Chapter 22

Daniel's pov

After my dad walked out the door, I just sat still on the couch due to shock. What kind of parent just leaves their sixteen year old son like that!

The shock that someone I called my father would do that to me lit up a spark of resentment in me towards my parent. I could almost feel it begin to burn.

Sounds of movement caught my attention. I turned around and saw Sarah wrestle our luggage into the house, she looked stressed. Which reminds me, she's definitely mad at me. She's pointedly been giving me the silent treatment

"Hey" I said walking towards her to help but she didn't reply and just gave me the look she has dishing out to me for a while now

I sighed and decided to try again

"How are you doing?" I said but once again she gave me the sassy look. That look is beginning to piss me off

"What?! What's the matter? I'm really not in the mood for this" I said feeling my blood boil

Once again she didn't reply but headed towards a room. I stormed behind her in silence. As if I don't have enough to deal with already, I thought with irritation.

The room wasn't bad at all, just like the house. It had a warm touch to it. The colour was evenly distributed between Beige and cream. I did a quick scan of the room with my eyes and noticed a small portrait of Sarah's and my wedding picture. It was sitted on the table beside the bed.

"Hey, can we talk?" I tried once again to talk to her but she did the usual and that did it for me

"I know you are angry even though your anger is basically baseless and senseless" well that got her attention for a brief moment before she pretended to be busy with sorting and arranging her clothes in the drawer

"Really you were the one that pushed me off the bed. I could have been seriously injured, you know" I continued and then couldn't stop myself for some reason

"You're supposed to be the older one here but you are so irrational and childish. You're insensitive to anyone's feeling outside your own. You're so self-centred and self-absorbed" I finished breathing really hard

"I'm self-centred Daniel?" She asked her voice dangerously low

"Yes" I said with a hiss

"You called me insensitive?" She asked her voice increasing just a bit while she took a step towards me

"Daniel! You called me, Sarah, childish!" She boomed her voice vibrating through the entire room

"Yes!" I replied with as much heat in my voice

"How dear you!!! Do you know what insensitive is? Insensitive is you always making me pick up after you like I'm dealing with a toddler! Childish is you never being responsible for your own sh*t and never defending yourself from your parent! And guess what? I'm allowed to be childish! Because besides being older than you, I'm just eighteen for Pete's sake! And Self-centred..." she paused for a moment to let out a scoff before continuing and I didn't dear try to say anything inbetween

"Self-centred can be described as the people we call parents not me. Daniel you can't even handle making the bed on your own! I can't believe you'd even think of saying those things to me. Really?" She finished at the brink of tears, also at the top of her voice and let not forget how hard she was breathing

We stood staring at each other for what felt like an eternity before I let out a sigh and spoke

"You obviously didn't do so great at defending yourself from your parents either... " I said started to retort but the hurt look she had on her face once I said that sentence made me take in a deep breath and start afresh

"Look I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated at the situation and I vented out as much on you" I admitted feeling some heat drain from my anger-fogged brain

"Yeah, tell me about it" she replied before sighinh and saying "I admit I was a bit dramatic in giving you the silent treatment although, it would be nice if you learnt to pick up after yourself" she said with a quiet voice

"Once more I apologize, but I still gotta ask..." I paused waiting for approval to proceed. When she gave a quick nod, I proceeded "... why did you really push me off the bed"

"Are we really back to that?" She said with a groan

"Yup" I said with a playful smirk

"I don't know... waking up to your arms around my hip was, well, awkward and... " she began to say something more but suddenly paused for a while be for say "let's just forget it. We have bigger issues at hand"

I had a feeling whatever she wanted to say held more feelings than she was comfortable sharing so I decided to let sleeping dogs lie

Which was one of the good things about our fights, they dissipate as quickly as they come

"True and I think we've both had enough for today. And a good sleep will do us both some good. Good night" I said to her and she climb into the bed while I started dragging my feet towards the door

"Where are you going to?" She ask in a surprised tone

"To another room. I don't want to... umm... bother you as I did this morning" I said awkwardly

"Oh but it wasn't that big a deal" she said a barely audible whisper

"But I could stay here if you don't mind?" I said tentatively

"I don't mind" she rushed out almost immediately before rush out once again "I mean it's not so wise for the only two people living in such a big house to stay in different rooms"

"True" I replied in agreement and climb in beside her on the bed

And with that, we both somehow managed to convince ourselves that the reason Sarah gave actually made sense!

After I had switched off the lights and laid for a minutes on the bed, with closed laid. I tried adjusting my body a bit to get more comfortable and somehow my hand accidentally fell on Sarah's in the process

It stayed there for a few seconds before I decided to take it off but Sarah's hand added a little pressure more to the hold notifying me not to let go

I understood the comfort she got form the hold because I felt it too, it was an assurance that we both had each other.

And we both sleep peacefully... holding hands

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But waking up was a whole different scene because I woke up to the pungent smell of smoke choking me in my sleep!!!

I opened my eyes coughing and confused but once I saw the fog around me and noticed Sarah's absence beside me on the bed I sprung up from the bed on alert!

I moved about quickly trying to find her and also the source of the fire. I search around the housing unable to breath due to the smoke around and also anxiety because I couldn't find Sarah anywhere!

That was until I got to the kitchen and found both at the same time.

"What is going on?" I bellow making her swiftly turn toward me in shock

Her face was blackened. Her eyes reddish and teary from the smoke and from also coughing so hard. I tilted my head a bit to look behind her and saw the toaster and pan still emitting little residue of smoke form them

"I-" cough "-was trying-" cough "-to make break-" cough "-fast" she finished with more coughs

I rushed towards the cupboard, took a glass, filled it with water and gave it to her. After she had drank half of it and her coughs had stopped, I inquired again

"So how did this happen then?" I asked getting amused

"Pure miscalculation on my part" she said shyly but also looking guilty

"Sarah? What exactly happened?" I asked in a tone parents reserved for naughty kids. But I also felt my nerves calm down at the same time since she was safe. Not sound, but safe either say.

"Alright! After putting the pancake barter and bread in, I decided to take a few seconds to explore the house. Mind you, I honestly only wanted to spend a few seconds" making me raise an eyebrow at her "but then I saw that this house had a fully equipped gym in it and I decided to do test run to see if they all worked" she said making me raise the second eyebrow at her "well at least now I know they all work"

"Sarah!" I reprimanded

"What? It's been a while I entered a gym so, I just got carried away" she said pouting like a five year old before she squinted her eyes at me and added "don't you dear laugh" when she saw my cheeks puff out with withheld laughter

"Okay" I replied then swallowd and tried my possible best to keep a straight face

I managed for a while until few minutes later, at the table, she served burnt offerings as food with her still blackened face. It was at that moment I laughed uncontrollably

"What's so funny?" she asked with suspicion etching her voice

"Nothing" I said pressing my lips together trying to contain my laughter but unfortunately little snorts sounds came out giving me away

"What. Is. It." She asked pausing with each word

"Check the mirror" I managed to say

She ran to the nearest bathroom, I was contemplating what to do until I heard her squeal

"Daniel, you're so dead! Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Well that left no room for thinking. I did the only thing that came to mind. I ran.

But running away from an award winning athlete proved useless because within seconds I could here footsteps behind me

And that drove me into panic which led to me tripping and about falling face first. Thankfully Sarah caught me easily but unfortunately because she was previously on the run, her footing wasn't sure and that led to both of us tumbling to the ground

With me on top of her and our lip millimetres from meeting each other!!!