Inside Her Soul

5

Ivy's POV:

The rest of the school day was a blur as my mind propelled around the strange encounter with the dark haired boy.

I tried not thinking much of it but his brown orbs glistening with moist once making eye contact with me had me thinking I had done something.

I didn't know what, but the guilt was weighing down heavy on me. And I didn't like the way it burned in my chest as if I knew something I shouldn't have.

I had spent the rest of day locked up in my room after coming home from school, getting bits of homework that was due done so I wouldn't have to worry about it later on.

It was about eight at night when I decided to go down, in the need to eat before I took my medication. Reese should've been on his way back from work and I briefly heard Hayden say something about a nap from when he popped into my room a few hours back.

I hadn't seen Theo since this morning but quite frankly, I didn't care. I was more than upset and any guilt I felt for the previous week was far from gone. He didn't deserve an apology because when I thought about it, I didn't really say anything bad to scar his heart. I was just being sensitive for no reason.

He was the one who was being an insensitive prick. And I wasn't going to speak to him until he realised that and came to me.

Jumping off the last step, I strolled through the living room doors, immediately letting out a hiss as the searingly dry air had shivers run down my spine.

Looking around for the temperature remote to get rid of the making blizzard in the room, my eyes caught the open photo album carelessly thrown on the table, almost as if whoever put it there was in a rush.

I walked towards the black recliner near the coffee table, taking a seat as my hands outstretched towards the book, my eyes skimming through the numerous rows of photos.

The page left open were pictures of younger me and each of my brothers in the background. My lips tugged into a small smile as I studied each one, reminiscing the times where life wasn't so hard back then. Where everyone was carefree and when things weren't as different.

My hand gripped the edge of the page, ready to turn over but the double look of the photo scrunched behind another had me halt my actions.

I carefully unscrambled the glossy paper, half of a picture instantly looking back at me.

I was in the picture with one of Reese's arms wrapped around me as the other looked to be holding something. I couldn't see what because the other side was ripped off, making me curious to see what was there in the first place.

Why was it ripped anyways? The uneven tear had told me it must have been out of rage because the corners were crumpled from an intense grip it had been held in.

My eyes lingered on the rip, squinting them once I saw a head of hair leaning down to where Reese's hand was. But the face was away from the camera so I couldn't quite point out who exactly it belonged to.

My mind was full of different ideas, as it contemplated all the reasons it was torn up. I thought I was making this a big deal and it was just a misconception but the fact that my gut wouldn't let this go told me I was far from over reacting.

So I stayed sat on the couch, flickering through the whole book and ending up with numerous more pictures that had the same result.

I noticed there was a concealed pattern in each one I scrutinised, but the longer I went over it, the more clearer it became.

Most of them were the ones with me and Reese and the odd few of either mom or Theo in the back, but me and my older brother were the main focus.

It was weird, it was as if whatever was being ripped out had to do with the both of us more than the rest of my family.