Act 2 | Chapter 16
The alarm on my phone went off later the next morning. I sat up in bed and looked around. It was quiet, and the air was still chilly. I stayed bundled up in my blanket while I slowly woke up. It didn't take long for me to remember the night before. Hannah was gone, and no one would find her, I made sure of it. My trunk was once again leaning up against my bed, and inside of it, a fresh can of dark red paint. "It will be fun to use that later." I stood up and stretched my arms upwards, closing my eyes and letting out a relaxed sigh. My room was still a bit of a mess, but it wouldn't be like that for much longer. My phone rang and I looked down at it. It was Riley, and apparently, she had tried calling me three times already this morning. Actually, it wasn't even morning, it was like one in the afternoon.
"Hello?" I said, picking up the phone.
"Morning Zoe!" Riley replied, sounding a bit more cheerful than the last time I saw her.
"Morning. You sound much better."
"Yup. Took my car to my uncles, and had my mum pick me up later. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to fix, so until then, I'm driving my mom's car. My uncle insisted on fixing the engine and giving it a second coat of paint, so pretty much he is going to be fixing everything wrong with it.
"Oh, is the home today?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Yup. She's going to be out exercising with her friends today though, so we won't see her much."
"Alright." I nodded slightly and sighed, "Anyways, I'll be getting dressed soon, so I guess I'll see you in a couple of minutes?"
"Of course! I'll see you soon." Riley said. Both of us hung up. I turned and looked down at myself. I had showered the night before but could use a clean pair of clothes to change into. I stood there for a minute or two taking a few calming breaths and thinking about the night before. It was over now. Maria's other friends usually leave me alone, and now with Hannah gone, I literally don't have to worry about them anymore. They can't pin it on me, because Hannah started blaming other people alongside me, but hey, it's over now. I would still need to watch out for the police, and make sure to leave no evidence, well aside from the can of Hannahs blood sitting in my art trunk. With everything out of the way, and me moving out and away from home, I didn't have anything else to worry about. I could focus on spending more time with Riley, I don't have to worry about my mother, Maria, Hannah, anyone. I can live away from home and with someone I love.
It took Riley about twenty minutes or so before she finally made it to my house. I opened my front door from her when I spotted her car approaching from the driveway.
"Hey!" I greeted her, opening the door further for her to step in.
"Hey!" She walked up. Riley hadn't ever actually been in my house now that I think about it. I've always gone to her's. When Riley stepped inside she took a look around and smirked a bit.
"It's a nice place. Definitely bigger than our apartment."
"Yeah, but it's not as nice. Come on." I gestured for her to follow me upstairs. It honestly felt weird in a way, having Riley follow me through my home, a place she has never been too before. I led her all the way to my room and stepped inside. She couldn't help but smile when she looked around at the girly atmosphere to my room.
"Where do we start?"
"I don't know?" Riley held in a giggle, walking over to my drawer and opening it. She lifted out one of my folded shit's and held it up to look at it. It was an older shirt that still technically fit me, but I usually wore it as pajamas instead. On it, was a design of a small bunny with a top hat. There was some stupid corny joke on there that I used to find pretty funny. "What on earth is this!" Riley chuckled.
"M- My old shirt. W- We should start with the cloths then." I shrugged, blushing slightly. I had brought up a few empty boxes from the basement and helped Riley fit all my shirts, pants, underwear, and socks into about three different boxes. We pushed them up against the door and started filling up some more boxes with any additional art supplies that didn't fit in my trunk. We took my sheet's my comforter, my pillows, and even my stuffed animals that sat at the top of my closet. We didn't need to take the bed, because the guest room has its own, behind the wall of old junk Riley and her mom had. There was also a wardrobe and set of drawers in there too I could use. One by one, the two of us carried the boxes out to the car. Riley put the two rows of seats in the backdown, and we started sliding everything in. A part of us wondered it everything might become too heavy for the car, but luckily it wasn't failing yet.
As we reached the last few boxes, I stopped and went to go get my things from the bathroom. The soap, shampoo, conditioner, black soap, and scrunchy. I grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and mints. Pretty much, I raided the bathroom dry, alongside my room. The last things we too from my room where my posters, and wall decorations. By the time we were done, it was almost four in the afternoon. We didn't really take breaks so we were able to get everything out really quick.
"Is that everything?" Riley asked, leaning against the side of the car and sighing. The back of the car was completely full, leaving hardly any room to climb in. A few boxes even had to be put up front under the dashboard where our feet would go.
"Should be." I looked back at the house. "Can you give me a minute?"
Riley nodded and climbed into the car, waiting for me when I was ready. I walked back into the house and stared around my kitchen. I had spent almost my whole life here. I remember running around the house and playing games alone, making my old dolls little tea parties in the kitchen when I was lonely. Slowly, I made my way through the rooms and looked back at everything. I had so many memories in this house, not all of them good. The last place I visited was the basement. I pulled the chain on the lightbulb and the dark storage room started to light up. My mother's pictures of me hung from a single span of string across the ceiling, beneath it a table with all her supplies. Paint cans, brushes, and other things she used on me. It infuriated me to be down here, looking back at all the times my mother abused me, humiliated me, mistreated me. I was going to be gone soon, and wouldn't ever have to look back at this place.
An idea came to mind, and I quickly retreated back upstairs to my garage. My dad had this old sledgehammer hanging on the wall from when he would go help out with some outdoor activities with his own friends. I lifted the hammer up and dragged it along the hardwood floor of the kitchen, not at all giving a shit if it left the brown wood all scratched up. There was one thing that I wanted to do. Slowly, I walked over to 'the closet.' My mother kept me locked up in here for hours on end, day after day for years. I frowned and put the hammer to the side, then grabbed at the back side of the closet and with all my might pushed it over. It fell to the hard stone ground and made a loud crashing sound as the wood shattered. Grabbing the handle of the sledgehammer, I raised it up high over my head and swung hard at the wooden furniture. Repeatedly, I hit it with the hammer, making holes and breaking the hinges, wooden frame, and stain of the wood. I didn't stop until I was wearing and could hardly breathe, the closet reduced to nothing more than a pile of broken materials.
"Fuck you." I groaned, and gave one last swing at the pile, leaving the sledgehammer in the new hole it made and walked away.