Just Making Things Harder

When I got inside my house, everything was quieter than normal. It wasn’t normal. I felt like something was wrong.

I checked around the house, looking for anything different. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then I remembered reading somewhere one time that when it’s unnaturally quiet, sometimes it’s a way of telling you something is going to happen that day. Something different.

I shook off the feeling and went on with what I was doing.

I pulled off my sweatshirt and replaced it with a normal grey V-neck. I grabbed a hoodie and headed downstairs with it. I figured I’d want to be able to get rid of clothes if it got warm later.

In the kitchen, I headed into making me some food. The only thing we really had to make was soup. Sighing, I got out a can and poured it in a bowl, then popped it in the microwave.

I paced around, waiting. Then I noticed something taped to the fridge that I hadn’t noticed before.

Pulling it off, I read it over. It was from my parents. Once a week, they left me a note, giving me a list of things to do, groceries to buy, and every once in a while, a day they might be home.

This time, there was no day they’d be home. It just told me some things to buy and to mop the floors.

I sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time today. Then I jumped as the microwave beeped, loudly telling me it was done.

I took my food to the living room and sat in there, waiting for a message from Oli.



Around seven, the door bell rang. It scared me for a second, making me jump. I pulled myself off the couch and went to look.

I pulled the door open, slowly at first, then completely when I saw it was only Oli standing there.

“You didn’t text me first” I said, smiling a little.

“Sorreh, I fergot” He told me. I smiled and shrugged it off.

“You can come in, just let me get my jacket and keys” I told him, moving out of the way.

He walked in, his face mirroring shock. “Yeh house is ‘uge” He murmured.

“Not really, I’d be fine with a smaller house if my parents were home more often” I murmured the second part, hoping he didn’t hear that. I was usually good with holding my tongue about my family problems, but not always.

I grabbed my keys and jacket off the couch and pulled on my shoes. I left the TV on so it wouldn’t be so quiet when I got home.

I walked back in to where Oli was still standing, glancing around wearily. I gave him a motion to go, and we both left, me locking the door behind me.

His old car was parked in my driveway, and as I walked up to the passenger side door, Oli beat me to it and opened it. I was surprised at how nice he was being, but didn’t think too much of it passed then.

As I was getting in, I got the strangest feeling I was being watched. I glanced around for a second and didn’t see anything, so I told myself to forget about it.

On the way over to Matt’s, Oli and I made small talk. Not talking about much in particular.

He told me some jokes, made me laugh some just to lighten the mood.

When we got to what I assumed was Matt’s, he just walked right in. We were greeted with calls from the living room and four guys piled in chairs and the couch.

I smiled at them all, choosing to stay quiet.

Matt stood up and gave me a quick hug, leaving the rest to just a short hello. Matt made Curtis get up and move so that Oli, him and I could sit on the couch with me between the two of them.

I sat back and listened at they all argued over what movie they were going to watch. Everyone except Lee wanted to watch a scary movie, him wanting action. When he finally gave up, they argued over what movie.

“I say ‘ouse of 1000 Corpses” Vegan tossed in. Matt threw a pillow at him.

“No, we seen tha’ one like a million times. I want to watch Night of tha Living Dead” He argued.

“Well, I want ta’ watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Oli interjected.

“I agree with Olleh, Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Curtis backed him up.

I honestly didn’t care what we watched, I just wanted all this arguing to stop.

Then, Matt turned to me. “Kyle, yeh pick. We’ll nevah make a decision this way.”

I looked at all of them, leaning forward to give me these sad, puppy dog stares. I just shrugged.

“I’ve seen all three of them, but it’s been the longest since I’ve seen Texas Chainsaw. So I pick that one” I said, being cut off by Oli and Curtis cheering. Matt and Vegan looked pissed, but they just shook it off.

Begrudgingly, Lee got up to put in the movie, and I got comfortable on the couch. I pulled off my jacket, knowing that sitting in between Matt and Oli was going to get warm pretty quickly.

As it started, I found myself leaning on Oli. He didn’t seem to mind, so I didn’t make any motion to move.

Throughout the movie, we all jumped and I shielded my eyes in Oli’s shoulder a few times. Texas Chainsaw Massacre wasn’t the worst movie, but it still freaked me out.

When it was over, the five of them got into their own conversation, me just sitting back and listening.

From what I could tell, they were talking about a band. Their band, apparently. I didn’t ask any questions about it, figuring I would ask Oli later.

Then I started to wonder. What were all of them doing over here when they were obviously from the UK? I had never thought to wonder that until now.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked suddenly, not thinking about how rude it sounded until it was already out of my mouth.

They all looked at me shocked, not sure what to say. Then I realized what was wrong and tried to correct myself.

“I-I mean, you’re obviously not from here. Why are all of you over here?” I said, looking down in shame.

Then I heard them all laughing.

“We came ova ‘ere for our band. We were kinda popu’la in Sheffield, so we decided to come ova ‘ere” Lee spoke up. I just nodded.

I mean, it kind of made sense.

Around ten, everyone started to leave finally. I gave everyone hugs, having gotten a little closer to them now. I grabbed my jacket and walked with Oli out to his car.

On the ride home, I decided to ask about his band.

“Et’s called Bring Meh Tha Horizon” He explained, his accent just as heavy as normal, “We’re ah, I guess yeh could say, ‘eavy Metal band.”

I nodded. I was a fan of some heavy music. “Well, next time you play a show, I’ll have to come” I told him.

He grinned, “Alright.”

I thought about asking to listen to one of their Cds, but then I thought maybe he didn’t want to hear his own music.

When we pulled up to my house, I made a move to get out, but Oli stopped me.

I looked at him, confused. He nodded his head towards my porch.

“What’s tha?” He asked.

I looked over and my eyes widened. “Someone’s sitting on my porch.”

He glanced at me, “Do yeh recognize them?” I nodded.

“Who?”

“Cameron.”