Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
And of course in my grandpa’s honor, bikers that he knew back in the day all rode ahead of the hearse. It was amazing. Kane’s father, Mr. Jessop passed me his helmet and offered me the space on the back of his bike. Felicia encouraged me and told Mee-maw I’d be safe as they weren’t going even half the speed limit. They were trying to cheer me up and for a short while it worked. I expected her to argue but she nodded and off I went, holding West Jessop’s waist. Trying not to let my tears soak the inner foam of his helmet.
Mee-maw and I clean up together side by side in the living room after everyone leaves. Matthew is in the yard, smoking a cigarette and saying goodbye to Poppy. Or so I thought because I watch him through the window climb into Poppy’s car and drive away. He doesn’t come in to say goodbye and I bet Mee-maw won’t say anything to him.
We move into the kitchen and place the clutter on the countertop. There is so much to do but that’s good. It’ll keep us busy.
“Do you need to sit down, Mee-maw? I can do this,” I offer when she stops and looks at the dish in her hand.
She’s trembling, she often trembles when she gets mad. I know the signs. I tense, ready for whatever might come my way.
“It was too much strain,” Mee-maw utters, sounding so broken and defeated. “It was too much strain, what you did.”
“I’m so sorry, Mee-maw,” I reply softly. “I didn’t mean to cause him any stress.”
She stares at me for the longest time before throwing the empty plate in her grasp at me. It hits me in the head, cracking painfully against my temple before smashing on the floor. I feel warm liquid trickle down the side of my face and press my hand to it. Crimson blood highlights the grooves of my palm, making me look yellow and pale in contrast.
It takes a moment for me to register what just happened.
Oh my God. My head throbs angrily with an ear-splitting headache. I blink to rid myself of the dizzy wave that almost knocks me off my feet.
“If you’d just behaved as I raised you,” she hisses at me, absolutely no remorse for the damage she just inflicted.
When she raises a cup, ready to throw that at me too, I run, fearful that she might actually kill me this time. I push open the front door and stumble out into the dark.
I don’t have my phone, any money, nothing.
“You get back here!” Mee-maw shrieks at me but I keep going, keep running as best I can considering my state of dizziness.
My head isn’t too bad thankfully. I go into a local gas stop and use the bathroom to clean myself up. It’ll bruise but the gash stopped bleeding on the way here. It is so sore. I wince as I prod it and grit my teeth as I wash the dried blood from my cheek and hair and pull my braid over one shoulder.
What do I do now?
I could walk to Poppy’s but it’s all the way on the other side of town and she’ll be with Matthew who I’m angry with for leaving me today. If he’d stayed, this probably wouldn’t have happened. I walk for a long time, letting time pass me by. It gets colder and my arms ache from where I hug myself.
I figure Mee-maw might be asleep and I might be able to sneak in, so I go home to check but I see her through the window, sitting on the sofa with a glass of something in her hand. She’s never normally up past ten. She’s waiting for me and like hell am I giving her the satisfaction.
There’s only one place left other than home.
I stand outside Kane’s bedroom window and peer inside. His dad’s bike isn’t here, nor is Felicia’s and I don’t think his car is in the garage. The house is dead silent and completely dark.
Biting my lip and knowing I can’t keep going for much longer, I push on the window, relieved when it slides open.
I’m mental for doing this but I really don’t have any other choice. Frustratingly, it gets stuck halfway, but I can fit. I’m terrified a neighbor will see me and call the cops. Though I wonder how random it is for them to see girls sneaking in and out of Kane Jessop’s bedroom window.
I turn over an empty plant pot, stand on it and climb in. Knocking something off his desk. It’s a photo of him and his dad I discover when I crouch down to pick it up. I put it back where it was and find the same T-shirt I wore last time hidden in his top drawer. It’s black with a picture of the demented teddy from Five Nights at Freddy’s.