What If You Stay?

My first day of work had passed by quicker that I would have liked but it was fun. The guys were really nice and took me in very easily, but I noticed that Paul was acting a little different than Jared and Jacob. Every time I would look up or turn around, I found Paul staring at me which made me not only nervous but curious about why he was staring at me more than he was supposed to be working.

Walking out of the car shop, I pulled the keys to the truck out of my back pocket hearing the guys talking behind me. Just thinking that they were talking about plans that they had or whatever, I continued walking toward my truck until I heard someone call my name. I turned around to face the guys wondering if it was them that I heard call for me.

“It was nice meeting you!” Jared called out across the parking lot with Jacob nodding his head, but Paul just stood there staring at me again.

“You, too.” I called back, bidding a goodbye wave before taking the last few steps to the door of my truck and climbed inside.

Starting the truck, I took a deep breath trying to think if there was anywhere I could go to for a while longer before returning home. Thinking of no place to go other than home, I put the truck in reverse to pull out of the parking spot before putting it in drive and drove home. Along the way, I was mentally and emotionally preparing myself for my father who I knew would be drunk when I get home.

The drive home was silent for me because I didn’t have the radio on to listen to music on the way. I didn’t want anything to distract my concentration. Sooner than I wanted to, the house came into view and I pulled into the driveway to see my dad’s car already sitting there. I parked the truck beside the car and cut the engine off. I just sat there for a while silently wishing that there is somewhere else I could go, but I was still partly new to town and didn’t want to get lost just yet.

Taking a deep breath, I climbed out of the truck, locking the doors as I closed the door of the driver’s side. I walked my way up to the front door and let myself in knowing that dad never locks the door when he gets home because I have to lock it before I go to bed at night. I pushed open the door and walked inside closing my eyes tightly waiting for dad’s insulting words to be thrown at me, but nothing came. Opening my eyes, I looked around wondering where dad was, but then I heard something. It sounded much like a snore coming from the living room.

Quietly walking into the living, I spotted dad on the sofa with his mouth wide open which was causing the snores and the TV showing some game. Shaking my head, I headed toward the coffee table to pick up the beer bottles, but somehow there wasn’t any. Confused, I walked into the kitchen to look in the trash can to see that there were any empty bottles in there, but there wasn’t any. I looked back in the living room toward my father wondering what was happening to him since he hasn’t had a beer since the day we left.

Shaking my head, I walked back over toward him and kissed his cheek lightly, to not wake him up before heading toward my room. Entering my room, I closed the door behind me before stripping from my clothes and into my lounging clothes for the rest of the night. I climbed up on top of my bed, laying my head down on my pillow looking out the window at the trees. Soon the quietness of the house started to make me sleepy and I soon feel asleep with the last thing I remember was hearing a howl somewhere in the woods.