Promise. (Manthony)

Twenty-Seven

     I rush out the front door. My vision was blurry from the tears that were falling down my face. I shiver as the Autumn air hits my skin as I forgot my jacket before running out of the house as if my life depended on it. 

My body felt numb. My heart was so severely broken that it almost felt like I was having an out-of-body experience since every part of me seemed so unreal.  I stand in the driveway. Crossing my arms to keep myself warm. 

I had no idea what the fuck just happened. 

"Christian!" I hear. I turn around to see Amber rushing towards me. She hands me my jacket once she reaches me. 

"Thanks," I mumble as I put it on. Amber knew me well enough to know that I hated when people asked, "are you okay?" when someone was clearly not okay, so she didn't ask. 

"I'm confused," I say aloud. "He said he loved me," I tell Amber. She looks away from me. 

"Things were finally okay...what did I do now?" I question more to myself than Amber. 

"Hey, this isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself. You're not responsible for whatever his fucking problem is right now."

"But I do blame myself! It's like," I laugh more from pain and not that something was funny. "I'm never good enough for him." 

"You know that's not true. If anything, it's the other way around. You know that deep down inside." I shrug at these words. Maybe I did know that somewhere in my mind, but it was far from reach. 

"None of this makes sense," I say aloud. I looked down to see Amber wasn't wearing shoes. Her feet looked cold, which made me feel bad that she sacrificed herself getting sick to see where I had run off to. So I take my slip-on slippers off. Luckily I was wearing socks, so it didn't make too much of a difference for me. 

"Put them on," I tell Amber. She gives me a half-smile before siding her feet into my slippers that were too big for her. 

"Cute," I mutter. She giggles a little. "Where'd Mitchel go after I left?" 

Amber purses her lips. Crossing her arms across her chest. 

"His room, I'm assuming. I saw him walk up the stairs." 

"I wonder if he even cares."

"Doesn't seem like it. He just humiliated you in front of everyone." 

I look down at Amber. Our eyes meeting. 

"I'm sorry," Amber says quietly. I shrug. 

"If sorry fixed everything, then we wouldn't need the police." I remind her. Amber smirks at my comment. 

"I'm gonna go try and talk to him; thank you for coming out here." I wrap my arms around Amber's small body. Her head rested against my chest as we hugged. 

"You know I'm always here for you," Amber says as we pull away. 

****

I ignore everyone's looks as I walk back into the house. They were all looks of pity which I didn't need. I hesitate to knock on Mitchel's door once I reach it. There wasn't any noise coming from his room which made me worry even though I didn't want to. 

Rather than knocking as I had planned and open the door without warning. Mitchel was sitting on his bed with a glass in his hand as he stared at the wall in front of him that had a poster of the band on it. 

His eyes shift over to me. 

"What do you want?" He asks harshly. 

"I want to know what just happened and why," I demand more than asking. Mitchel looks away again.