Peripeteia - CH. 6, p.1

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you." - Maya Angelou

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„ I heard something, and it's not the wind! ", I uttered and startled, fell back but Mason took my hand and brought me up standing again.

"You're delusional sometimes!", he said and gained an eye roll from my side, "you told me you saw ghosts last week in that attic, and you're telling me that I'm delusional?"

"It looked exactly like it! Even Derek thought that duvet cover was his granny Maya," Mason tried to defend himself, but I only raised an eyebrow, "yes, because he has the brain size of a squirrel," I kept on walking, but still felt like I was being followed. The wind took my strength with it.

"God, Melea, stop shivering! There is nothing here, okay?", Mason took my hand, and somehow calmed me that way. I stopped shivering and we kept on walking towards the big, olive alike-painted house. The wind came back; it felt like it was coming back for me. To take me somewhere else. A place I didn't know of back then.

It started to drizzle slightly, and Mason hissed a loud "Shit", by which as an answer he got my elbow in his sides and a quick "Mason, Manners," before we entered the house and he closed the screen door behind us.

"There you are!", Mason's Mother came towards us with her perfect smile. It was like the smile they always printed on these chocolate packages to show people the happiness chocolate gave us. The perfect smile. I ate way too much chocolate to ever have that smile.

"You want some cake?", she asked me and I nodded, showing my bare teeth.

"Oh, you just lost a baby tooth?", she asked curiously, "my second one," I answered proudly.

"Tss, I already lost three," Derek showed up out of nowhere and smiled. Sofia turned her head around and I saw her coming towards us, "I lost four, Derek. So, don't play the big 'man' here," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"How about you Mason? How many have you lost?" she asked, and he looked down, "two," he then answered, and clenched his teeth.

"Aren't you already 7?"she went on, and he replied with a quick, "I am."

"One more thing I am more mature in than you!" I interjected the conversation and smiled. Sofia laughed. We started dancing and singing our favourite song, while Derek and Mason looked at us like we were out of another world.

"Okay, stop this nonsense!", Mason's Mum laughed, and gestured us to the dining room.

"Let's eat, your parents are probably waiting! You don't want to let Veronica wait for so long, do you?" she winked at Derek and he quickly blushed. I twitched my mouth.

"Ew."

Sofia winked at me and I rolled my eyes, put a smile on my face and we began singing the song again. Hand in hand, we jumped towards the big dining hall, with Mason's mother singing with us and Derek and Mason trying to stay serious, but eventually joining our little karaoke session. I was sure of one thing in that moment; we'd always be together.

They were my family.



"Melea? Did you even listen to anything I just said?", Veronica crossed her arms in front of her chest, "sorry, I wasn't really paying attention."

"Doesn't matter, wasn't anything worth talking about anyways," Sofia replied and winked at me. I giggled.

"Ugh, wow. You are all soooo empathetic. Please don't do any job involving other individuals in the future – just for their own mental good," Veronica mumbled.

"Not finding the perfect shoes for this trip doesn't make you depressive," I looked down at my sneakers, and saw a big piece of mud on it. I twitched the corners of my mouth as I shook it off, "ew."

„Isn't it great we're going to this village all together?", Sofia was the optimistic one. As always.

"How often do we get to get together like this with friends?", she added to greaten our excitement, but earned the opposite from the two of us, "like, every summer," Veronica answered blankly and I nodded in agreement, "and you don't have to go on another field trip just to pass your classes," I added, as we gave our bags to the bus driver.

We were on our way to a two-day science excursion to a small village about four hours away from home. We would stay in a Hotel in the centre of the city for two days, and then return home on the third day.

Though I hated the idea of another field trip, I couldn't stop thinking about that childhood memory. It was a random thought crossing my mind on this sunny day, but one that stayed in my mind and let me drift off to a place long before I had gone on this bus.

It hadn't always just been Sofia, Veronica, Derek and me. We had been a quintet until 8 th grade had separated us. Until Mason had left us. Well, left me.

I had met him pretty early, maybe when I turned four. Or was it 3?

My dad had brought me downstairs, as friends from my mother wanted to come over.

"They have a little daughter, but unfortunately she couldn't come today. But, also a little son. Maybe you'll like him, "my mother winked at me, even though I had no idea at the age of what that wink would mean.

The doorbell rang, announcing a friendship I had from then only seen in movies or advertisements.

"They are here. Can you open the door? ", my mum asked my father, as she leaned closer to put his lips on his. The corners of my mouth twitched in disgust, but instead of doing the same, my father smiled and opened the door.

"Melea, would you like to show him your room?" my mother then asked me and I responded with a nod, though I wasn't sure what to talk about with him. But I didn't want to disappoint mum.

As my dad opened the door, I saw a slim woman with blonde hair. She had an incredible smile, which she revealed as she saw my mother. In her hands she held a pair of orchids, my mother's favourite flowers.

Beside her stood a tall man with dark, almost black hair. It seemed as if he was raging up from the ground itself, and it seemed as if it Silhouette was never ending. He had a kind of look on his face I could not quite identify, and unlike his wife, the corners of his mouth remained where they were as they were greeted inside.

