today. Landon got completely run through. It was hilarious

LAX Warriors [Landon]: That's not how it happened. Justin played dirty

I scrolled through the chat as they continued picking on Landon for getting run through before they finally updated me on the practice.

LAX Warriors [Mike]: Eli, wish u could've made it. Some cheerleaders even came 2 watch after their practice

LAX Warriors [me]: Sucks that I couldn't make it. Mayb next time

I clicked out of the conversation and clicked on Aaliyah's.

Me: Hey, just wanted to check on u. U had me scared tonight...here to talk if you want 2

I hit send before I could overthink it before I reached in the backseat and pulled out When the Sun Falls, a book that Aaliyah and I were reading together. I cracked open the book and tried to take in the words on the page, but my mind was far too busy and scattered that I ended up reading one paragraph five times over and I still didn't know what was happening. Opting to channel my energy into something else, I plugged my phone into the AUX cord and played my "rainy daze" playlist and instantly "Sweater Weather" by the Neighbourhood started playing and I instantly felt relaxed. I turned my key in the ignition and after the dial on my gas monitor bounced for a few seconds, it finally steadied itself. I let out a silent sigh of relief once I saw that I had enough gas for me to go on my commute. I was about to pull off when my phone vibrated in the cupholder. I grabbed it and I found the corners of my mouth pulling up as I read Aaliyah's name pop up on my screen.