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|chapter 07|

|friendship lane|
• • • • •

"Shhh! Shhhh! Calm down. It's nothing. It's a shadow of a spider. Calm down, shhh! Breathe. Relax" Abigail tried to calm Callan.

She got up from her chair and reached for Callan's hand. He tried relaxing a bit. Everyone saw him in a shock. They all got scared seeing Callan in such state.

"Look, there is a spider there. It was its shadow." She pointed at the table where a spider was crawling."The candle made it appear big" she continued.

Rune went and gave him a tight hug, "relax! We are here. It was nothing. You are my brave friend. How can you get scared of a tiny spider?" She brushed his hairs. Callan started crying. It was clear that he got scared way too much.

  "Aww! Callan, baby it's nothing" Abigail went up to him.

"Rune I have a small garden in the backyard. It's not that good, but why don't you take him there for some fresh air?" She looked at Rune.

"You have a backyard?!" Jan asked in excitement.

"Yeah, every house have that. Isn't it? I have it too." She smiled.

"But..." Jan was about to say something but she stopped her midway by keeping a finger on her lips. Her eyes piercings deep in Jan's eyes. Without losing the contact she said to Rune, "are you taking him or not?"

Rune nodded and she signalled her where to go. Rune pulled Callan by the sleeve and he marched behind her, crying.

The backyard was so big. It was almost like a lavish garden. There was a fountain in the middle. But the weirdest thing was that it was surrounded by a tall boundary.

They went and sat near the fountain on the grass.

"You ok, Callan?" Rune asked.

"I guess I'm," He answered, wiping up his tears. Rune gave him a side hug, squeezing his shoulder.

"we are here, Callan. Don't worry. If anything scares you then I'll give the thing a punch and teach a lesson" She playfully hit Callan's arm. This made Callan chuckle up a little.

"You know, Rune. You guys are my true friend. You accept me as who I'm. You never judged me." Sadly, he continued, "they all made fun of me in school and mom and dad mocked me because I'm not like other boys out there. Is it a crime that I like girly things?"

"No, Callan. It's not a crime. You are as good as who you are. You are the best." She stroked his hair.

"Do you think we did well by leaving our house and coming here?" He gave her a dull smile.

"I don't know, Callan. We did what we wanted. We are together in this." Rune Looked into a distance, as a tear rolled down her cheek, but soon she wiped it away.

"Ok, Callan, go have food." She patted on his back.

"Aren't you coming?"

"It's nice here. I'll stay for a while" giving him a fake smile she inhaled deeply taking as much air as she can.

Meanwhile at the dining table. They all were still concerned about Callan.

"Its nothing. Everyone, please eat your food. Your friend Rune is there with him. He will be all right" Abigail said, taking her seat. They followed as she said.

"By the way, ma'am, you said you are not alone here. May we know who else lives with you and where are they now?" Ariadne took a sip of water.

"Well, to be honest, I live here with memories of my family. And please, I'm ok if you call me Abigail. No need for ma'am" she wink which made Janet suspicious.

"where is your family?" Janet tone was very demanding. Like she was pushing inside the boundaries of Abigail.

"It's none of your business" she slammed her hand on the table.

"Ok, ok, sorry" Janet kept her hands in defence.

"Ah, sorry I got flown away with my emotions," she said moving a strand of hair from the face.

"I'm done, I'll go and check on Rune and Callan," Aiden got up from his seat.

"Okay!" Abigail continued as Aiden left, " tell me why are you here?" Hearing to what she asked, they stopped and turned towards her. "Did I asked something that I should have not?" She questioned.

"That...actually, we left our house," Ivy said, playing with her fork.

"What? You mean you ran away from home?" She was shocked.

"In a way, yes" Ivy replied in a hush tone keeping her head down.

"Why are you here? In my house?" She can't believe what she heard. They were just teenagers and had taken such a big step.

"We came in the woods because it's a no-entry area, so we thought, no one would find us here and then we saw this villa. We didn't know that you live here. It was looking all abundant" Ariadne tried to explain her.

"Oh, I see. It's ok you can be here as long as you want" Abigail smiled.

