Into the Stars (USC Series Book #2)

chapter six

INTO THE STARS
———
MALACHI

I shouldn't be going out of pity. The two people who have been there for me through everything and this is how I repay them? Visiting them out of pity?

I should feel ashamed.

I do feel ashamed.

Slamming my eyes shut and throwing my head against the driver's seat, alleviates a small amount of what I am feeling right now. Which is... unfamiliar.

Normally, I can't feel anything, but right now, there are too many things I am feeling. It is like my body is like a light switch, flicking between the two repetitively.

My hands grip the steering wheel despite me not attempting to leave the driveway yet.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Finally opening my eyes, I am brought back to reality. Staring right back at me is my reflection in the side mirror, blurred by raindrops.

The weather has been fluctuant recently. One day: pure sunshine. The next: pouring down rain. Something that I didn't expect when moving to California, but it's just something life throws at you. And God knows, throwing a spanner into my life is just his favorite activity.

Turning the keys in the ignition, the car buzzes to life beneath me. I blink, staring lost before I remember the mission at hand. If I don't get a move on within the next couple of minutes, I am going to be late to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner they are throwing. It is only going to be Kohen and them, so if I don't arrive on time; I think my absence will be known.

I take one last deep breath of air before pulling out of the driveway, preparing for the next hour and a half drive to Dana Point.

・ ・ ・

The sound of waves crashing against the shore beckons me the moment I open my car door. I stand in front of the house I have probably visited two dozen times in my entire life.

After everything went down with Vaughn and then Keith, it left little room for visiting my aunt and uncle, no matter how much I would've liked to visit them and escape from my reality for a while. I am just glad that Kohen is experiencing what I couldn't.

One deep breath before I walk up the paved driveway, wet from the rainfall the past hour and a half has brought. The motion sensor lights turn on the moment I step onto the small porch. Hesitating to knock, I stand there awkwardly for a moment. I reluctantly knock and get it over and done with before I run back to the comfort of my car, where no one can talk to me.

A loud thud reverberates through the piece of wood separating me from the house. I stand there, staring down at my shoe-clad feet. Footsteps from behind the door echo and I know in about five seconds, I will come face-to-face with Aunty Nona's friendly expression.

Sure enough, the moment she opens the door, her bright, almost angelic smile looked right back at me. That smile is branded into my memory. All the times she was there for some of the biggest moments of my life, that smile is a part of the memory.

Like at graduation, when she was the only one cheering me on in the crowd with the proudest smile in the entire crowd.

The many times she gave me a bittersweet smile, assuring me everything would be alright when, in reality, my entire world was falling apart...

"Malachi!" Winona says, her tone evoking her elation at my late arrival. "I was beginning to think you would not show up."

Nona ushers me inside, the familiar scent of saltwater enveloping me despite it still being winter. The nautical theme of the house is something I have yet to get used to, no matter how many times I visit.