As they walked further into our home, I recognized a little boy, standing there next to the tall man.

He was likely to be a little older than me, with brown eyes and light brown hair. Unlike his father, he wasn't as tall – but that was likely to be related to his age. When he saw me, he grinned and a row of white baby teeth bared themselves.

While my parents spoke about some more serious topics and with that, created some further distance between me and them, he approached me directly.

"I'm Mason, and you?", he asked me as if it was the first day of Kindergarten and it didn't matter who you were talking to, as they were all strangers anyways.

I had never been an open person until then. Rather shy. I observed people's behaviours in order to understand them, instead of actually getting to know them by talking to one another. But he was so open-minded, that I began finding value in this approach.

He did it in a sympathetic way. I couldn't describe it. But the way that he did it helped me to open up more.

"Melea. If you want, we can go up and I'll show you my room," I replied, and earned a grin in response, "yes, all they talk about it boring," he gestured to our father's, and I saw his holding some papers, while mine walked him to the room he spend hours in on a daily basis.

I chuckled, "come on then," I said and I ran up the right staircase to my room. He ran after me and as I turned around, a smile grazed his face. He got it from his mother. It somewhat warmed my heart.

He kept that special smile and I adored him for it. His parents divorced only a year after I had met Mason Cavanaugh. The first impression his father Jack had made on me proved itself to be true – he wasn't the nicest one to have around. And this wasn't just due to the divorce and Mason's Mum was one of the greatest mothers alive, but the way Mason personality changed whenever he had spent time with his father. He was closed off, sorrowful almost. I didn't know why, I didn't want to question him. I used to ask, but he remained silent or gave me this tired facial expression. So I decided to leave it alone. I hated to see him like that.

School had an important value to him. He was not someone who studied much, he was one of a kind. Smart by nature. The way he cared about school brought me to see more value in it too. Maybe that was why he transferred in 8th grade to another school, to get better education. Maybe not.

His three-year younger sister was his everything, and as his father spend less and less time with them, he evolved to be quite protective of her. I never quite understood their relationship, considering I never had a sibling, but seeing them together made me want to have one.

His mother worked as one of the main nurses in the central hospital not far from where I lived. The hours which were not within her working hours were mostly unpaid, causing some feuds between Mason and her. He had often been upset about her hard work not being recognized or rewarded.

As my father moved further on with his business, and extended his ways of receiving resources, they stopped their making business together. We remained friends; the business of our parents was never the reason for our friendship, and as we continued being in the same grade and the same class with one another, our little quintet formed itself somewhat naturally.

But then he transferred in 8th grade. The five of us were friends for nearly nine years by then.

Derek and Mason remained a close relationship with one another, and Sofia did speak with him from time to time as well. Surprisingly, even Veronica remained having some form of relationship with him, and she was not the best at keeping friendships alive.

But I never heard from him again.

"I'm excited. So, don't even try to bring me down," Sofia uttered to me and entered the bus, bringing me back to reality.

"You're too good for this world," I mumbled and went in after her, "well, someone has to be," she grinned, and I had to smile for some stupid reason.

The few people sitting in the bus flooded it with tangled whispers. The seats at the front, as well as in the very back had been taken by some jocks or gossipers I could not remember the names of. The air conditioner pumped through some filter, whistling as it withstand its own extreme pressure. Some swap their seats, and there is a quiet sneeze and a bold "bless you" going around.

As I looked through the bus with the stale air, I recognized Derek's light-brown-lad a bit further up in the back of the bus. He gave me a short nod to signalize that he had seen me, and recognized that one of the two seats that had been taken next to Derek was filled with Taylor's presence.

"I didn't know Taylor was coming with us," I stated as we walked further into the bus, "why, you suddenly don't want to spend time with the guy you disappeared with on that wedding anniversary?", Veronica asked, and I rolled my eyes, "I just didn't think he would show up. He doesn't seem to be interested in destroyed plant environments."

More like in planting specific ones for his own enjoyment.

"Hm, if you say so," Sofia shrugged her shoulders, and we moved further into the bus, towards the direction of the back seats, "where should we sit?"

"Melea," a sudden voice raised itself saying my name, and Sofia's and my head shelled to the direction it was coming from. Derek was doing something at his phone, while Taylor looked straight up at me. He was wearing a dark blue shirt, with white jeans and black shoes. His hair was, as always, a bit dishevelled, but his brown eyes laid on me.

"I'll go and sit down there," Sofia made her way up to the second last row and sat down. In that moment, Veronica came in and made her way through to sit next to Sofia. Sofia and not Derek? Did they still have that feud? How long would it last for this time?

I gestured to Derek and raised an eyebrow, as she responded with a begging look on the seat. An eye roll was my response, but I let her sit down there while I sat down at the row left of me. I took the window seat, to allow myself to enjoy at least some of the nature when I was already forbidden to have my friends right next to me, and took out my phone of the auburn bag to listen to some music.

"Didn't know you could speak without opening your pretty lips," Taylor uttered as he sat down the seat next to me.

"This", I gestured at his seat, then at time, "is not going to happen."

