Pure Reality

It had been a couple of weeks until they released me from the hospital. My mother pushed me out of the hospital in my own personal wheel chair. The people walked in and out as they please often I would see someone with a hand grasped over their mouth cautiously.

Getting into her car took time and effort but we pulled it off. She casually folded the wheel chair and sat it in the back as if she had done it daily. As she drove home I saw a lot of the kids from my school walking home but they didn’t notice me of course.

The moment we pulled up to the house my father came out of the house as if he had timed how long it would take us. He helped me out of the car and sat me into the wheel chair.

I was rolled into the house with haste and they shut the door as if they wanted to hide me. “Honey, can I get you anything to drink?” my mother asked with her voice she used in church.

“No.” I shrugged her off with a nonchalant tone.

She slipped out of the living room and my father sat across from me in his arm chair. My father gave me a stern look, “Look, I know you don’t like talking to me but I need you to tell me who did this.”

I sighed, “Dad, I already told you I don’t remember who did it. All I remember is someone telling me everything would be okay and that I was going to go to the hospital.” It had been a lie of course but I didn’t want to tell on Mark. I know that seems a little stupid but if I told on him it would only make matters worse. He would probably wiggle out of it and come for pay back. All I had to do was steer clear of him for about well… the rest of my life.

“I know that’s not the truth Serenity but you will regret not confessing it. The lord will punish those who commit sin but it’s up to us to let it out of our system and ask him for forgiveness.” He began to preach.

“Ask for forgiveness!” I grumbled, “I get touched inappropriately by a bunch of miscreants on steroids that go to that wasteland and you expect me to ask for forgiveness!” I yelled out.
If it hadn’t been for the fact I had a broken leg and a broken arm I would have ran up the stairs already. My mother came from the kitchen and yelled, “You will go up to your room and ask the lord for forgiveness Serenity!”

My father rose from his chair and picked me up from the wheel chair taking up the stairs. When he sat me on the bed he sighed, “We have you do these things to set rules and boundaries for yourself.”

I glared, “Boundaries! Dad I can’t believe you! Your child gets attacked by a group of boys and is in the hospital for weeks and the first thing you tell her is to ask for forgiveness? What did I do that needs to be forgiven? The fact that I let them kick me and throw me around or the fact that they managed to touch me to the point where it didn’t’ matter how much I fought back?”

He didn’t even say a word all he did was give a face of disappointment and left the room in silence. When my father and I got into arguments like this I couldn’t help but cry. My father isn’t a bad guy he just has rules that don’t fit my lifestyle.

My pocket began to vibrate and broke out into a ring as I pulled it out of my pocket.

“Hello?” I asked into the phone.

“Hey, it’s Lucas.” He said in a husky voice.

“What’s up?” I asked a little nervous. Lucas had never called me before today which made me tense up a little.

“Are you home?” He asked.

I began to stutter, “Uhm, yes…”

“Second floor right and it’s the room with the light on?” He said as if he were looking right at me.

I grew nervous, “Yes…but why-” he hung up.

When I looked up he was standing in my room with a calm devious smile plastered upon his face. I was still processing the fact the he didn’t sneak in the window he came in from my door.

“How did you…does my mom know that you’re…” I drifted off.
He shook his head, “No they have no idea I’m here but your front door was open so I invited myself in I do hope that’s okay.”

I was speechless but I uttered out a, “Yeah.”

His presence in my room unannounced gave me a pang of excitement. My parents were probably talking downstairs about how out of line I was all the while I have a boy in my room who managed to sneak in through the front door and into my room. I realized no one had said anything but when it came to Lucas I never had anything to say other than a snarky comeback to his usual insult or assumption about me. I had so many questions that needed answering at the same time.

Finally when I found the words I asked, “Why are you here? Did you need tutoring because I-” I was cut off by him raising his hand gesturing me to stop.

“I told you this was entirely my fault and I plan on fixing this. So how are you feeling?” He smiled.

“Glad to have company but I’m surprised your sister didn’t join you.” I smiled back.

