Thrust Into His Arms

"No." She answers. "Not yet. He might not be coming home today. He said he was calling you. Why didn’t you pick up your phone?"

Phone? "I did not hear it ring." I respond solemnly.

"Gweneth, look at me. Talk to me. What is wro—

"I’m tired. I’m going to go up to my room." I cut in. Standing up, taking my bag and going to my room. I’m tired of all the questions.

All the talk. Why do that when they will not understand at the end of the day?

She blocks me, holding my hand. "You have not answered my question." She presses.

I look straight at her. "I will. When Dad returns." I sidestepped her and climb up the wooden stairs. A couple up, and I turn back to tell her. "Do not call me for dinner or anything. I do not want to be disturbed." Mom just stared at me speechless with her mouth opening and moving with no words coming out.

It is unlike her as she always cynically knows what to say and tries to push for answers. Perhaps it is the look in my eyes that deterred her.

I enter my room and engaged the lock. Total solitude. That is what I need right now. That gives me a thought. Mom and Dad have a spare key to my room. They would use it to come in and that would ruin the solitude I want.

I come out and went to their room. I hear her downstairs speaking on the phone to Dad about me. Good. I would not be able to do this if she was here. The searching did not take up to a minute before I find the key in one of the many drawers. I take it, returning to my room.

Then I do a headstand against the door, something that I have not done in ages. It was difficult to get into the position steadily but I managed it. My phone rings no sooner than that. It ends and rings again. I go to check it and see that it is Dad calling. The call ends. I see countless missed calls.

Dad and some other unknown callers. He calls again and I receive it. "What is going on? Your mom just called me."

"Shit." I respond in an emotionless flat tone.

"What?"

"That’s what is going on. Shit."

"Your schoolmates?"

"I said that I did not want to go to another school but you people did not just listen.

Wanna know what happened?

Come home and I’ll tell you. I bet you already know though." I say, and end the call. Turning my phone off and doing the headstand once again. Using it as an alternative for crying as I’m tired of that.

**************************

Dad comes home maybe an hour later. He and mom are banging on my door right now. "Gweneth, open the door right this minute or I’m breaking the lock!" Mom threatens.

"No don’t do that. Threatening will not work. We don’t know what she is dealing with." Dad hisses in a whisper.

"That is because she is not letting us find out. Coaxing won’t get us anywhere."

"Neither would threatening. Calm down and don’t ruin this okay?"

"Kiddo please open the—" The words hang mid-sentence, so does his hand knocking as I open the door. Speaking first before them.

"Is it true that you paid for them to be friends with me?" A dead silence first answers me, before they do.

Mom starts, "How did you....?"

"That does not matter. You both think that I’m a loser."

"No kiddo. Annette was the daughter of your mom’s friend so I thought maybe you guys co—"

"Ellen is not my friend." Mom interrupts. "We only just met twice at the grocery store. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Now is really not the time." He tells her. "I told you it was a bad idea. But you said that she would not find out."

"When did you ever say that?"

"I did—"

"Both of you, stop it." That came out low and tiredly cause I don’t have the strength for raising my voice to yell at them.

"Why?" I croak. "Why would you do that if you didn’t think I was a loser?"

He guiltily keeps his gaze away from mine. "I was afraid that you might be lonely."

"And the only solution to that was hiring "friends"? Did I ask for that? I would’ve preferred being alone. Going to a new school would help me get over it? All you did was to create another embarrassment for me.

Layer upon layer, it would just. . . Never go away now, would it?" I sob, falling apart in tears.

FOUR DAYS LATER

**********SAN FRANCISCO********

CALIX

"They all in here." K says, sliding a big brown envelope on the table over to me. I frown, seeing how weightless it is. It feels almost empty.

"Is this all you got?" I asked, unimpressed.

"There are fifteen pictures in there. It’s not like I’m a professional spy or anything. And you said to be very discreet so she does not notice.

I almost got caught a few times. I would be sitting in jail right now if that had happened and you won’t get your photos."

"Jail my ass. Just say you were lazy."

That place is indeed built for criminals. Like us. We may be organized, but that is what we are. It’s built for us but we’d never go there. Because we made ourselves far too powerful for that.

Any security official that values their lives and that of their families would think twice before putting someone like us in prison.

"My father would kill me if he hears that I got held for such a small crime. It would be shameful."

I sigh, taking out the pictures and start looking at them one after the other.

"She does not go around much. School, home. Sometimes the daycare to pick up her brother. She goes nowhere else."

"School? She transferred?" I keenly inquire.

He blinks seeming confused. "Is that question seriously for me? How am I supposed to know that when you clearly don’t?"

"What school?"

He looks up at the celling like it has the answer. "West something— I don’t know."

I zero my gaze on him. "You don’t know?"

"How can I? I only watch her from afar whenever she comes out." Fair point.

"Does she seem. . . Happy?"

"I don’t know dude. See for yourself. You know her, I don’t."

He is right, I do know her. For the worse.