What If The Only Way Out Is To Die?

“Alyssa, honey, I just wanted to say that Tim and I are going to Tim’s parents for the weekend. I hope that you and Nickolas will be fine these three days,” aunt Esther tells me, standing at my bedroom door. Tim is not my real uncle, he’s Esther’s second husband and Nick’s stepdad. My uncle died seven years ago, after having a heart attack. Surprisingly, Nick comes along pretty good with Tim.

“I’m not promising anything, but I try to not lock your son to the attic,” I smile to my aunt. I don’t understand why older people have to always use our full names, why can’t they just accept our nicknames, to which we are used to.

“If he’s not behaving, then you have my permission to do that,” luckily Esther gets my joke and leaves, closing the door behind her. Sighing, I turn my gaze back to the book in front of me and continue reading.

Barely fifteen minutes later I raise my head again, when the door to my bedroom flies open, and loudly bounces back from the wall.

“Party!” Nick yells, running to my room and jumping to my bed, making me fly up and almost over the edge.

“You’re insane,” I mutter, setting my book to the night stand. Reading is totally impossible while Nick is in my room.

“Didn’t you hear? The house is all ours for the entire weekend,” he says, not understanding why I’m so calm about it.

“So?” I ask, uninterested. Like seriously, big deal if your parents are away. I’m spending most of the time in my room any way, so there’s no difference if aunt Esther and Tim are home or not.

“So?” Nick repeats, unable to believe what I said.

“So,” shrugging my shoulders I stand up from the bed.

“We’re going to have a party,” Nick’s exited, rubbing his hands together.

“No,” I groan. I can feel frustration inside me grow. I’ve managed to avoid Ricky for a whole week. And there’s no party Nick will have without Ricky.

“Come on, when did you have some fun?” Nick asks, looking at me disappointedly.

“On my birthday,” I say without thinking much and walk to the window.
“And when was that? Five centuries ago?” he picks at me, still lounging on my bed.

“Eleven days ago.” He will find out anyway if he wants. Thanks to Sam, aunt Esther knew and I had to convince her not to tell anyone. But now it’s already passed and there’s no point in hiding it.

“Seriously? Why didn’t you tell us?” Nick asks, stunned. Birthdays are his favorite reasons to party and that’s why I didn’t want him to know. It’s too late now.

“Didn’t find the need to.”

“I can’t believe it. How could you keep this from me? I’m disappointed in you,” he over reacts and leaves my room, shaking his head at me.

I have not the slightest desire to take a part in his party. That means I have to find some other place to go. I can’t come up with anything and so I decide to start with a shower. I’ll think up something while I get myself ready.

I remove my necklace, wristband and rings and set them on the desk. After finding myself a clean set of clothes, I go to the bathroom.

In the bathroom I toss my clothes on top of the washing machine and check that I have everything I need. Just before I turn myself to the door, to lock it, it flings open.

“Nick, listen…” Ricky starts, but cuts off when he sees me. “You’re not Nick.” He announces, looking at me with interest.

“Wow, honey, finally you’ve learned to make a difference between us,” I grumble. “Besides, why are you running in without knocking first?” I cross my arms on my chest.

“I was looking for Nick, if you didn’t get it yet,” he copies my position and arrogantly stares at me.

“Well, if he hasn’t squeezed himself into the washing machine, then he’s obviously not here. So would you be so nice and leave. I want to take a shower,” I start to lose my patience. I don’t understand what he is still doing here.

“Oh, good idea Lys, I’ll join you,” Ricky smirks slyly, calling me by a nickname only he uses. I know I’m not getting him out by force, therefore I have to do something he’s not expecting.

“Fine, suit yourself,” I say while turning my back to him, pulling my t-shirt over my head, only slightly slower than usually. I toss it carelessly to the floor and step closer to the shower. After I’ve set the water running and perfectly ice cold, I take the nozzle and turn myself towards Ricky, soaking him wet. He’s still staring at me with a puzzled look but when he feels cold water soaking through his clothes, he runs out of the bathroom in a second.

Without losing any time, I lock the door behind him. I can hear disgruntled fussing from the other side of the door but choose to ignore it for now. Satisfied with myself, I remove the rest of my clothes and turn the water temperature suitably hot.

“And where are you going?” Nick yells at me later, when he sees me walking towards the hall. Frightened of his sudden voice, I stare at him with surprise.

“Out,” I say at last, a bit shakily.

“No, you’re not,” he tells me, standing in front of me with his arms crossed.

“Why not?” He starts to scare me, being like this.

“Because I need you tonight. I said we’re having a party,” he explains wearily.

“So? You don’t need me to party. I don’t wanna take part in your party,” I say, getting wound up a bit. I try to go the hall but after taking a first step, I’m stopped by a pair of strong arms around my waist.

“Hey!” I protest when I’m lifted off from the floor. Nick, standing beside me, won’t say anything. Instead I’m being carried to the living room, where I’m mercilessly thrown to the couch. Of course I try to get back up but Ricky pushes me back down, menacingly standing in front of me.

“I need you here. I invited a lot of people and I can’t keep an eye on everyone by myself. If you don’t want my parents to kill us both then you’ll stay and help me keep everything under control,” Nick commands, coming to stand next to Ricky. If I wouldn’t feel myself so threatened at the moment, I’d find these two hilarious in a same position, with their arms crossed, legs apart and carrying the same threatening look.

“No way! I’ll tell your mom that I was against it and you can have the punishment all to yourself,” I smirk evilly, crossing my arms on my chest too.

“Alyssa, honey, believe me, I can convince my mom that you were in it from the beginning,” Nick laughs menacingly. For some reason I can believe he would pull it off.

After staring at him for a minute, I give up. They’re not gonna let me leave anyway.

“Fine. But you owe me one,” I sigh.

“It’s a deal,” Nick gives me a wide smile.

“A huge one,” I mutter while standing up. This time they both step aside and I walk back to the stairs, planning to go back to my room.

“Hey, Lys! Wait up for a second,” Ricky’s voice stops me right before the stairs. Taking a deep breath, I turn myself around, questionably looking at the boy in front of me. On the next moment, some liquid flies on me. Deciding by the smell, it’s orange juice. After blinking a few times, I give him my extremely pissed off look.

“I swear I’m going to kill you one day,” I hiss between clenched teeth. I want to hit him with something so bad, but holding myself back I turn around and stomp upstairs. I should have known he’d find a way to get back at me.