If I Had Known

I sat on top of my desk in my bedroom, and stared out the window at the gray, wet street. It had been raining since I had woken up that morning, a cold drizzle that dampened everything. Similar to the weather, silent tears coursed their way down my cheeks as I sat there.

Grounded

I couldn’t believe I was grounded. I hadn’t been grounded since I was a little girl. Of course, I haven’t had any friends since I was little, and it’s impossible to ground someone when they’re home all the time anyways. Were friends always connected with such bad things?

Shrugging off the thought, I turned and looked at my bedroom. There was nothing on the white walls that spoke of me, my mother had put it all up. I wasn’t allowed to put anything of my own up.

My Mom was always controlling my life.

She had been in a particularly foul mood last night. Bursting into my room, she practically screamed at me to get off the phone, and stood there watching me until I said goodbye to my boyfriend, then she told me she “had half a mind to ground me.”

I don’t know what I did.

I exist, that’s what I did.

Suddenly, a strong determination to get away took hold of me. I jumped off my desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out my purse. After checking how much money I had, I cast a glance at my clothes hanging in my closet, then decided against taking them. Carefully, quietly, I opened the door to my bedroom and peeked out. No one was there, so I exited and went to the front door, opening it and going out.

Looking down the street, I decided to go to my best friend’s house. Maybe she would help me. Sandra lived only a few houses down the street, I could go there and stay awhile, to give my mother a good scare.

It only took me a matter of minutes to get to Sandra’s house, but by the time I got there, my clothes were damp and I was starting to feel the cold. I rang the doorbell, and a moment later Sandra opened the door.

Sandra was nearly a year older than me, but both of us were the same maturity. She had long, dark blonde hair, with lighter highlights in it, that I had always admired. Her light blue eyes were usually sparkling with laughter, but right now they were filled with surprise.

“Lynae! I thought you were grounded!” Sandra exclaimed.

“I am,” I answered grimly.

“Then what are you doing here?” Sandra wrinkled her brow, confused.

“I’m running away.”

“What?! Lynae, don’t.” Sandra’s voice took on a pleading tone, and her eyes begged with me not to do it.

“I’m going to,” I replied sulkily, lowering my eyes to the doorstep.

“No, Lynae. Just go home, and wait. It’ll all be over soon. Believe me, if you run away now, you’ll ruin your life forever.”

I remained silent, staring at the ground.

“Lynae?”

“Okay, I’m going home!” I snapped, then added more gently, “You’re right, I”m sorry.”

Sandra gave me a hug, then told me goodbye and went back into her house. I slowly turned and trudged down the porch steps, then turned in the direction of my house.

I had every intention of going home, but when I reached it, I just kept walking. I had a new destination in mind. It would take me awhile to get there, and I prayed that he would be there when I arrived, but I was going.

Forty-five minutes later, I arrived at my boyfriend Kael’s house. By this time, I was completely soaked through, and shivering severely from the cold. I rang the doorbell and waited, stamping my feet in a vain attempt to warm up. I rang the doorbell again, becoming very afraid that he wasn’t home. I was scared enough that tears welled up in my eyes. This time I heard a noise inside, and the door opened up.

Kael stood and stared at me for a second, then without a word reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me into his house. He looked at me with worry in his warm brown eyes, his reddish-brown hair falling into his face in the way that made me love it so much.

“What happened? How did you get here? You’re freezing cold,” he murmured consecutively, wrapping his arms around me, despite the fact I was getting him wet.

“I walked,” I answered, my body and mind feeling numb.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I think I was running away.”

“Why would you do a thing like that?” Kael looked at me, concerned, as he brushed some of my brown hair behind my ear with his fingers.

“I don’t know, I can’t remember exactly,” I said faintly, staring down at the floor.

“Come on, I’m taking you home, okay?” Kael lingered with his arms around me, then turned and quickly ran down the stairs to his basement. Later he returned with his car keys and two coats, the thicker of which he handed to me.

Putting on the coat, I followed Kael out to his car and got in on the passenger’s side. He started up the vehicle, and we started driving.

“Don’t ever do something like this again, okay? I love you too much for this.”

I nodded in response to Kael’s words. He looked at me, and I raised my eyes to meet his. After a bit, I couldn’t hold his gaze anymore, so I looked at the road.

Headlights.

The loud crashing noise was over before I realized what had happened. There was a sharp pain in the side of my head, and in my right knee. Come to think of it, I couldn’t feel my right arm at all. Everything was deathly silent and dark, all I could discern was that the dashboard was closer to me than it should have been. Presently, I became aware of the rain, and the blue and red flashing lights.

“Kael?” I spoke uncertainly, reaching my left hand out to see if I could feel him. Only rain and outside voices answered me. My hand touched something wet and sticky, but it felt wrong. It couldn’t have been Kael.

A loud scraping noise came from my right, and rain came pounding in as the door was ripped away. A bright light shone in on my face, and a man said, “It’s okay Miss, you’re going to be alright.”

“My boyfriend, is he . . .?”

“We’ll get him out next. We’re going to have to move you now, is that okay?”

I nodded dumbly, and the man set to work getting me out of the mangled car. A few minutes later, I was laying on a stretcher, being loaded into an ambulance.

A few days later, I learned the awful truth; Kael was dead.

A/N: I wrote this for Creative Writing. Yay! And if you're wondering, that is the end.