Friends (Highschool AU)

Lies

"Um, hey Dad," I said awkwardly. His face didn't change its expression. He walked over to me and grabbed my wrist. He dragged me into his office, I could see America's smug expression on his face. He was only happy because it wasn't him this time.

"He is going to send you to the cellar for sure," I heard Ame whisper.

In Dad's office, he sat on his chair and looked at me with the same stare I was greeted with. He looked disappointed in my wet and muddy clothes.

"What were you doing out so late?" He asked reasonably calmly.

"I was, uhh, at the park," I stumbled.

"Don't think I don't know when you are lying,". I felt my heart start to race.

"I-I was at the park," I tried to back my case.

"What were you doing at the park then, and who were you with?" He questioned me.

"I was hanging out with Bela and we got caught in the rain," I tried to convince him.

"It started raining hours ago, and it is way too late for this,". He seemed to have bought my lie.

"Are you going to put my in the cellar again?" I asked. It was a common punishment, at least it was better than what he used to do to us. He nodded.

"Go grab a blanket and pillow, you will be let out before dinner tomorrow, but first," He reached his hand out.

"Your phone, now," He said dully.

"What? Why?" I asked not to keen on giving him my phone.

"Do not question me! If you don't like the punishment, you know the other option!" He shouted. I lowered my head in defeat and handed him my phone. He put it in his desk draw and locked it. He pointed to the door and ordered me to get my things and meet him at the cellar door.

I took my time walking up the stairs to my bedroom. I walked over to my bedroom and opened the door. I grabbed my pillow and blanket off my bed. I would have gotten changed but Dad would've gotten sick of wait and would drag my naked but down the stairs anyway. I turned around to see my little stuffed sheep named Cloudy sitting in the corner of my room. I pet his head and then turned to leave my room.

"Dad's sending you to the cellar, huh," Australia said standing in front of me with a stupid grin. I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the stairs.

"Wait, take this, hide it in your pillow case," He a couple of packets of lollies. Aus was an a$$h#le but he still cared about me. We all knew what it was like in the cellar and how slowly time passed down there. I did as he said and hid the lolllies in the pillow case and nodded to him respectfully.

The entrance to the cellar was right under the stairs, and that was where Dad was waiting. He held the door open for me and I walked in. The door closed behind me and I walked down the rest of the stairs to the bottom of the cellar.

It was cold combined with my wet clothes and the smell of wine was very strong. I place my blanket and pillow down on the ground and found the old cupboard sitting next to a couple wine racks. For some reason, Dad has never opened it. America was the first to discover it was empty and decided to bring down a spare matress and hide it in the cupboard so he wouldn't have to sleep on the cold hard ground every time he got in trouble.

I opened the cupboard and the matress fell out. I hoped no one heard. I dragged the matress away from the cupboard and closer to the centre of the room where it was less cold. I put the blanket over top and pulled out the packets of lollies from the pillow case.

I opened one of the packets that had gummy snakes in them and started eating a couple. I didn't realise how hungry I was until I had one in my mouth. I ate the whole packet worth of gummy snakes in less than a minute. I wanted to open the other packets, but I knew I had to keep them for later.

I ended up putting the other packets of lollies in the old cupboard to stop me eating them. I laid down on the matress and pulled the blanket over me. Although the matress was uncomfortable due the the broken springs, it was still better than laying on the floor.

It took me ages to get to sleep in my wet clothes, but it felt as if I only blinked and it was morning.

There was a knocking on the cellar door and combined with the light pouring in through the little vent the lead to the outside, I was well awake. My clothes we still slightly damp but I still got out of bed.

The cellar door opened and Canada came down holding a tray with toast and butter. That was my breakfast. At least Dad had the decency to make sure we were fed. Canada handed me the tray and left as quickly as he came.

I looked at the toast. It was warm but only just. I ate it knowing it would be the only sustainable thing until lunch. I was still quite tired and tempted to go back to sleep. I didn't though. I sat up and looked for something to do.

I got a great idea. I remembered, when I was younger I would grab the stones from the front garden and scrap it across the driveway to use it like chalk because we never owned any. I walked over to the small vent that was just above the ground and opened on to the front graden.

I reached my arm through the bars and felt around for a small stone I could draw with. I managed to find a stone and this was enough to keep me happy for now. Since the cellar was just concrete I could draw anywhere. This could be fun, why didn't I think of this before.