Guardian Angel \\ l.h.\\ Luke Hemmings

Chapter Forty: Photos

I'M BACKKKKKKKKKK AND I PASSED AND I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH
....
My first instinct was to try to rip away every picture from her cold hands.

Memories from last time's disastrous confrontation imprinted her tainting my precious papers.

"What are you doing with these?" I frantically tried to gather all the photos in a pile. Luke wasn't behind me, he confined himself in my room. I couldn't blame him, I wouldn't want to be here with the war between us too still a bit treacherous.

She tried to reach for some pictures but I pulled them toward my chest. She couldn't touch these, I refused, she could not touched these at all. These were all I have left of my family and I could take a bullet before anything happens to them.

"I-I saw these in your room," Silvia squeaked, "An-and I couldn't help but see the picture of you and your father. And I couldn't help but to look at the others."

"Well you should have not taken upon yourself to do that." I spat making sure that any of the photo had any finger tips prints.

"I know Cayden, I kno- I know." Silvia wiped a tear off her eye, "But I couldn-I couldn't help myself. I miss him."

"Yeah, you aren't the only one." I mumbled, feeling slightly guilty at the sight of her tearing up. Silvia had done terrible things to me but I wasn't all that innocent.

Since there were a indescribable amount of pictures and my hands could only fit so much, there were still some on the table in front of her. Silvia picked at one and smiled through her glossy eyes. "Thi- this one is my favorite."

She held up to me a faded polaroid where my father was holding me up in the air, smiling his usual charming smile and my two year old self laughing as if there were no wrong in the world.

"You and you're father look so much a like." Silvia admired, her smile widening at the mentioned of my dad. A smile that my own mother use to wear when she saw my father.

And then I realized, Silvia really did love him.

And in that moment, it seemed as though all the hurtful comments and exploding fights never happened.

And although the past was a barrier in our road to the future, I sat across from her, breaking that wall, and spilled all the pictures in front of her.

"This is when my father and I went fishing but he tipped over the boat because he stood up." I handed her a picture that my mother took of my father and me drenched.

"Dad." I groaned, being fifteen years old I was completely uninterested in all aspects of family trips and hanging out with parents.

"The sun is out and shining Cay, we got to make the most of it. You know it barely is sunny here in Washington." My father threw the line in the water.

My dad and I where out in a rented boat in the middle of the lake we adored.

"But why couldn't I just stay with mom and grandma?" I motioned toward the two, who were sitting in portable chairs, watching us from the distance.

"You used to love going fishing together when you were little." He commented unfazed by my stress.

"But that was before I grew up dad." I retorted, watching him either my arms crossed.

"That you have sweetie that you have." He said unfazed while he watching the still waters. Nothing seemed to bother him: not our financial situation, not the fights my parents seem to be having more often, not anything.

I sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this I picked up the reel and waited. For what, I had no idea until it began to spin and I freaked out.

My father grabbed the reel and unfortunately when my father and I both stood up we tipped the weight of the small boat, causing us to splash into the water.

Instead of screaming or whining and looked at my father and laughed. A whole hearted, meaningful, the once in a life time laughs.

When we returned to shore my mother and grandmother stared at us in shock and with the same reaction as mine, they laughed.

"I have to take a picture of this you two!" My mother managed to utter through her fits of laugh.

"And that was the my last time at the lake with my family as a whole." I said, and now instead of the fifteen year old with braces, I was the eighteen year old with a mending soul.

Silvia looked at me the way a mom should, with all the care and mutter she would muster. Her crinkles near her eyes increased but she looked at ease as if she held the pin that was stitching us finally together.

"What about this one?" She asked, sliding another picture toward me.

I looked down, it was a photo of my me and my father in New York, we were visiting all the sites that day with my uncle.

"Cayden! Smile!" My father held up the camera. I rolled my eyes while I clutched my coffee cup.

I stopped in the middle of a bustle of moving people but they were used to the tourism.

I grinned the hardest I could while my father took an excessive amount of pictures. The wind was hitting my cheeks and my body was freezing from the air cutting through me.

"Dad how many more?" I asked through gritted teeth, my smile burning.

"Just a few more, the light is perfect here." He commented.

I mentally rolled my eyes because this was how it always was with my father being a photographer.

We were in Brooklyn that day. It was our last day and it the only part we had not seen of New York.

My father wanted to check out every inch of the state had to offer and by then I was exhausted. But the city was filled with life even at night, even if the snow was falling.

We had so many pictures to remember by and each one I showed Silvia and we laughed and cried and I finally felt a connection.

My walls of distrust were crumbling not all at once but bit by bit. And maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to have.

I thought that once these were down, I was vulnerable to the evils of the world. But I learned not everything is what I thought.

In the middle of a story, the door opened to Lea.

At first glance, she was quite confused but when Silvia smiled lightly at her, Lea understood.

"I'll get the tea and join you two." She rushed into the kitchen.

When Lea joined us, she sat next to me and we continued on with the stories of sadness and sorrow and laughter and love.

We continued opening new doors and connections. We continued to burn and build new bridges. Maybe we weren't a family yet but we were getting there.

By the time the sun went down and most light had fallen, we decided leave the mess we made and continue in the morning.

"I think that just for this one day, it's okay not to go to school." Silvia spoke and Lea and I nodded.

On our way to our rooms, Lea turned and hugged. Stunned my her gesture, I wrapped my arms around her.

"Thank you." She whispered while she let go and smiled, a genuine one and went to her room.

To my expectation, Luke was sitting on my bed. But this time he was crisscrossed and in front of him were photos of his own.

He looked up at me, tears pooling at his eyelids but it wasn't a sadness of lost, it was a sadness of realization.

"Hey sweetheart,"He croaked, "it's my turn to show you my life."