Requital hope

Forty-three

Yibo's Pov

The rest of the day continued similarly, with a few customers here and there. Before I knew it it was time to head home. As I headed in the back to tell Sandra I was heading home for the day I bumped into Sarah. I guess she was checking out for the day as well.

"Oh, are you two heading home?" Sandra asked, noticing us entering the room.

"Yeah I'm heading out." I informed her, pointing towards the door.

"Same." Sarah sighed, looking annoyed
and impatient.

"Alright. Before you two go I left a bag for each of you to bring home in one of the displays. It's nothing special, just some items I thought I'd reward you with." She mentioned as she looked through some paperwork.

"Thank you Sandra." I was really happy to receive a bag. I'm saving up for my own
apartment, my own independent life, so I'll
take a free meal any day. I'd rather not tell
them that though.

Sarah stayed quiet and left the room without saying anything. I followed behind her after thanking Sandra once more. I walked over to the display and took out my bag. When I looked up I saw Sarah heading for the door. I quickly snagged her bag and handed it to her before she could leave the diner.

"You're forgetting something." I said, holding out the bag. She gave me a strange look before removing it from my hands. Again she was silent, not speaking. She just walked out the door and headed in the opposite direction of me.

After watching her disappear into the oncoming darkness I started my trek home. I thought to myself as I stared into the deep setting sky. There was barely enough light to brighten the path home but I've been down this route enough times not to get lost or stumble over any objects lying about.

I thought about how I would approach the others. Cindy and Zhao did not respond how I'd hoped. I'm still in the dark about this situation. I find it stupid that no one is even trying to talk to me. What's going on?

My father was out drinking again so when I returned to the house it was quiet. I took a lengthy shower, continuing to plan out my next approach. I have to find someone tomorrow because the longer I wait the harder it's going to get to fix everything. I got out of the shower and headed to bed. I pulled the baby blue penguin cover-up to my neck after turning out the lights. I drifted to sleep, slowly. I don't know how long I was out but sometime during the night I woke up drenched in a cold sweat.
My panting was heavy and my body was shaking. It was another night terror. I haven't had one in so long I figured they were gone for good. It was devastating knowing the problem was resurfacing. I had no one to talk to or comfort me about it... I was all alone again. I curled up into a ball, trying to make myself as small and contained as possible, but it didn't help hold back the tears. I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in Zhan's arms, but not only does he not like me, it seems he hates me. I never wanted things to end up this way, heck I don't even know what I did to upset him and all of my "friends".

In the morning I got ready for school. I didn't have much time to sleep and it was getting pretty late, so I couldn't stop in at the diner for breakfast but I still had the bag Sandra gave me yesterday. I unrolled and parted the top of the paper bag revealing a dinner roll, a bagel, and a bottle of "The World's Brightest Orange Juice". I smiled and giggled to myself a little. To be honest this was something I really needed. My world is becoming darker with every passing day so this is a nice pick-me-up. It's almost as if Sandra knew my love for orange juice.

Before I headed out I took a quick look in the shattered mirror. The appearance I saw
through the small shards of glass was no
surprise, the bags under my eyes were so
noticeable, it was almost as if I were wearing a sign that read "Sleep deprived" on my face.