Suns and Shadows

The Layers Beneath

As Mother and Saiya embrace, I stare. I stare at him. At Joshua. The bringer of my greatest happiness. The Sun. He catches my stare and my cheeks burn as I look away. He approaches me and whispers into my ear, "We should go."

I nod, sullenly. Still in shock. Saiya is healed. "Thank you." I manage to choke out. The words are so heavy on my tongue it's hard to say them, I can't say them. You've saved me, Joshua. And he did.

He looks up at the stars. "I just never wanted someone to feel the way I felt."He laughs at himself as if he said something funny.

"What happened to you?" I ask. What made you help a Shadow? Why did you help me?

He grimaces and doesn't respond. "We should get back."

I nod again and retreat back to my mother and Saiya. They're hugging each other tightly. Mother is still crying. Saiya is just laughter, full of it. "Oh Ebony, can you believe it?" Mother cries, sobbing. 

I have seen my mother cry before. She has no one to fall on, so she falls on me. I have seen her anger, hunger, tears, and disappointments. But I have never her so happy. Before, we didn't have anything to be happy about. Besides the fact, we were all alive. I was happy about that every day.

"I have to go," I say. I don't want to. Every part of me is itching to just stay here with them. Abandon my plan for a better life. Now that Saiya is healed, I don't really need to go, do I? As long as Joshua is living, Saiya will be too. But there is still another world to conquer. A better life.

Saiya's face falls. "Why aren't you staying?"

I quickly think up a lie to cover up my absence. No one in my family can know right now. "I can't be here if the Lawkeepers come for me again." Which they won't. As it turns out, the Sun managed to survive. And I'm not in their records yet, like Joshua said. Who cares about one rogue Shadow?

They both hug me one more time and I run after Joshua, wiping away tears as I go. This time, as we walk in silence I want to tell him. I want to tell him how he has changed my life. "Joshua?" I mutter, half-hoping he won't hear me.

"Hm?" He mumbles and catches me staring at him. He has pretty eyes.

I clear my throat and look down. "Thank you for what you did out there. That was-well, you changed my life."

"I know." I stare at him before he continues looking everywhere but my face as he speaks. "It was my father who had a condition like that. He would go crazy, mumble the names of people I didn't know, but the problem was that he was the one to inherit the family's business. I couldn't I was too young at the time and we would lose it and our fame if I didn't do something. I just tried everything until I found a way that worked."

I hug him.

I don't why, but I feel like he needs it. I need ti to, so I embrace until he awkwardly pulls away. "I'll see you, tomorrow princess."

"See you tomorrow Sun boy."

Sorry, this is such a short chapter, I was having a little case of writer's block XD. MY brain hasn't been thinking normally cause it's so hot out. I'll try to put out more tomorrow!!