Red Sun Read Online Free PDF Page B

deal with it for the time being.  Besides, it’s only for six months, right?  I backtracked to the living room while my father freshened up in the bathroom.  I grabbed two blankets and trudged back.  When I covered the mattress, I made sure that none of it was left exposed because there was no way I wanted any of my skin touching it.  When I was satisfied, I situated my laptop beside my bed so I could listen to my music, and then I lay down.  I had to ease my head on my pillow because my braids were so tight.  It took a few seconds for the stinging to stop, but eventually, I was about as comfortable as I was gonna be.  The light switch was right over my bed, so I looked around one last time and then let the room go dark.
                  The next day, Dad was long gone when I awoke.  I didn’t get up until a little after one in the afternoon and yawned as I walked to the kitchen.  The dusty cabinets weren’t very promising, but they were my only option for food.  Seeing as how the refrigerator was pulled out from the wall and unplugged, I figured there was no point in checking there.  I placed my hand on the dull handle and held my breath when I eased the cabinet door open and peered inside.  Nothing but a can of Tuna Fish and an old Zebra Cake sat alone on the shelf.  I weighed my options.  I wasn’t starving, so I decided to just wait until my dad got home to beg him to get me something to eat. 
                  I sighed and looked around.  It would be real easy for someone to fall into a deep depression in a place like this.  Everything was dull and ugly and because of all the trees, there wasn’t much light getting in.  However, the trees shade did nothing to keep the temperature of the house down.  It was blazing.  When I first got up, my skin was already a little dewy, but the short walk to the kitchen made me break out into a full sweat.  I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand as I hurried around to open all the windows, hoping to get some sort of relief.  I sat back on my bed and waited to see if it would cool down.  Unfortunately, with each passing minute, the sun rose higher in the sky and made the temperature soar higher too. 
                  I gave up.  I looked in my bag and grabbed out the shortest pair of shorts I could find and my white tank top.  Once I pulled my braids up off my neck, I grabbed my shoes and hurried out of the house and onto the front porch.  So, now, not only was I hungry and bored, I was sweating like a pig too.
                  Above me, in the trees, there were birds everywhere.  Collectively, their chirping was deafening and honestly a little threatening to a self-professed hater of nature.  I kept an eye on them as I took my first step off the porch.  Nothing would make me madder than for one of them to crap on me when I’m already so unhappy.  Under normal circumstances, I would’ve stayed inside and lazed the day away, but nothing about my present circumstances are normal.  So, seeing as how it was about twenty degrees hotter inside, I made an executive decision to stay out for a while. 
                  Off the side of the house, there was a pathway that I hadn’t noticed last night.  It appeared to lead deeper into the woods.  I figured that if I was going to be outside, I may as well go exploring while I’m at it.  There didn’t appear to be anything out there but trees and dirt and as long as I didn’t have to touch any of it, I’d be fine.  So, I went for it.  Frequently, I checked over my shoulder to make sure I could still see the path behind me to ensure that I’d be able to find my way back to the house.  The occasional squirrel got closer than I would’ve liked, but for the most part I was surprisingly calm.  There was a much appreciated breeze that started blowing about fifteen minutes into my walk.  This wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.  In fact, I