Chapter 4

But that was not to be as soon as she caught her attention. Her friend approached her and tapped her gently. "Why don't you come with me? We'll find someplace safe to hide until lunch break." As they made their way towards the exit of the school, she felt like everything around her was slowing down. She wanted desperately to escape, but couldn't escape. Her breath started coming in short gasps. "Are you alright?" A concerned expression painted her features. She shook her head slowly in response. At this rate, she wouldn't even be able to breathe properly anymore. Her friend asked if she needed anything before walking towards the vending machine near the entrance of the school. She managed to take small and quick breathes, which made it harder for her to keep her eyes open. The only problem was that she still had to run to catch up with her friend and the soda she had purchased. "Hey, hey, hey... Are you sure you're okay?" He turned back around. "You've gone quiet..." "Yea, I'm fine... Just let's hurry... Please." They reached the school gates in record time, but her friend did not seem to have noticed the strange behavior of his friend as the duo continued to make their way through the streets. Billy tried to calm her mind and body down before making her way home so that she wouldn't feel so panicked. There wasn't really much she could do to change what happened, especially with how things had turned out for her. If she hadn't been able to get rid of that thing, then there was really nothing she could do to change how things ended up the way they did. However, the more she tried to distract herself with thoughts of the previous evening, the more anxious she became. It seemed that the world was conspiring against her. The more she pondered upon what had happened, the more scared she got. When she finally arrived home, she immediately grabbed the nearest object she could see - a knife. At the dinner table, her father was trying to console her as best he could. She told him, "It hurts... Everything hurts…" The moment that word left her mouth, the knife slipped from her grip and fell onto the floor. It bounced once before landing a little further down, which brought her further anxiety than it otherwise should have. It's funny how a single drop of blood can trigger a wave of paranoia. The knife that lay next to Billy's foot caught her eye. It's a good thing her father had picked it up earlier during the process of cooking dinner. With some difficulty, he attempted to retrieve the knife from underneath the dining room table where it was resting. After struggling for quite a while, he succeeded in grabbing hold of the knife handle and lifted it out from under the table. He placed it on the table with great care before looking at his daughter and informing her, "That's better... Now we're gonna clean that up." His words were followed by a deep sigh of relief and relief. She smiled as the corners of her lips slowly curled upwards. "Thank you Dad," she said. In that instant, she found herself in a state of relaxation that she did not know she had achieved. All those bad memories faded away. Even though her heart still ached every time she looked at the knife lying by her feet, it didn't matter now. She could forget everything and she would always feel happy for the first time in quite some time. What bothered her was not whether her parents were angry with her; it wasn't about her mother not wanting to spend a weekend with her; it wasn't about her being late in school: none of these issues mattered. The only reason why her parents did not accept the invitation to spend the weekend with her was because she had already given them a reason to leave. They had a child of their own and didn't want to risk having to watch their children get hurt, so they decided to ignore her pleas. It didn't bother her anyway since she had accepted that she would be living without her mother in just another four years. She had gotten used to being alone by now. Her dad was right when he said that she never truly forgave her mother. No matter what, it would always be something between them. So she understood perfectly and it didn't bother her. With her dad's assistance, she cleaned up most of the mess on her end of the dining room table after they placed some paper towels, cups, plates, silverware, and utensils atop the pile of glass shards. As she wiped the table, she noticed the broken piece of the chair on top. That was her seat for the duration of their trip. Without hesitation, she pulled herself back up and climbed up onto the chair. She held onto the legs tightly as her arms swung back and forth, threatening to tumble out of the chair. As she swung back and forth, she took a quick glance around the room to look for something to steady herself. After taking a second look at the mess she created, she saw the large trash bin sitting next to the fireplace in the living room. She was determined that she was going to take it down with her. "Dad!" She called. "Get me the trash bin and give me a hand."