Opening Story - 013

After I got angry at her when we started talking about my father, me and Tayla got off the bus at the stop closest to her house. We don't say much to each other on the way there. It feels awkward.

I apologised for getting angry at her, and she apologised for asking that question about my family that set me off in the first place, but it feels awkward, even now. I'm not really sure why. I guess… neither of us are.

It didn't really feel like an argument, and yet now it feels like we've been fighting, and are ashamed of it. Are we even close enough to get in a fight?

I'm not sure.

When we reach Tayla's house we say goodbye to each other, a little stiffly, and then I turn and walk away without a second thought. She seemed as if she wanted to say something else, but never did.

It didn't occur to me immediately, but a few minutes later, I realised that she probably thought that was the last time we'd ever meet. She isn't wrong about that, but she hasn't got the full story yet. There's one more thing I have to do before I can say goodbye, as it were, to Tayla.

My plan.

The plan that is the main reason that I went on that date.

After I leave Tayla outside her house, instead of walking back home, I do a loop around the block, and come back to stand outside her house. Not outside her house, but in a place where I can see her house, ideally without looking too suspicious.

It isn't much of a plan, really. Perhaps it's too simplistic to even call a plan. It's more like I'm paying back the debt I have to Tayla.

For helping me home and treating my wounds last weekend.

And for taking me on a date too, I guess.

When it comes down to it, I'm just a teenager. And at that, a dirt poor one with barely enough money to cover my living costs. No matter what she thinks I can do or believes I can do, there's nothing I can do to save her. She'll probably hate me for this, but I need to tell someone who can do something. Who can save her.

To keep her safe from those men last night, and whatever the Mother's Order is.

The only problem with this not quite a plan, is that Tayla is also at home. This could easily have been remedied. I already knew where her house was, from last weekend, when I walked her home from my house via the mall.

If I had waited for Tayla to leave, taking the bus into town to meet with me, and then gone to see her parents, I would've known for certain she wasn't at home.

But that would've been far too cruel.

I waited what felt like about half an hour before I decided to walk up to the front door. Being a teenager, I was hoping that Tayla, like most other teenagers, would be keeping herself locked up in her room, and wouldn't care to see what guest dropped in. I wouldn't stay long enough to let her curiosity get piqued either.

In a stroke of luck, everything was as I expected. It was Tayla's mother who opened the door. When I introduced myself as a friend of Tayla, she seemed a bit confused and suspicious, especially when I asked her not to get Tayla. But when she heard what I had to say, she listened intently.

I'm not going to go over what I said to her. I'd just be repeating what's already been told if I did. All I told her were the events of last weekend. How I met Tayla, the thugs, how Tayla helped me home and tended to my injuries, and the part that the Mother's Order had to play in all of this.

After I'd finished, her mother thanked me, and emotionlessly closed the door. Or rather, not emotionlessly, but simply in shock. In such shock, that she was a bit too stunned to show emotions in that very moment.

Now, having successfully done what I set out to do, I finally begin making my way home. I should have plenty of time to get changed and head to work, so I don't rush.

Tayla will probably hate me for what I've done. It's clear that she didn't want me to get anyone else involved, least of all her parents. She didn't want to make things more difficult for them. But that's all just perspective.

I'm sure that's not how her parents will see it.

I understand that they must be grateful to the Mother's Order. Tayla explained to me how they helped soothe her sister's pain before she passed away.

But still, I think I know what decision her parents will make. From what Tayla told me of them, and what I saw just now of her mother, I know. Tayla didn't have any complaints of them. Nothing you wouldn't expect from a normal teenager.

I'm confident that Tayla's parents will make the best decision for their living daughter. Just like any decent parent should.