A/N: Updates will be slow because of school unless I get more reviews and then my motivation rises.
Enjoy and review.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The homework Lacey had been so kind enough to drop off to me, was hard shit.
I never felt such pain in my head from all the thinking I was forced to do. I had pages and pages for Trig, writing from English, more thinking and writing for Physics, and papers from World History. Did my teachers hate me this much? Sure felt like they did. I took nearly the whole day trying to get the homework I needed done for tomorrow and pushing aside the other stuff, planning my day ahead of schedule. I was overworked. Very overworked.
Gemma hung around me for the most part, chuckling as she watched me work and giving me some snacks here and there. She would check to see how far along I had gone or trying to coax me into taking a much needed break. I refused each time she told me because I had to get all this done. Answers and responds to some questions came quickly and I was surprised by how much I knew. Danny always took so much of my time. He gave me an education because he refused to 'make a killer who was stupid'. I guess I had to thank him some, if not for his push for me to be smart even if just for him, I would have given up on school a long time ago.
At 7 in the night, I was finally fed up with the constant thinking and writing. My wrist was killing me and my eyes couldn't focus anymore. Most of what I saw was jumbled letters. After being so long without school, I was so very exhausted. "I'm headin' to bed!" I shouted closing the last of my books. I rested my head in my hands, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I didn't want to fall asleep on the table.
Gemma chuckled at me. "It's only 7." She told me. I shrugged. "Sleep is callin'." I packed up my things, caring all the books in my arm and upstairs to my bedroom. How was school going to turn out? I was gone for so long and now Danny's dead. I could be normal but the question is...do I want to be?
I fell asleep as soon as my body hit the bed. I curled into a ball, wrapping myself in the blanket and saying goodbye to the world.
-o-
Only night wanted me awake.
After I fell asleep, I woke up 4 hours later, still tired and annoyed that I couldn't go back to sleep. My mind was full of so many thoughts that my body just wouldn't go down unless my mind did too. Most of the thoughts were, sadly, on the death of a man who didn't give a shit about me. Even if he was so cruel, part of me felt disturbed by the idea that I was happy for him to be dead. That part was the daughter.
The part that felt happy was the almost-killer and survivor. Danny nearly killed me if he hadn't been stopped. So why did I still feel so sad?
I was sitting with my feet on the bed and my arms crossed over my chest, blanket draped over my shoulders. There was no light coming from under the door so I assumed everyone was asleep.
How was Edgar handling all this? Sure he knew by now Danny was dead. He knew it was my fault but did he know why? I hadn't seen him for such a long time. Did he know I was his sister? Edgar was a nice boy. He knew right from wrong but he also knew how to please Danny. He did what Danny told him to do with no questions asked. Though he would ask later when the time had passed. Safer that way, less chance of being exploded on.
My eye lids were growing heavier by the second. I scooted down until I was laying fully on my back. My body ached in a few places but after a couple seconds I could feel the exhausted seep into my core. I passed out at 12:54 a.m.
Shit I wasn't going to make it to school on time. Nope, not again.
-o-
Just like I suspected.
You'd think Gemma would be kind enough to wake me up if my alarm didn't. You'd think she be that kind of motherly woman. Well, she was and she did wake me up. Only, I wasn't being the cooperating one. She managed to wake me up at 7:10, giving me 30 minutes to get ready and out the door. I woke up quickly, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Gemma left my room and I all I did was blink and fall back on the bed, sleep taking me back to where I loved.
And that's how I got to be two hours late to school. By the time I was up, both Gemma and Clay had already gone to work, thinking I was almost done and heading out. If I had told Clay to give me a ride, I would have been up and about, getting to school early instead of very late.
Rushing to school was never a good thing. There's always something forgotten at home. Don't you just hate when you forget the very important piece? And it's not like I could just head back. I was nearly at the school doors when a thought hit me to check my school bag. For some reason, even with all the books, the bag still felt lighter than I assumed it would be. I reached into my open bag, hand searching for the folder I thought should be inside.
Problem. It wasn't.
Fuck...no...fuck!
I forgot the folder of homework I spend all day yesterday doing. Now that just damn well sucked ass! I screamed out my frustrations in my hands, huffing and finally feeling the calmness washing over me. Calmness was key.
My eyes looked at the double doors of the school, my feet staying planted on the ground as I stared. Did I really want to go in? Hell I wasn't normal. I was so abnormal it wasn't funny. I couldn't just go inside and act like I was one of those girls who chatted so causally with friends or learned in class. I couldn't be like that so why force myself? What was I going to get out of this? My brain screamed education. I would be doing something that would help me later in life.
Another part of myself screamed nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had no idea what I would do with my life because for so long I thought I would die before I reached adulthood. And now that, that fate changed I had no direction in life. Of course, I still wanted to be educated enough to live, just didn't know how to do that.
My feet choose the destination for me. I was walking from school, headed to someplace. School just wasn't for me and I had to get that through my head. Along with Gemma and Clay's.
-o-
I ended up at the park, out of all places. The trees shaded me from the sun as I sat on the grass. I hitched my knees to my chest, bag beside me, leaning back against the bark of the giant tree. I glanced all around me, sighing content with the peace. The birds chirped and cars passed by. Peace and quiet, a moment that was just mine.
I even shut my eyes feeling sleepy again. The cool morning breeze cut through me, chills running up my spine, a pleasurable yet uncomfortable at the same time. It was then did I notice everything become so dark. I knew I wasn't asleep yet, most times I could tell when I fell out on my own. This wasn't one of those times.
"Gemma and Clay aren't going to be too happy 'bout this Skylar."
Don't you just hate it when the person you lest expect to show up, shows up and startles you to a heart attack? That's exactly what Happy did to me. He always startled me some way.