Ship Falling

Chapter 6

Mary had been sitting on her bed for the last hour, texting Katherine about what music she'd been listening to. Suddenly the door closed and she knew her dad had come home. She practically threw down her phone and stomped down the stairs. "Hey, Mary! How was your Saturday?" Mary hugged him. "It was alright, I missed you." He smiled. Just as he was about to open his mouth, the door opened again and in came her mother, suitcase and all. "Hey, mom." She said with less enthusiasm. The smile was gone from her face. "Hey, sweetie. Listen, i'm only here for the night so we're going to have a family game night! How does that sound?" Mary couldn't help but smile. Family game nights were always a good time, even now that her mom had such a demanding job. "It sounds good, Mom." She retreated to her room while her parents retreated to their offices. If there was one thing her family loved, it was alone time. She was just about to respond to Katherine's text when out of the blue her hands started itching. At first it was just a little itch, then she kept scratching and scratching until her entire left hand was red. She scrambled into the bathroom and began looking for poison ivy cream, or anything that could relieve her itching, but alas to no avail. Suddenly, her mom passed by the opened bathroom door and peered inside. "My god, Mary, what did you do to your hand?'" She stepped inside. "Nothing, it's just some poison ivy." She scowled at Mary and opened a cabinet above the sink. She found the itch-relief cream and motioned for her to sit down. "Mary, I think you should stop going into the woods." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like I rub myself all over the plants I see, I just go to me and my friends' house." "Still, I don't want your friends to try anything dangerous and for you to go along with it, alright?" She snatched her hand away and pulled down her sleeve. "What kind of people do you think I hang out with? The most spontaneous friend I have is Oliver, and he's afraid to jump off the rope swing into the lake." Her mom scowled even more. "No, it's final. You're not going to go into the woods again, do you understand?" Mary gave her a what-the-heck look. "No, I do not understand. And how would you even know when I go into the woods?" Her mom capped the bottle and put it back in the cabinet. "I have my intuition." Mary nodded her head in sarcasm. "Uh-huh. And how strong is your intuition across the Atlantic Ocean?" She crossed her arms. "Mary, you know I only go to Europe twice a year." "Oh, yes, because that makes it better." "You're going to get poison ivy again if you go into those woods, Mary! I'm just looking out for you." "No you're not! You're trying to control me." "Well I have a right to control you, i'm your mother!" Mary stood up. "How can you stop me from seeing my friends if you're never even around!? If you never stop putting your company before your family!? You're leaving tonight, Mom, tonight! Who knows when i'll see you again? You never even tell me!" Her hands were balled up in fists. Her mom looked taken aback. "Mary Valentina Robins, you're grounded for the weekend." She threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, fine, that'll totally solve it!" Mary stormed out of the bathroom and slammed her door. She sighed in disbelief and made a beeline to her phone. Kath was going to know everything about what had just happened.

It was almost midnight, but Mary didn't feel tired at all. She'd been up for hours telling Katherine about the fight her and her mom had had as well as plans to escape. Fortunately, there was a window in her basement that led right into her front yard. If she could sneak down there and open it without much sound, she was home free. Finally she said goodnight and plugged in her phone. It was going to be an exciting day tomorrow. The next morning, she woke up at 7. Her dad was still sleeping; her mom wasn't. She changed into day clothes and grabbed her backpack and phone. She opened her door quietly and peeked out. The coast was clear. Tiptoeing down the hallway, she avoided places that were known to creak. She got to the first set of stairs and looked all around her. Her mother was in the kitchen. Ducking down, she narrowly avoided being spotted. She put on her backpack and crawled crab-style down the stairs. She could hear the coffee brewer stopping; her mom could walk by and glance over at her any moment. She was going to get spotted soon if she didn't hurry up. Going down the second flight of stairs was much easier, because they were newer and made little to no sound. She gave up on walking like an animal and walked jaggedly down the steps, 2 at a time. Opening the basement door was a bigger obstacle, though. She could hear her mom walking across the floor into her bedroom - she always drank her coffee in her bedroom - and decided to camp out at the bottom of the stairs until the coast was clear. Opening the basement door rather loudly, she finally relaxed and walked on the soft carpet of the basement to the laundry room. This was the final stretch. She sat down on a chair and pulled her shoes on haphazardly. They were slip ons so she wouldn't have to tie any laces. Putting her phone in her backpack carefully, she climbed up on the counter and got her hands on the window. She could already feel it moving upwards. Suddenly, the unthinkable happened - the basement door opened. Mary froze. She could hear footsteps. Quickly opening the window, she crawled out with much resistance. The footsteps were getting closer and louder now. If it wasn't for the malfunctioning window, the person near her was sure to hear her heart hammering in her chest like a factory machine. The window was stuck in an open position. At the last second, it cooperated and closed shut with a bang. She dove out of the way and into her front yard; hopefully her mom hadn't seen her. She laid on her stomach, still as a statue. 10 minutes must have passed before she drew in her legs and stood up, only to knock her head on the eve of their shed. She gripped her temple in silent pain and ducked down to get her backpack on her shoulders. That was going to leave a mark. She ran across the front yard as quickly as she could and dove into some bushes. Almost no one in her neighborhood was up this early. Crack went a twig behind Mary. She turned around just in time to see Ted hiding behind a tree a few hundred feet away from her. "Ted, what the hell are you doing?" He slowly came into her view. "I wanted to prank you but you heard me, heh." Mary let out a groan and took a leaf out of her hair. "I'm trying to escape right now. You're ruining my stealthiness." They both clambered out onto the road and started walking towards the forest. "Well, sorry. Didn't know you'd taken up the job of spy recently. Can't you just walk out of your house normally, anyway?" She took on a look of frustration. "My mom grounded me for the weekend because I said she was never around. I mean, it's true, but she doesn't wanna hear it. Speaking of which, we'd better walk faster if you don't want me getting spotted by a certain begrudged lady in a bathrobe."