His posture didn’t appear to be what it normally was which was tall and confident. The boy standing before me seemed to be slouching as if he were cowering but trying to appear brave at the same time. This wasn’t him.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, “Well I didn’t tell her I was coming.”

Why hadn’t he told her? Why had he felt so obligated to check on me? This wasn’t the Lucas I had known but this wasn’t the Lucas I had seen around his friends either. The vibe in the room had gone from devious and exciting to awkward and nervous.

Lucas took a seat on my bed next to me as he grew closer to me he looked puzzled, “Have you been crying?”

I wiped my eyelids, “No it’s this medication they have me on it makes my eyes water like crazy,” I lied.

“And what medicine is that? Imaliar… I mean Ibuprofen?” He gave a crooked grin.

I sighed, “My dad he just…wants me to do something that I just refuse to do.”

“What is that exactly?” Lucas seemed interested.

“Ask for forgiveness,” I grumbled. Just the mere thought of having to actually go through with that request was preposterous.

Lucas stifled out a chuckle, “For what?”

I sighed, “For the accident…”

Lucas’ hands balled into fists, “He wants you to ask for forgiveness over something that you didn’t do?” He seemed to be outraged.

I nodded trying to brush a strand of hair out of my face with my broken arm. Lucas looked up at me and brushed the strand back behind my ear with nervous finger tips. My breath slowed and my heart began to race and I wasn’t sure if it was his actions or my pain killers doing this.

He took his index and middle fingers under my chin and rubbed my chin with his thumb, “Can I tell you something?”

I let out a, “Yes,” more quickly than I should have.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to you before.” He smiled.

No one had ever been this close before not even my own parents. He was the only person, and I was sure it had been him, who had made my heart race and slow at the exact same time while making it hard for me to continue breathing. Lucas Baine was the only boy I had ever really talked to alone.

His hand dropped to my disappointment back into his lap. Nothing in my brain seemed to be connecting with what my body was craving. My brain was telling me to stay calm but my body craved to be closer to him as if he had some alluring gravitational pull.

We sat there for what seemed like hours on end just gazing at each other. I still couldn’t wrap my head around what Lucas was doing in my room in the first place. Was he trying to be my guardian? He did say he owed me but it was I who had been in his debt.

There was this temptation burning through my veins wanted to lean forward and kiss him. I didn’t have an ounce of courage to do what my body wanted but my body seemed to be acting on its own.
My hand brushed up his chest and rested against his neck as I leaned forward to meet his lips. He grasped my hand from his neck with a sigh, “No, we can’t Serenity.”

I had never experienced rejection from a boy but I had seen it in movies countless times but the movies never portrayed it like this. He had rejected me with such sincerity it made me want him even more for reasons I couldn’t even describe.

“Why?” I sighed. This was one of those moments where I wish I hadn’t asked a question.

Lucas rose from the bed, “I just don’t want you to make a mistake by falling for me especially now…”

I attempted to stand up but my leg wouldn’t allow me to hold my stance, “Lucas you can’t tell me that there isn’t something here.”

“Serenity, please don’t start this okay? Things were going fine for me until… look we just can’t do this right now. It wouldn’t be right.” Lucas stated sternly.

There was a creak in the floor board and my door knob began to twist. Suddenly my father appeared in my door way with a face full of anger. I looked up at where Lucas was standing and he was gone… I stared at his spot blankly.

“Who were you talking to Serenity Lane?” My father asked in a stern tone.

I grabbed the phone next to me on the bed, “My friend, Adriana.”

He groaned, “Serenity, I want you to rest up it’s your first day back so you need to take it easy…” Then in the blink of an eye he left the room.

I sat the phone down on my bed then glanced at it once more. That wasn’t my phone…my phone was an old flip phone. This phone was in better condition than mine.

I pressed the button on the side to unlock the phone which had obviously belonged to Lucas…he was the only one who had ever been in my room. A loud buzz erupted from the phone making me almost drop it.

It read:

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE from Adriana:

Danger is coming keep a close eye on her…and don’t do anything reckless Lucas.