When Hope Begins to Fade

I woke up the next morning to it being quiet. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around the living room. I found Michelle asleep on the couch. I got up and went into the kitchen. Nobody was in there so I went upstairs. I looked in mine and Ali’s room but she wasn’t in there. I went to Zacky’s room and he wasn’t in his room either. I went back downstairs to the living room. Michelle was still asleep. I thought about waking her and asking her where everyone is. She would either know and hopefully tell me or she would yell at me. She might not even know. I thought it over before walking over to the couch she was sleeping on.

“Michelle.” I said quietly. I shook her a little and said her name again.

After a minute of saying her name repeatedly and shaking her she woke up. I took a step back so if she started yelling at me.

“Michelle, where is everyone?” I asked quietly.

She stared at me before blinking her eyes. “I don’t know. Did you check all the rooms?”

“No, only the rooms I knew who they belonged to.”

“Go check the others then.” she said before closing her eyes.

I quickly walked out of the living room and went upstairs to check the other rooms. I was glad she didn’t yell at me. I opened the first door that I didn’t know whose it was. I was empty also. I went to the next and I found Val and Matt asleep. I went over to Val and shook her awake.

“Val, I’m hungry.” I whispered so I wouldn’t wake Matt.

“Isn’t someone up?” Val asked.

“No. Only you, Matt and Michelle are here.”

“Alright. What do you want?” Val asked as she got out of bed.

“Um, toast.” I told her as we walked down the stairs.

I sat down at the table while Val made me toast. Val seemed tired as she stood there waiting for the toast to pop up.

“Val, I’m sorry I woke you up.” I told her.

“It’s alright. Your young so I understand.” Val said as she smiled at me.

“Thanks Val.”

The toast popped up and scared Val. I started laughing. She seemed more awake now.

“So you say that Michelle and Matt are the only others here?” Val asked as she sat down beside me and gave me my toast.

“Yeah.” I told her before taking a bite of my toast.

“I’ll be back.” Val said as she stood up.

I ate my toast in silence. When Val came back I had ate all of it.

“Zack, Johnny, Lacey, Ali and Jimmy are at your new house.” Val said.

“Why’d they leave me?” I frowned.

Val shrugged. “No idea. Do you have your stuff packed?”

I shook my head no and Val told me that I should probably do that. I went upstairs to my room. I changed clothes before packing my stuff in boxes that Val had brought into the room. I had told her that I could do it myself and she said she would be in her room sleeping if I needed anything. I began packing away my clothes. I noticed that the boxes by the wall were filled with Ali’s stuff already. I packed my shoes in another box. The last box I put my jewelry, stuffed animals and few toys I had. I didn’t really care to play with toys. All I had was a few of those toy skateboards, a few toy cars and an action figure. It didn’t take me long to pack. Probably because I threw all my stuff into boxes. Everything except my jewelry. I slid the boxes by the wall and went downstairs. Michelle was once again asleep. I found the remote to the TV and turned it on. I flipped through channels until I found cartoons. I laid on the couch and watched Scooby Doo. I began to feel tired again so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

X

I woke up to people talking. I opened my eyes and looked around. Matt and Val were on the other couch. Brian was sitting in a chair while Michelle was sitting at the end of the couch where I was laying. I quickly sat up and rubbed my eyes.

“Good afternoon sleepy head.” Matt said.

“Hi.” I said quietly since I was still partly asleep.

Val smiled at me. “You seem bored.”

“I kinda just woke up.” I told her.

“I know. Want to go to the mall with Michelle and I?” I groaned and the Matt and Brian laughed. I was surprised that Brian even laughed. “Well then I guess you’re staying here with Matt and Brian.” Val said as she got off the couch. Michelle did the same and they walked out of the room. It was quiet in the room.

“Where do you want to go?” Matt asked me.

“I don’t know.” I told him.

“The beach?”

I shook my head no. “My stuff is packed away.”

“Park?” Shook my head no. “Pool? ..Oh wait, never mind. The mall?” Matt smirked and I shook my head no. “Well, do you want anything?”

“My ears pierced and hair cut.” I told Matt.

“Uh, I think you might ask Zack about that.” Matt told me.

“Arcade?” Brian asked.

“I guess.” I told him.

“Arcade it is!” Matt said.

We all got up and went to Matt’s car. I was glad that Brian was being nice. I sat in the back and glanced out the window as Matt and Brian talked. We arrived to a place that was kind of big. We got out and I went by Matt since I wasn’t sure if standing by Brian was a good idea. We went inside and walked around looking at all the games. We went over to a machine that took money and put it as tokens so you could play the games. Matt gave me a huge handful of tokens that I put in my pocket. We then began go to the games. I first played air hockey against Matt. Of course Matt won. I then went and played a racing game. I went against Brian and won. I was waiting for him to get mad but he never did. Instead he said ‘good job’ and smiled at me. I continued playing games until I was out of tokens. We left and then went and got pizza. Matt got pepperoni for all of us. While we were eating his phone went off. He answered it and began talking. I ate another breadstick and was finished eating. Matt and Brian ate the rest of the pizza. After that we went back to the house. I went inside and went to the living room. Val was the only one in there and she was watching TV. I kicked my shoes off and laid down on the couch. The pillow and blanket was still there so I decided to sleep on the couch again. I was tired so I put the blanket over me. I listened to the TV and fell asleep.