The Things We Hide

Nine

TUESDAY

The next morning, I woke up next to my phone, hearing a lot of background noise.

Eli and I were still on our call.

My mouth curled into a smile, thinking about our conversation last night. "Something about you is intriguing." He'd said from nowhere, "Like I've known you all my life."

I didn't tell him, but I had the same strange feeling about him. Like I'd known him in a past life. He just felt so familiar, safe.

The sound of running water pulled me away from my thoughts, "Hello?" I called into the phone.

"Good morning, beautiful." He responded back.

"Eli," I smiled uncontrollably, "good morning."

The sound of water grew louder. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Washing up, there is only an hour left until school starts."

I looked at the time, he wasn't wrong. "Crap!" I exclaimed, "Why didn't you wake me?" I took my phone and ran into the bathroom. "I tried but you were knocked out cold." He laughed.

"Oh gosh." I said freaking out. "Eli, I have to get ready for school, I'll see you there."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

The second I hung the phone up, I did my morning essentials. Brushing my teeth, putting my hair into a quick bun. Well as quick as my hair would allow me.

Not only was time an obstacle, but my legs were killing me. All that running Lisa made me do yesterday was starting to get to me.

When I was done with dressing (I decided to just wear a hoodie and jeans), I checked myself in the mirror one last time before almost leaving the house.

The second I was out the door, I stopped myself. Why hadn't no one else waken me this morning? Mom and dad were probably bugged down with work, but what about Kory? Why wasn't his smart mouth annoying me?

"Hello?" I called from the front door. Dead silence answered.

I looked down at my phone. My dad hadn't called, and neither had mom. "Kory?" I called once more, this time a little louder in case he didn't hear me.

No answer.

I looked over at the driveway. His car was gone, mom's car was gone, and so was dad's car.

Where the hell was everyone?

As soon as I locked the door, I raced to my car. Once I was inside, I locked all the doors, turned the car on, and dialed Kory.

No answer, the call went straight to voicemail. Was he phone off? Dad made that one of the unbreakable rules of this house. Phones were never to be turned off, we needed to be able to reach each other at all times. So why was his phone off?

Worry began to wash over me.

The attack last night...

"No." I told myself, putting my car in gear. There was no way he was attacked. Dad or mom would've said something right? He was probably just at his girlfriend's house and let his phone die accidently. I'd see him in school shortly, we didn't have any classes together, but I knew where his loker was, and where his classes were located. I'd see him.

While on the way to school, I dialed up my mom. She answered immediately, "Sweetie, thank God you're okay. My phone died, and it was charging." She said, "Are you okay?"

"Yes ma'am, I was just checking on you,you haven't come off shift yet, everything okay?"

There was yelling in the background, "I have to go, I love you."