Chapter 5 - Not Where I'm Supposed To Be

The feeling of darkness surrounding me. For some it's like when you can't sleep, laying in a dark room only hearing faint sounds around you. But for me it's different. It's a different type of darkness. Instead of just the darkness little kids are scared of it's the darkness that even adults fear.

It's a shadow of pain washing over me, a storm that showed up in a matter of seconds on an otherwise sunny day. It covered all of the sunshine and left me with the darkness of night without the moon or stars. And left me wondering if I'll ever get out. If the storm will ever leave.

Please leave.

It feels as though I'm laying on a cloud, light surrounds me and I feel like all of my pain has gone away in a matter of seconds. The feeling is foreign, something I've never felt before.

My eyes are closed but light still shines through making me open my very tired eyes and sit up. The feeling of pain returns to me with this action, which was to be expected.

Somehow, the feeling of clouds under me doesn't fade. So I look down. I come face to face with a bed, white sheets surround me and pillows line the edges. The bed is sitting in a light wooden frame.

When my tired eyes look up again, the fog obscuring my vision now gone, a window lies in front of me. White lines the edges and cuts the through the middle multiple times, round at the top edges. It's pretty big, the source of most of the rooms natural looking light.

My eyes close, hurt from the sudden exposure to the bright light shining through the window. They start to burn, making me fall back into the warmth of the bed.

Suddenly fear washes over the other feeling of pain in my senses. This isn't my bed. It doesn't look like a hospital bed either thank god.

But I'm not familiar with this place, and I can't find a clock anywhere when I sit up and search frantically for everything not worrying about the pain rushing through my body.

This is not where I'm supposed to be.

Slowly a door to my right opens and somebody walks out but my head pounds, before I can look at the person my head goes under the blanket and I curl up in a ball. My view to the culprit, my possible kidnapper,  being blocked and hopefully his of mine.

"Woah there...Summer?" The familiar voice asks is a soft tone while approaching me, but it's unknown for him to call me by my actual name.

That's the voice of River.

"Mhmm?" Is all I'm able to muster out even though I want to ask so much more but the headache I have is killing me. "Wow, good job using your voice." He says sarcastically.

I slowly move my gaze to the doorway on the other side of the room, where Kingston leaned against the doorframe silently. His gaze set on me.

He looks at me, and even at this state he smiles and bites his lip, turning his body away from me but his head still looking.

I slowly peel some of the blanket away from my eyes to send River a painful glare, wet hair curls in front of his face and drips drops of water onto his towel.

I rub my eyes and bring some of the blanket down, squinting and looking in his direction. He walks over to a sink.
A sink in this bedroom.
Rich.

He gets me a glass of water and slowly hands it to me before going over to the bright window and closing the bamboo blinds in front of it.

I take a drink, slowly little by little quenching my thirst in my dehydrated body. Soon He stands in front of me waiting for me to empty the glass, and when I do he grabs it from me and puts it in a sink.

"Now before you start freaking out on me, please let me explain." He starts and I interrupt through a mumble "I don't freak out.." I'm not sure if he heard, he stirred and then sat on the bed next to my feet.

My knees curled up to my chest making me a ball, he is more at where my knees would've been.

He's like a parent figure, he's always taking care of me and I feel so bad.

After a moment of silence, he breaks, "Kingston picked you up and brought you to me after he saw what you did. He can't necessarily... being you to his house. I might not know or care about you at all but you should not do that." He says, and I sigh. I understand that he doesn't care, nobody does. But to be told that clearly to my face hurts what little humanity I have left in me.

"Dude.... not the right move." Kingston says and River growls but Kingston shakes his head, "What I'm not wrong! Don't hurt her feelings, she's never done anything to you and she's so sweet to everybody. Call your tits cause they seem to be in a twist like panties."

I hum a noise as close as I can to a 'keep going' sound to River, but it just comes out as an 'mmmm' sound. The mix of emotions I don't have all coming out at once is overwhelming, fueling my headache more.

I look up at Kingston and smile a little, making his face light up.

River sighs and I turn my head to him, "Just do not do that, it is not worth your life because you are a little bit depressed. You have nothing to be sad about, so just eat and then sleep." He says and I look at him with a look of confusion.

The audacity in this confident bitch.

To assume I don't have problems, that I don't have a reason to cut, but oh hell I do. I stand up abruptly, needing to get out. Away from another person who hates me, who assumes. I'm get closer to the pain I'll endure since it's almost time for me to be home but... I'm not there.

As soon as I try to stand up though my head explodes, making me wobble as a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist. Effective if I didn't have multiple bruised ribs. I close my eyes and flinch from the pain.

I look up to see Kingston, he moves closer to me and was now holding me up.

His eyes are wide.

Oh god oh fuck popular guy holding me up, my heart-

I swallow, hard, turning to River as Kingston lays his head in the crook of my neck. His soft hair tickles me.

I breathe in, looking at Kingston with bright eyes.

Slowly I turn my head to River again "You can't find out so much about me in such a little amount of time, River." I grind out through clenched teeth.

He just stares at me with that look that all of us have during math class where we are like, what the fuck is happening?

Slowly his calm low voice starts talking again, "You should go eat, but I am not letting you leave before you eat and sleep." He says and I look at him with a shocked look I can't explain, a look of shock mixed with confusion maybe?

"What...?" He says and I chuckle at his confusion. "I'm leaving. Like right now, like you call it 'strict parents'"

Kingston pops his head up, "No, you're not. It's not good for you ." He says and I roll my eyes, "when have you guys ever cared when something was good for me?"

"Since forever, Darling." Kingston says, slowly picking me up and placing me softly on my bed. "Even if I'm a popular asshole I'll always be nice to somebody who has never done wrong." He explains, he slowly fixed the bed a little before hoisting me up onto him and then back down on the bed.

"Sleep, Darling. I'll watch you since I'm the worst cook ever, and River'll get you some food."

He sits down on the bed next to me, his hand stroking my forehead to distract me from my raging headache.

How did this change so quickly?

I mean sure he was never mean to me, but he's the most popular guy in school, with his perfect blonde hair and perfect body and eyes and everything.

But I don't really think about it too hard, because I fall asleep in two seconds.

..for the first time I'm calm when somebody touches me. I'm not heaving or panicking, it's like he was meant to do this. Cause he's the one person I'm not scared of.

And I don't know why.