When Shadows Rise | I

Ch. 29 | Bystander

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Depending on one's situation, persistence could either be a good or bad thing. Everyone was hungry for the truth, but when finally served, was the dish sour instead of sweet? Hideous instead of beautiful? Was it everything they were looking for?

It made one ponder: was the truth really worth knowing? Was it not better to live in a bubble of sheltered bliss? What was the point of tearing down everything one created? For whom would it be beneficial for? Maybe that's why one kept secrets from those closest to them— it would spare them the pain. Less, less pain.

Talia learned the hard way the truth was already a bitter pill to swallow, but some couldn't even bare to put it in their mouth. The taste was too revolting.

She had gotten home from school with April, who still wanted to share her theory from this morning. The redhead chattered on and on, laying out possibility after possibility, but Talia only sat there on the couch, hearing nothing but muffles from April's mouth.

Talia hadn't been able to move on from her and Raph's little conversation. None of it made sense. Apparently, nothing did anymore. There was nothing her mother did these whole years to suggest she rubbed elbows with a drug lord— much less a criminal organization. That wasn't the mother she knew. That wasn't the mother she remembered.

She felt somebody shaking her, followed by April's voice asking, "Taly? You listening?" The voice became clearer and clearer, until Talia regained focus.

When Talia came to, she looked next to her, April frowning in a way that meant worry.

"Did you hear me just now?" April asked.

Talia blinked, as if she forgot where she was. "Wha-? Um, no, I was. . ." she touched her forehead with her palm, like she was going to smack herself. "Sorry, April. . . my head's a little messed up."

April took off her wool beanie, causing the hairs on top of her head to stand on end. Such a sight would always choke a laugh out of Talia, but Talia only muttered scoldings to herself.

"Could've fooled me," April said. "Alright, tell me. What's going on with you?"

There were a million things going on with her, but Talia didn't even know where to start. Her mind was in a frenzy and as much as she wanted the waters to stay still, it would not obey. Talia walked to her room, where upon entering, stripped of her blazer and necktie. April tagged behind her, flopping on the bed like a seal.

"It almost feels like your old room," April pointed out. She observed the blush-colored painted walls, complimented by curtains the color of desert sand, and the orchid sitting on the windowsill; the orchid's stem and leaves looking even and lively as ever.

Talia stopped unbuttoning her blouse midway. Part of her thought that if she couldn't return to her old room, then she might as well do whatever was in her power to make it feel like she was in her old room. Whatever it took to make this place feel like home— her old home. The place that was once full of life and happiness.

"You're right," Talia said. The keyword in April's sentence was almost. Close, but no cigar. "Except in my old room, I didn't have glow-in-the-dark stars." She pointed to the ceiling.

April's eyes followed Talia's finger to where it was pointing at a section of the ceiling, where Talia indeed decorated it with several glow-in-the-dark stars.