Psychotic craze

“Shall I Jump on?” Toby shouted as I flew carelessly through the air, it took me a while to register what he was saying and I quickly dug my shoe into the ground hard to stop myself swinging. My fingers were frozen around the rope, as I was holding it so tightly; I relaxed my body around the swing as the swinging came to a complete stop.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Toby smirked walking towards me, shaking his head sending his hair flying in every direction.

“Well, this looks fragile, just imagine you jumping on and the force ripping the ropes knot apart and both of us collapsing on the floor.” I shook my head and he frowned.

“Are you calling me fat?”

“No! You’re not fat, you have a very good bod-“ I stopped suddenly changing the subject but he grinned childishly and folded his arms, he sent a casual hand through his slightly wet hair and continued to give me that odd look.

“I have a very good what?” He raised his eyebrows as I turned my back on him. I kicked off from the ground again and swung through the air, I loved the feel of the bitter wind hitting my cheeks, and it was highly soothing against my skin. Toby just stood there watching me and laughing as the rush through the air pleased me, it was a thrill and it was making me feel better. Just as I swung upwards again I leaned back to feel the rush through the air and then I heard a loud snapping noise. My eyes opened quickly and before I knew it the rope was slipping through my fingers and I wasn’t going from side to side anymore, I was going down! I landed on my back and the rope collapsed on top of me, the old tyre rolled next to me with a thud. I groaned as my hands sunk into some mud and then I shuffled myself forwards to get out of the mud.

“Alison!” Toby shouted rushing over to observe me, covered in mud.

“I’m fat!” I screamed in a high pitched overly dramatic voice.

“No, you’re not fat, you actually have a very nice bod-“ Toby deliberately stopped and laughed down at me, I drew my hand back and pushed it through the mud and then I flicked it upwards at Toby, who backed away quickly.

“I was supposed to get you home in one piece!” He shook his head in disapproval.

“I am in one piece.” I exclaimed.

“You won’t be if we continue to linger within these trees.” He said in a serious tone, I blinked at him for a few seconds and then we both burst out laughing. Toby offered me his hand, I took it slowly and he pulled me up quickly, facing him, we stood there for a few seconds, when I started to feel awkward. I turned and glanced around making it seem natural, he walked forwards and I followed hoping my mother wouldn’t be at home, if she saw the state of me she would start questioning and fussing.

“So, Daniel seems to be alright now. . .” He began out of the blue, I knew he wanted to know how that had happened, he probably noticed the way he was treating me before – everyone around us had picked up on it.

“Yeah, we had a – chat.” I finished, trying to dust myself off a bit, I could see the gate ahead now.

“Good. I mean, it’s good that you two are good.” He said uneasily, as we stopped in front of the gate, he let me flip over it first and then he gracefully landed next to me.

“So, I trust you can find your way from here right?” He laughed, nodding in the direction of my house, I looked down the street and recognised it immediately and nodded. I felt grateful towards Toby; he was so helpful and kind.

“Thanks.” I muttered and he grinned.

“No problem at all, glad I could help actually. It gets pretty boring here after a while, we needed something new to come, you know to stir the water a little.” He laughed.

“Anyway, I really need to go, Joni’s expecting me; I promised I’d take her to the movies later.” He glanced down at his watch and at me again.

“Okay, thanks again and have fun!” I smiled walking towards my house, I quickened my pace as the rain started to fall again, just as I opened the door I glanced back to see him leaning against the gate looking in my direction. I entered my house slowly and he began walking away, his phone to his ear. How nice of him, I thought, to take his little sister to the movies, not many guys would do that these days.

I tip-toed around the living room, taking my shoes off, I put them against a draw and stopped before entering the kitchen, there was someone there. I listened in intently and was thankful that my mom hadn’t seen me yet.

“James, we can’t, they could be back, in fact they should be back already, and I’m not even supposed to be home yet!” I heard my mom whisper seriously.

“But Karen, it’s been forever, I miss you.” A deep voice replied, I heard the faint sound of kissing and I froze. Why did this bother me so much? She was a free woman, she had been free for a very long time now, I should have known she probably had someone. It was just hearing about it for the first time, listening to them both just beyond that door made it real. She wasn’t attached to my father like that anymore but I still felt as though she was cheating on him. I shook my head stupidly, they had broken it off years ago, he was gone now and I’d have to come to terms with that. The fact that my mom was probably dating seemed less important now, I relaxed a little.

“I know but, things have been out of balance lately, what with their father passing away, I told you we needed to cool things off, let Ally get settled in and then we’ll tell them both.” My mother breathed in between kisses. I heard the kissing sound get louder and I stood back from the door, not being able to move any further. The front door opened again and Daniel walked in annoyed, he didn’t see me, instead he stomped up the stairs and I heard his door slam shut afterwards. The breeze that rolled through from the front door being opened caused the kitchen door to shiver slightly and roll back just under an inch.

“It’s okay, there’s no one there now.” James mumbled quietly followed by more kissing sounds. I edged forwards a tiny bit and peeked through the crack. A man stood in front of her, he had dark hair and he was extremely tall, his shirt sleeves had been rolled up messily and his skin was lightly tanned. My mom was sat on the counter, her arms around him as they continued to stay glued together, kissing passionately. I saw his hand move over her leg slowly and I looked away immediately, if this was going to happen, I didn’t want to see or hear it. I backed away quickly and tip-toed to my room, shutting the door.

I picked out a change of clothes and walked towards the bathroom, ready to clean myself up.

* * *

“But you didn’t have to beat him up!” I hissed later in Daniels room, he had told he’d explain what happened later and it was later now.

“He deserved it, stupid prune.” Daniel refused to meet my eyes, he continued to gaze at his ceiling, a rugby ball in one hand and his other arm under his head.

“But, Daniel –“ I began again.

“No Ally, Alec told me what that guy said in Psychology, he deserved it.” Daniel snapped, I knew he wasn’t going to say anything else about it so we sat in silence for a couple of minutes. After what seemed like hours, Daniel sighed heavily and sat up in his bed swinging his legs over, he finally looked at me.

“Look, what he said was out of line, when Alec told me I wanted to rip this guys head off but then I was worried about you, I tried to find you everywhere and once I had seen you in the state that you were in, I couldn’t not do anything.” He explained.

“I’m sorry that you don’t like it but that’s how it is, he hurt you, I hurt him.” He finished quietly.

I looked up at him as our eyes met once more and then I laughed. His brows furrowed in annoyance as he stared at me confused.

“What’s so funny?” He stressed.

“Just that, a couple of days ago you hated me almost and now you’re all brotherly protective.” I sighed thinking about everything that had happened in the past couple of days.

“Well, get used to it, from now on, you sit with us at lunch and you stick with me.” He turned and leaved. I sat there with a slightly disapproving expression; I think I liked the other Daniel better, at least back then he didn’t care what I did; now it was going to be intense. He was going to be all defensive and big brotherly; I laughed quietly wondering how I could bring the other Daniel back, and even as I thought it, I knew I was stuck with this new over protective Daniel. Some part of me felt secure and safer after what he had just said, but another was making me slightly anxious, I didn’t know why but I guess I was always having delayed emotional reactions.

I sat for a few more minutes and then got up myself, hoping whatever went on downstairs had finished and that it was all clear, as I approached the landing I heard a confused voice.

“Who the hell is he?” I heard Daniel raise his voice slightly.