"Is that a personality trait from you? Being mad at attractive young men?", he smirked and earned an eye roll in response, "what is wrong?", he then asked.

I did not respond. I wasn't sure what it was myself. I barely knew him and he had done nothing wrong. Well, he was a bit touchy, but I let it happen. He didn't force anything on to me. Was I turning into Veronica? Did I just not like new people close to me? Or was I scared of something else?

"Pretty elegant for a drug dealer. Are you trying to clean up your dirty personality by your outside appearance? "I answered instead, but instead of being thrown off, he joined the play by saying, "I may have a business meeting later, I thought I'd be right to dress up for such an event," and ended his sentence with a wink.

I raised an eyebrow, and he added "come on, I told you I am not dealing," he said these words somehow with much more confidence than at that evening, but I still responded, "and I asked you a question, which you were not able to answer."

I bend down to get out the book we had to read for English. Pride and Prejudice. Might as well do something useful on this stupid bus.I leafed through the book to the last page, and commenced reading.

"Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them."

„You already finished? "he asked, his voice filled with surprise. I shook my head, „I haven't started. "

"Why are you reading the last page then? "he frowned, but I only shook my shoulders, "I always read the last sentence first."

He was quiet for a moment, "why's that?" he then continued, but I wasn't quite sure either, „I don't know. I just like to know what to expect."

He smirked, "why are you still keeping up with me then?" and his answer made me chuckle somehow, "you tell me."

"You're something else."

He just looked at me for a moment, "makes me wonder what you'd do in a moment without knowing the consequences."

"Maybe I'll surprise you," I answered and saw a challenging sparkle in his eyes, "I'd love to see that."

He pulled out earphones and plugged them into his phone. He held one out, asking me with a look if I wanted to share. I responded with a nod, took the one out of his hands. He did some stuff on his phone I couldn't see, and seconds later, soft music played right into my ear and let me forget about the stale air inside of this bus I could not get out of. I looked outside the window shield, and recognized from the corner of my eye how his eyes closed. And for some reason, I fell asleep in the exact same moment.

"Okay, we're almost there!", the teacher shouted and I startled, and all of a sudden realized that I fell asleep on Taylor's shoulder, "come on, wake up!" she added, and a general groan fulfilled the overloaded bus.

I sat myself up, and realized he was still asleep. It seemed like he hadn't moved for hours.

While getting up, I thought about the words he said earlier to me.

"Maybe I'll surprise you."

"I'd love to see that."

I hadn't noticed the sarcastic undertone until now. It was strange. I caught these things pretty easily, but somehow, he made me feel like I knew nothing about people at all. He didn't believe that I'd be able to surprise him. He thought he knew people too well for that

As most people were still asleep or listening to music on their phones, I had an idea. A fun idea. A smart idea. But likely to be the most stupid idea I have had for long.

I looked to the row behind us, and then to the one in front of ours, but both were either empty or filled with people sleeping and snoring. Slowly, I went down, where Taylor's backpack laid on. As quiet as I possibly could, I opened the front pocket. I could've probably just rip it open, no one paid attention what happened around them anyway, but I hadn't done anything like this before; I wanted to be sure that no one would realize. I looked into the pocket more closely, and to my own surprise, found the filthy drug packed in a white foil in there. He carried it with him to a class trip? At this point I asked myself if he was just reckless, or beyond stupid.

Nevertheless, I took the foil with the weed inside of it out of his bag pack as quick as possible, pulled mine closer to his, and swiped the location of the Weed to my own bag pack. I closed the pocket inside, as that was the place I had stored the drug in, and giggled like a child.

It was such a childish thing to do in some ways, but it brought me to laugh my heart out and I had to hold myself together so that no one would notice. It reminded me of my childhood with Derek, Veronica, Sofia and Mason. At a time, where I hadn't had responsibility. When I hadn't had these nightmares. Where I hadn't heard Tyson, crack echoed in my mind. When I was carefree. It reminded me of a time when I was still a child – I could do the stupidest things, but they would join me on my way instead of judging. Not like now.

"Okay Guys, we're there! Please get out of the bus! Check in beforehand if there is anything you left in the bus!" the teacher shouted and again, a general groaning followed. The teacher's response was just a quick roll with the eyes, followed by hand sign signalling us to the exit of the bus. Taylor awaked slowly and smirked at me when I grabbed my back to go past him.

"Did you plan on leaving me here?", he packed his earphones into his pocket while saying that, "sorry if the teacher's scream wasn't awaking enough for you," I babied him and he raised an eyebrow, while the challenging sparkle in his eyes returned, "that's fine. Next time I'm just going to bind you on me so you can't leave without carrying me."

"Are you suicidal?", I said out of joke. His answer surprised me – his words were somewhat chosen carefully, but underlined with sarcasm. Were they honest or said out of joke?

"Would you then care more?"

A frown grew on my face after hearing his words, and I was unsure what to answer. Other students started moving, and as I was already standing up I was forced to move out of the bus, his words occupying my mind.

Would you then care more?

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Peripeteia - a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances; the point of no return. You cannot unknow what you know.