One of Nine

CHAPTER 16: Juniper Gridley

CHAPTER 16

Juniper Gridley

Jonah and Kira were the last ones in the room, as soon as they had crossed the threshold, Eli slammed the door shut. The room was pitch black and Jonah quickly started to light some candles. It sounded like the thunder was coming at us from all angles, and shaking the floor. The rain that pelted down onto the walls and the roof sounded like a million fists pounding on the side of the house.

The candles flickered in the middle of the room, giving off a small amount of warm light. Most of us couldn't sleep because of how loud it was. However, it seemed to be no problem for Ben, who was sitting next to me with his head against the wall as he snored lightly.

"Hi," Junius said quietly as he sat down on my other side.

"Hey," I whispered back, not wanting to wake Ben up.

"Can we talk?" Junius asked, putting his head on my shoulder.

I nodded, adjusting so that he was more comfortable. "What do you want to talk about?"

He took a deep breath. "Why didn't you come after me?" The way he said it made it sound like he had been dying to ask me this for years. "Why did you just let mom and dad push me away?" He kept his voice low so that only the two of us could hear, but the storm was so loud that it didn't matter. No one would be able to hear either way.

I shook my head, not because I didn't know, but because I had no good explanation as to why. I asked myself these questions a lot and I could never bring myself to acknowledge the answers. It wasn't because I didn't want to, it was because-

"I couldn't think of the words that would make everything okay. I wasn't able to come up with the things you needed to hear to make up for everything that had happened."

We sat in silence for a minute, listening to the storm crash on.

"A simple 'hey' would have been enough," Junius finally said. I couldn't see his face but I knew he was frowning. I could tell by the way he spoke. He wasn't angry, he was just frustrated. By the way I saw his fingers twitch, I wouldn't be surprised if he lit a cigarette soon.

"I know, but I didn't know where you went," I sighed, bending my head to rest on his. "If it's any consolation, I hated them as much as you did. They should've never treated you the way they did. It wasn't right."

He gave out a single, heartless chuckle. "You didn't hate them," he sneered. "How could you? They worshiped you."

"Yeah, Junius, I did," I retorted, finding myself suddenly getting defensive. "I never understood why they always had to compare us. Do you know how hard it was to have to play the role of the perfect daughter? I was jealous of you."

"Jealous of me? Why?" he scoffed.

"Because you had the guts to tell them off when I was always too scared to say anything. You were always so carefree and you never let them stand in your way. I just did as I was told and I never stood up for myself."

He didn't say anything for a minute. Eventually, he sighed and said, "Well look where that got both of us." He gestured to the room. "Nowhere." As if on cue, he pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and stuck one in his mouth. "Try and get some sleep," he muttered before standing up and walking over to Opal and Asher.

The peak of the storm hit around 3am on Rhody's watch. It felt as though the walls were going to collapse and the roof was going to cave. Everyone huddled together in one corner of the room, none of us wanting to admit that we were scared out of our minds. As I cuddled closer to Ben, fear came over me and I began to tremble. Ben pulled me closer to him. My head pressed into his shoulder, and his arms were wrapped around me tightly. It felt like we were stuck like that for hours.