"Really? But why? Won't you tell our parents that we are here?" Janet was shocked. It's not common for someone to give permission to some strangers to stay in their house.

"No, I won't. Anyhow, I'm living here alone. I won't mind have some company." She gave her a playful wink.

"Umm...okay. Promise, you don't call and tell them that we are here?" Janet asked.

"Promise, I won't" she raised her hand as if she was taking an oath.

"Okay, but where will we stay?" Dylen asked.

"Leave that to me. Finish your food and I'll show you where you'll stay"

In the meantime, in the backward:

"Okay, Rune. But be back soon" Callan stand to leave.

"I'll, don't worry," Rune assured him.

Just then Aiden came as Callan was leaving. He gave him a hug as he moved towards the fountain and sat beside Rune.

"So....." Aiden tried to start a conversation.

"So?"

"Umm...how is Callan now" he stroked his hairs backwards.

"He is ok. All good now" Rune nodded her head.

"Then why are you here now? Don't you wanna come in?" He looked directly in her eyes, pinning her where she was.

"I... I actually... that...yeah, it's good to be in the fresh air. Don't you think?" She laughed awkwardly, trying to make Aiden not to look into her eyes.

"Rune, what happened?" He tried to make Rune to look his way. Rune stopped laughing, hearing to what he asked. "What would happen to me?"

"Don't fool me, Rune. I know you. There is something bothering you, I can bet on that. Tell me, what is it?" He cupped Rune's face and started to move his thumb across her cheeks. Silence fell all over. Neither she spoke up nor he asked further.

Within a few seconds, tears started to find their way in her eyes and she started to cry. Her tears falling on Aiden's hand.

"Hey, hey, don't cry. Look here, tell me what happened? Rune I'm your best friend" he tried convening her.

Finally, she let it out, "Aiden, I miss my parents. I haven't seen them in a while. I really really miss them" she started crying even more when Aiden pulled her in a tight hug.

"Shhh...Shhh... calm down, you can't cry. Calm down" he stroked her back, comforting her.

"But how can then leave me and go? Is business more important to them than their daughter?"

"No, Rune, shhh! Calm down. You are more important, okay?" He tried to calm her.

"You are lying! They don't care about me. Have you forgotten they use to leave me with a nanny when we were in junior years? Now as I'm grown up, they left me alone." It was clear that she was missing them. Whatever she was holding in for so long,  is coming out.

"I haven't Rune. I too miss Kevin. He was my brother, but I don't cry as I know he is somewhere watching over me and mom. Thank God that your parents are still alive and will return back from the trip soon. You have both of them, but me, I only have a mom. You are lucky to have a dad" He was getting emotional seeing his best friend break down in front of him.

"I know, Aiden, but it hurts. They are alive but they are not there for me. Your mom care for you. She single-handedly raised you thought your dad ran away" Listening to this, Aiden too started crying.

"Oops! Sorry, I don't mean that. My words came all wrong. So sorry Aiden" She breaks from the hug and started to explain herself.

"It's okay bestie" He gave her a smile, tears still flowing down.

"No, it's not. You are crying. Please don't cry. I know I had hurt you with my words. I'm so sorry"

"Yes, I'm crying because of you, because you were crying. I can't see my bestie cry" he again pulled her into a tight hug.

"Tell me one thing, we all have reasons to leave the house, but you, why you came with us?" She asked, wiping his tears off.

"I came because of my friend and you. How can I let my bestie go alone? I won't, ever"

"But they were there with me. There was no need for you to come. What if your mom doesn't find you around and get tensed? Did you think that?"

"Don't worry. She will be fine. I wrote a letter for her, stating I'm going with my best friend" he smiled placing his chin on her head as he hold her in his embrace.

"Oh shoot! You idiot. Why did you tell that I'm leaving the house? Now my parents will get to know about it" out of frustration, she pushed him away.

"Awww! Don't worry about it. They won't try to find you because I have not written in that letter about us leaving homes. So just chillax" he winked.

"Youuuuu!! I won't leave you. For a second I was about to get a heart attack" she moved towards him when they heard Janet shouting and she stopped midway.