Chapter 11

Sunday rolled in and I didn't even bother getting out of bed.

I tossed around with my eyes still closed only to be greeted by the sun shining through my closed eyelids. I could have sworn I had drawn them before I slept.

I swung my legs off of the bed and walked over to the window to draw the curtains, making sure my eyelids were shut. After drawing the curtains, I went back to the comfort of my bed.

I thought I was comfortable but then I felt as though there was a presence in the room other than myself. Not wanting to lose sleep completely, I opened one eye only to see someone standing by the door. Before I could scream he quickly rushed over to my bed, and covered my mouth with his left hand whilst his right held the back of my head.

"Don't scream," he threatened me. I tried wiggling out of his grasp but he wasn't having it. I was about to bite his hand but his next words stopped me from doing so, "Don't even think about it." It was crazy how he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"I'm going to let go now," he slowly removed his hand from my mouth as if scared that I might scream. He fully moved away from me and before I could say anything he walked out of my room without so much as a second glance.

That was weird.

I got out of bed and did my morning routine all the while thinking about why Owen was in my room and how he even got in the house. When I made my way to the living room I found Pauline and my mum in a somewhat heated conversation.

Pauline looked up at me and her smile took over her face. If it was one thing I knew it was that the woman loved to smile. If there ever was a smiling competition she definitely would give the others a run for their money.

"Lyra, I haven't seen you in a while. Hope all is well." Her smile slightly faltered at the last sentence. I tried my best not to remind her how things went down the last, and first, time I'd been over at her house. But the look on her face was enough to make me feel bad for even thinking of saying the words. She seemed like a nice lady but unfortunately her niceness didn't rub off on her grandson.

I tried to work on a polite smile on my face. "All is well thanks for asking." I looked over at mum and the smile I'd had earlier was nowhere in sight and I moved my eyes over to the kitchen and walked away. I really wasn't feeling hungry so I just grabbed an apple and went back to my room.

I plopped on the bed with a copy of one of my favourite books in hand. I'd fallen in love with the book the first time I read it and its pages were almost falling out due to having had read it so many times but I didn't mind.

Ten minutes into the book I heard a knock come from my bedroom door. I thought about telling whoever was at the end of the door to come in but thought against it. It could be Owen but then again I highly doubt that he had such mannerism after our prior encounter. So I got up and opened the door only to find mum with her suitcase behind her.

I looked up at her with my mouth slightly agape. "Can I come in?" She said uncertainly and I muttered a sure and went back to sit on my bed. Mum came in leaving her luggage in the hallway and sat down next to me.

When people said I looked a lot like my mum I either thought they didn't have anything better to say at the moment or they didn't know a thing about comparison. I always thought of it as a crazy thing to say with how beautiful she looked. I remember the days when she'd pick me up from school when I was little and kids at school would always bombard me with questions, most being about adoption. Which led me to asking her whether what they said was true or not and my dad would go on and point out our similarities from facial features to characteristics. He said that my smile was just like hers, it was bright enough to light up his world.

Looking at her now, she looked tired and her smile wasn't what it used to be and we both knew it had everything to do with her husband, my father. She's never been the same since his death. Her zealousness was rarely seen and she preferred spending long hours at work. But what she didn't know was that I needed her too.

"Something came up so I'm leaving a day earlier than planned." She said in lieu of hello and I knew that whatever I was to say wouldn't deter her from changing her mind. She was bent on the idea of leaving me with practically strangers.

There was so much I wanted to tell and ask her but I kept them to myself. "What time are you leaving?"

"My flight leaves in three hours but I just wanted to make sure everything is packed up in time."

We sat in an uncomfortable silence before she spoke up. "Lyra I don't want anything to happen to you whilst I'm gone. That is why I'm leaving you with Pauline." She gently touched my cheek and smiled her ever so tired smile and I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was afraid she might lose me just like she lost dad.

"Don't blame me if I happen to kill a certain someone," I muttered but then she gave me one of her infamous looks and I sighed out a fine.

"Good now let's make some breakfast."

**********

I was in my temporary room in Mrs James' house. My bags were on the floor unpacked and I was trying my best to feel at home as Pauline had put it but I couldn't.

Mum had left an hour ago, with her car which meant I had to hitch a ride with him. Well that was if he would even let me get near his car.

I decided to suck it up and get out of my new room. Just as I opened the door, the door adjacent to mine opened too. We both paused staring at each other for a while before he spoke up.

"What are you doing here?" I didn't know how to answer that because I thought he knew that I would be staying here till my mum came back.