Locked Eyes

15. Genevieve

I can remember vividly Nana running into what was the guest room I slept in when I visited them as a kid, it's now my room and has been for years. She let the door slip between her fingers and rushed towards me, tears were streaming down her cheek, and said there was an ancient and we had to leave now. I was half asleep when I was put into the car but as we got closer to home I could see the fire and smoke.

The house fire was huge and I've never seen something on fire so much before. Officers stopped my grandparents from getting too close and among the chaos of the neighborhood and the fire department I heard the officer tell my grandparents "no bodies found."

I was old enough to understand that the fire was too much to even confirm my parent's bodies.

In loving memory of Hayley and Griffin Mitchell.

I stare at the memorial headstone, the snow has begun to melt and it's a bit warmer outside as Spring slowly creeps in. It was cold this morning so I kept my hands in my puffer jacket. I always think about the worse part about my parent's death was that we never had a funeral, why bury empty caskets six feet down anyways. When Papa made their memorial headstone it was just us three standing here. For years everyone told me how sorry they were for me, they treated me like an orphan when I wasn't.

I hardly ever visit home unannounced but last night an occurring nightmare had me screaming and Imogen had to wake me up, she was much calmer about the situation because she's woken me up from a nightmare before. I realized afterward that my nightmare occurred because it's Dad's birthday and my nightmares always pop up when it's been their death anniversary or either one of their birthdays.

The sun was beginning to rise and I realize I've been here for a bit longer than I intended. Snow crunching behind has me turning a bit, I expect it to be my grandpa but instead, it's Sebastian Hale. He's sporting dark green fitted pants and the black coat he's been wearing since winter started.

"Colour me shocked Hale," I tell him as he stands beside me, hands in his pants pockets.

"Imogen texted me said you had a nightmare and left almost immediately after," he tells me. I turn back to the beautiful headstone and sigh.

"It's my dad's birthday," I say my tone softer. "The nightmares always pop up around either one of their birthdays or their death anniversary," I shift on my feet. I think back to all the memories I have of when it was Dad's birthday, he always used to make waffles and the three of us always had the best waffle competition with topics.

The worse part about Dad's birthday is mine is a few days later.

"When I was younger people always used to tell me that time will heal everything," I sigh. "I think they were fucking wrong. Time doesn't heal anything, time keeps moving forward and you just kind of just move forward too because you don't want to stay in the past," I sigh tearing up. In the corner of my eye, I could see Sebastian looking at me, probably expecting me to break down.

I look up at him and we lock eyes "time moved on and yet here I am, twelve years later I'm still broken," I let out a choked laugh. Sebastian shakes his head and reaches out wiping a fallen tear.

"Don't ever think that Mitchell," he tells me, I lean into the warmth of his big hand. I close my eyes and sniffle before reopening them. "Come on, let's get you out of the cold and get breakfast." He tips his head back.