Ship Falling

Chapter 2

It was 6 pm. The time had come. Mary was sitting in the living room petting her cat who had drifted off to sleep when her mother came home. She could hear the door unlocking. It was just a matter of time now. "Mary Valentina Robins!" her mother shouted, stalking towards her like a predator to its prey. "Just where were you when you were skipping school today? Out playing with your little schoolyard friends!?" Mary sighed and sat up. "I got all my work done beforehand, mom." She knew her mom wouldn't care either way. She would say something like it's all about "-the principle, Mary! The principle is what matters! You think you can just waltz out into the woods with your friends on a school day?" Her mother was clearly losing the irritation she drove home with. "If you skip school one more time, Mary, i'll have to ground you for the weekend! You know how important it is that you-" "Hey, Mary!" Her dad interrupted. Quickly sensing the tension in the room, he shrank back to the corner while his wife finished yelling at her. "If you keep skipping school, what'll be next? You'll start drinking too?" At this point, Mary interjected. "I'm 15, mom, and I've never tried alcohol in my life! What makes you think i'll start?" Her mother tensed up even more. Her dad scratched his head and started nervously tapping his foot on the dull green carpet. Her mother was on the verge of yelling even louder, but appeared to decide against it. "One more time and you're grounded!" she shouts, promptly turning around and stomping up to her room. Her dad finally relaxed his shoulders and walked up to hug Mary. She didn't hug him back, but appreciated the gesture. "How was your day, Mary? Did you have fun with your friends?" He sat down on the living room couch. "Yeah, but it's clear that mom thinks it isn't a valid pastime." He sighed. "Your mother can be short tempered, but she loves you all the same. She just wants you to do good in school is all." Mary sat down on the couch next to him. "Well, she has a weird way of showing it." The rest of the night went by smoothly. Mary's mother stayed shut up in her room doing work and Mary stayed in hers texting her friends and playing with Jenny every once in a while. Jenny looked a little tired today, so she decided to leave her alone for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Mary's dad watched documentaries with too many sound effects and "reality" TV shows. She didn't judge him, though, we all need a little gimmicky television now and again. Around 11 PM, she was half asleep when she remembered to close her window for the night. A thought popped into her head, a paranoid, useless thought - what if there was some creature of the night outside waiting to hurt her? She ignored thoughts like that, though, she didn't believe in ghosts or demons. Humans were scarier to her than any made up science fiction trope. The next day, she woke up to her alarm blaring in her ear. It was now light out, and the birds were chirping outside along with various creepy-looking bugs. Jenny wasn't in her usual spot, so Mary figured she got up early to roam around the house. She went out to the kitchen to get some toast before her dad woke up and made a weirdly big breakfast, taking up the toaster oven and the microwave and everything else. Hopefully she could avoid her mom this morning, and there was a chance she would go off on one of her spontaneous business trips. Mary picked up her dark green backpack and checked her belongings: Binder? Check. Computer? Check. History textbook? Check. Pencil case? Check. She grabbed her phone and headed towards her bus stop. There were some questionable characters who went to her bus stop daily, the creepiest of which being 2 guys her age who looked weirdly similar. She'd call them brothers but one had raven-black hair and the other's hair was very light blonde. She usually stayed away from them. Growing bored of staring at the bird hopping its way around the road near the stop, probably here because someone fed them there before, she opened her phone. There were only two notifications, one of them being a text from Katherine. morninggg, Kath wrote. Did you say something to Ted yesterday? He usually texts me before I get dropped off. Mary rolled her eyes. He still thinks some ghost's infesting the forest, she typed. She sneaked a cautionary glance at the 2 guys on the other side of the street. They were listening to some kind of rock music, from the way they were dancing like they were having a seizure. Not exactly her taste. She checked the time, hoping to get farther from them as soon as possible.