Love At First Glow

You're my melody

When I arrived home my mother was cuddled up in a blanket on the couch with her eyes shaded a deep red. I stooped beside her and wrapped my arms around her. "Mom, do you wanna talk about it, it's been days since you've talked." she looked at me, thinking for a moment then answered.

"It's just that...." she trailed off to cough the hoarseness out of her voice. "The night before he was killed, he skyped me and told Mr he was actually supposed to come visit us this week," tears escaped her eyes as she continued. "He looked so tired, and all I wanted to do was hold him." She heaved in a large sigh and began crying.

I began tearing up next to her because I knew how much she loved him, how much she cared for him. Her sobs said the thousands of words she wasn't strong enough to say. "It's my fault, he gone because I didn't stop him from going." She buried her head on my neck and continued sobbing.

"No mom, look at me, cmon look at me," I said sniffling as I lifted her head with my hands and her eyes shot open. "It's not your fault he died out there, it never was, and right now dad would want you to be happy over his memory, not sad over his death." Dammit, im crying. I just hate the fact that I'm so weak sometimes.

"He loved you, he loved both of us, and even though he's gone he's still with us in some aspect and he still loves us, he died loving us, and that's all that matters because love is all we have left in the end." Silence echoed throughout the living room. Now the only thing that was heard was our heavy breathing and sniffling.

We were just stuck staring into eachother's eyes. "Marissa," she croaked out. She pulled me into a big hug and pet my long hair down. "Not a day goes by when I think about how lucky I am to have both you and your father." She said into the hug. "Now all I have is you, and I don't regret you for a second, I love you so much." I gripped her tightly at those words. "I love you too mom." I told her and I more than meant it.

*

*

As I lay in my room, I had the song 'Rather Be' on repeat in my headphones. This is my favorite song ever to be honest. Suddenly I heard a text notification lowering the volume of my music. I quickly opened my messages to see Anthony's name in bold over the message.

It read, "Hey, are you free this afternoon, we should meet up with our guitars so you can teach me ;) Xx" I blushed so hard after I read it. He eased some of my sadness and I immediately replied, "Sure, I'd love too :D" I then eased into my pillow smiling. Seconds later I shot up sitting down and opened my eyes. "Wait, what am i gonna wear?" I quickly tried to get out of the bed, but I was tangled in my covers so I fell off the bed and hit my head on the nightstand.

"Agh!" I yelled out as I clutched my forehead in pain. Immediately my bedroom door swung open to reveal my mother. "Honey, are you okay?" She said as she frantically ran over to my side on the floor. "Yeah I'm fine don't worry, I just kinda hit my head," I said rubbing the pained spot.

"Stay still, I'll get you an icepack," she said rushing out of the door. Her eyes were still faintly puffy. Even when she's depressed my mother can still go out of her way to protect me. "I'm back," she sat next to me and gently removed my hand from my head. "Keep calm, okay?" She then proceeded to press the icepack slightly against my forehead and my body shivered from the coldness.

"How'd you manage to hit your head?" She said wearing a worries expression. "I accidentally, y'know, rolled off the bed and hit the nightstand." She stared at me blankly for a moment, and for the first time in a week my mother cracked a smile and chuckled.

"What?" I looked up at her. She sighed,"Only you Marissa, only you" she then kissed my cheek. I then in turn began laughing with her.

"Y'know, I made a friend, in the park, his name's Anthony, we're meeting this afternoon so I can teach him guitar," I could see her eyes widening in excitement. "Oh sweetie that's great news, I hope things go well today," she said hugging me with her free hand. "Thanks mom," I hugged back and said.

*

*

I had on a red button up flannel, black jeans and red vans with my guitar strapped across my back. I was couple footsteps away from the park and then I arrives and saw Anthony sat on my favorite bench. I walked up to him with a wide smile. His guitar was a normal brown acoustic with nylon strings. "Hey Anthony," I said as I stood before him.

He looked up at me and returned a smile. He wore a black Rolling Stones t-shirt and black jeans with a black converse. "Hey Marissa," he said standing up with his guitar in hand. "Where should we practice?" he asked scratching the back of his neck. I looked around in thought and stopped at the perfect spot. "How about by those trees over there?" I said pointing to a slight forested area at the end of the hedges of the park.

"Sure that seems like a quiet spot," he agreed and we both walked to the area. As soon as we reached in the middle of some trees Anthony looked confused. "What?" I asked him. "There're no benches here." I looked at him and laughed, "Well, today while teaching guitar, im gonna teach you to become one with nature. I then sat down on the grass close to one of the trees. "Sit." I told him. "Pshhh, i have no problem sitting in the grass, I'll sit the hell out of this grass," he said as he sat down opposite of me.

A second later he screeched slightly, "Something's crawling on me!" He swatted his arm looking for the mystery crawler. "It's an ant." I said as i plucked it off his arm and set back into the grass. Anthony was absolutely flustered and there was no way of hiding his embarrassment. "I was just uh, y'know, pretending to get you to laugh, uh y'know, yeah." he tries to casually play off that he just shrieked like a little girl.

"I'll forget that if you will," I assured him. "Thank you," he said relieved yet still embarrassed. I took my guitar out of the case and placed it on my lap and Anthony did the same. "Let's begin," I started.