Chapter 2: Chapter2

#Chapter2

The world outside was plunged into chaos; rain pelted down from the grey skies with the force of bullets and thunder boomed in the distance.

Water droplets blurred the window, distorting the view of the garden and all that lay beyond. I watched sadly; the three T-Rex toys that stood on the window shared my disappointment.

I was supposed to be at the park. It was only down the road and I often took Duncan there because it was a great excuse to goof around on the equipment without getting judgmental looks. The rain had spoilt my plans.

/"We can go tomorrow, I guess,/" I said to Vinnie, my little plastic long neck dinosaur. I knew the real names for them but I struggled to say them; they were long and I usually ended up giggling before getting the whole world out. /"If this stupid, stupid rain stops./"

Thunder roared, as though answering my question. I let out a tiny yelp and jumped back, glaring at the window accusingly. I had tidied my room days ago; after being kept inside all day, it was now wrecked.

My bed was set in the centre of the room, a nightstand either side. A dinosaur lamp sat on one of them, along with a half-drunk glass of milkshake and googly-eye glasses. A rocket ship alarm clock sat on the other one. An open magazine sat there, too, along with a baby blue pacifier. It was mine; I wasn't worried about anybody walking in and seeing it. Nicky or Glenn--her boyfriend--would have just assumed that it was an old one of Duncan's that he had left in there.

The floor beyond the foot of my bed had become a war zone. I had emptied my tub of little green soldiers and had spent almost an hour lining them all up, making them guard Pluto, my skeleton dog stuffie. Pluto was afraid of thunderstorms and I wanted to make sure that he felt safe.

My wardrobe doors were closed, the tiny basketball hoop that had been stuck on there forming a lookout tower for my action man, and my Hotwheels track ran from my desk, a pile-up of little cars that I had been too lazy to pick up after letting them run the track.

Nicky would insist that I tided it again but I loved it when it was a mess. It made finding things fun and exciting and everything became a game.

/"Vinnie, should we save the villagers?/" I asked, eyeing the little figurines of Marvel characters that stood on my desk. They were made of porcelain and had been a gift for Christmas; I wasn't supposed to play with them as they were meant to be ornaments. That had never stopped me before.

We saved the villagers. Iron Man was so grateful that he made Vinnie a spacesuit, letting him become the very first dinosaur in space. Planet models dangled from my ceiling, going well with the deep blue of the walls, capturing the spacey feel flawlessly. I bounced on my bed with Vinnie so that he could experience space.

Nicky had hoped that my new job would help me mature; it hadn't. I had been working there for two weeks now, three days a week. I had passed my trial; I had amused Kyle, the guy that I had been paired with until I was ready for busier shifts. He said I was like the puppy that his parents had never let him have.

He found me amusing and kept finding new things for me to do so he could laugh at me. He let me bite a lemon slice last shift and had fallen about laughing when I had spluttered and gagged. He had said that I was clumsy but not completely incompetent and that I held potential.

I liked Florence, too. She had worked a shift with me and we had gotten along really well. I had decided that the manager Graham, wasn't that bad, either. He came across as scary and grumpy but he was funny at times.

So was Joel.

He was the assistant manager and he had taken to teasing me whenever we bumped into each other. He was really nice. He had even given me a lift back home from work on my last shift so that I didn't have to pay for a taxi. It had been three in the morning and Nicky and Glenn were asleep so they couldn't have fetched me and the buses weren't running.

Thinking about him had me flopping onto my bed and pulling out my phone. The screen was cracked from the number of times I had dropped it-which was at least three times a day-but it still worked fine. Well, for the most part. Sometimes I had to put it on speakerphone to hear phone calls because there were times when I couldn't hear anything when I held it to my ear.

Nicky said I wasn't allowed a new one until I proved that I could be trusted. I had spilt my mug of tea over it at breakfast this morning and from the look she had given me, I wasn't so sure that it was going to be anytime soon.

I had the numbers of my new friends. Kyle had given me his and I had to have Graham because he was the boss man and I needed it in case I had to call in sick. Joel had given me his after he had dropped me off home last shift. He said to call him if I ever got stranded at work and needed a lift home.

I almost knew his number off by heart; I had been studying it over and over again, trying to decipher if it had been a genuine offer or not. I knew that sometimes people made fun of me. I knew they thought I was too dumb to get the fact that they were laughing at me; I wasn't, I just didn't care. I had seen how quickly life could be snatched and I had made it my ambition in life to enjoy every single second of it.

comment 0 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

Load failed, please RETRY