Lay Low

Chapter One

Chapter One

I shuddered and leant back onto the cold metal table. I could feel the frost beginning to creep through the black fleece lined coat on my back. Lyla lent back into me, her warmth radiating through my chest.

"Pass the vodka" said Lyla.

Melissa handed it over.

"Haven't you had enough, you drunkard?" she joked, flicking her cigarette ash to the ground.

"Hardly! It is purely to keep warm..." smiled Lyla.

She offered the bottle to me wordlessly. As Lyla and Mel joked about reducing carbon emissions through alcohol consumption, I poured the clear liquid down my throat. It burned as it went down, making me catch my breath. I took a pull of the proffered cigarette then handed it back to Lyla.

We had spent the evening in the house watching a film and drinking. Melissa was two years older than Lyla and I, and had supplied us with the drink, as older siblings often do. She had come back early from town after a bust up with her boyfriend and we had laughed with her as she told us stories of her and her friends trying to get in to a club.

Lyla looked at her watch, "Shit it's almost 12. Dad will be home any second". She stubbed out the cigarette and fumbled in her pocket, bringing out some mints. She took one and handed one to Mel. And then threw me the last one still in the packet.

"You'd better go; he'll go mad if he sees you here".

I reached over and gave her a kiss on the mouth.

Mel rolled her eyes and half-heartedly muttered, "Get a room" under her breath.

"See you tomorrow then Lyl, bye Mel"

"Bye babe"

"Bye Loser"

Mel had always been affectionately rude to me since I began dating her sister. Most of the time she pretended not to like me, but we laughed at the same things and I knew she didn't really mind me. I got the impression she would never admit this under cross-examination but sometimes you just know.

Walking to the back of the garden and out through the gate I was struck by the sudden darkness now I was away from the lights of the house. I could see the street lights ahead and followed this familiar murky footpath until I hit the main road. It was quiet out; all I could hear was the occasional humming of the cars passing on the dual carriageway that ran parallel.

After 15 minutes walking pretty much straight, I took a left onto my road. The street was on a slight hill, and I could see where I was heading even from some distance. Most of the houses were dark now, with occasional lights spotted around. But I wasn't interested in those houses, or those lights. I looked for the house in question. As I squinted and saw a light on, it stopped me dead in my tracks, a tight feeling beginning to spread through my stomach, churning the alcohol that lay within. The light seemed to be like a beacon flashing at me, "Go back, go back".

I toyed with the idea momentarily. I couldn't go back to Lyla, I had been caught there once before and her father was now significantly wary of me, despite the fact that I had been found sleeping fully clothed on the floor of his daughter's bedroom, rather than in her bed. My pointing that out to him at the time had not lessened the murderous stare. He had suggested that he never find me there again or he would be speaking to my parents. No, I couldn't go there.

Anywhere else? Walk around for a bit?

I sighed to myself as I realised that there was no point; it was delaying the inevitable. If the light was on, that meant that they were already back, so they would probably by now have realised that I wasn't there. Gulping down bile, I continued my descent.