Compare and Contrast

The car ride home was silent. It wasn't an awkward silence, or comfortable even, just empty. Neither of us had anything to say, because there was nothing that could be said about the past night's events. It all just kind of felt like a twisted dream that I would soon wake from.

“I'll see ya,” Lee said, as I slid out of his passenger seat. I waved and shut the door, maybe a little too hard.

I found myself walking into another nightmare when I stepped through the front door. The house was completely dark. “Mom? Dad?” I called out.

No response.

Up the stairs I went, as quickly as I possibly could, as though I wasn't exhausted and sleep-deprived. My heart dropped when I entered my parent's empty bedroom, my mother wasn't in bed. Immediately, I thought the worst.

I dialed my father's phone number the fastest I had ever in my life. “Hello?”

“Dad, where's mom?”

I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me she was only at a check up, but the words that escaped his lips were the last that I wanted to hear. “She's in the hospital – but what I need to know is, where the hell have you been, Dakota Lee?”

Instead of giving him an explanation of any sort, I clicked 'end call' on the phone and dropped it to the floor. I was surely in a lot of trouble, but I didn't care anymore. I didn't care that it seemed as though everything was falling apart suddenly. I didn't care that my mother could be taking her last breaths. I didn't care that I was going to be grounded for the rest of my life. I just went into my room and curled into a ball on my bed, letting sleep take over me.

*~*~*

I rouse less than ten hours later, feeling just as tired as before I initially went to bed. My phone was dead, in the pocket of the shorts I'd borrowed from Panic. The first thing I did was plug it into the charger and then turn it back on. Just as I had suspected, there were several missed calls and messages, some from Craig, some from my dad, and one from an unknown number.

The first I read was the unknown, which read:

If I were you, I wouldn't be caught dead alone.

I crinkled my nose, unsure of what to make of the message. It made no sense to me, but I still felt shivers as I glanced out the window and at the setting sun. The next messages I read were my dad's, all of which were threatening and angry, but I deleted every single one. Craig's message was simple:

Hey. Where are you?

He sent the same message about seven times.

I answered back.

I'm at home, just woke up.

He immediately replied.

Can you come out?

There was no reason that I shouldn't take advantage of going out, as I was already in deep shit.

Sure.

I'll be there asap.

I let my hair down, letting my dark waves freely frame my face. I did wings with eyeliner and rubbed some lipbalm on my dry lips, and then I grabbed my perfume and sprayed myself.

Less than ten minutes later the door bell could be heard ringing in the silent house. I was braced for my dad, ready to cancel my plans with Craig, but instead I opened the door to find an empty entrance. I was so irritated, thinking that the neighbor's kids were playing ding-dong ditch again, that I didn't notice single black rose on the 'Welcome Home' mat.

I inspected the rose, it was covered in thorns, but I didn't realize until it pierced my skin and droplets of blood were escaping several small holes. So I took a hold of the rose by the petals and noticed a small golden heart locket hanging from the stem.

“Hey.”

I shrieked, clutching my heart when I noticed it was only Craig. “You scared me,” I stated.

He sent me a small smile. “Sorry.”

“It's fine.” I shrugged it off and shook my head, staring down at the rose the entire time. “Really.”

His eyes shifted from my own to the rose. “What's that?”

“A rose. Someone just left it on my porch,” I said to him. He nodded his head and and sent me a look. “You don't think?”

Evan. Of course. I'm not sure why it didn't hit me earlier, but it was now making an ounce of sense, though the situation still seemed quite blurry. “I think it might be.”

Craig's fists balled up. “We should go, the car is running.”

“Calm down,” I said as I closed the front door and locked it. “The neighbor's will think you're crazy.”

He was getting all worked up, his face was red. “I just want to fucking kill him,” Craig said as we walked to the car.

I smirked to myself as I got into the vehicle. The smell of cigarettes hit me hard and fast, I let out a cough.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He messed with the radio and avoided my question.

“Hello?”

Craig sighed and started backing out of my driveway. “It's a surprise.” I rolled my eyes. I was in a terrible mood and I was in no mood for games, so when I felt a hand trying to take mine, I quickly put my hand on my lap and leaned my head against the window.

Craig cleared his throat and started focusing on his driving. “Okay.”