WingWard Side

Chapter 13: Breaking

It was weird. I don't think it hit me right away.

I remember I was sitting on the seat, my parents on the couch, and it was dead silent for a while. And then my mom explained everything. How things had just gotten hard lately and they were drifting or something, that they had just fallen out of love.

It was weird because it was like I wasn't actually there. Nothing they were saying was processing in my head; it was just floating around me.

Then my dad stood up abruptly and started cursing, and my mom followed, then told me I should probably go to bed. And I nodded and went straight to bed. Not a word, not a thought. I threw a blanket over me and passed out. Slept a long, dreamless sleep.

Then at about 3, ish, I woke up. It was pitch black outside, cloudy, starting to rain. I threw the blanket off me and all of the sudden...

It hit me. Everything, all at once. Everything just came crashing down, my entire world collapsed as everything connected, and broke, and I snapped. And I started crying. Like an uncontrollable, horrible cry that comes out of nowhere and you can't stop but just curl up and crumble. That gross, sniffly, ugly cry that you only do alone.

Thing is, I don't know why I was surprised. Maybe I wasn't. I always thought they would get divorced eventually. They were never good and I'd make scenarios in my head of whose house I'd go to or how summers would work. I even made jokes about them needing to split. But I guess those were always just fake scenarios, and stopped at that. I never imagined them coming true. And if I did, not this soon.

Whatever it was, it hit me. Horribly. I couldn't fall asleep the rest of the night. When I'd get close, I would imagine the words spilling out of their mouth again and just break down again. It got to a point where I just gave up, and sat on the floor and replayed the events over and over and over again in my mind. I stopped crying eventually. I still couldn't sleep though.

In the morning, my mom opened the door and found me sitting against my bed. She had heavy eye bags and morning hair, must have not slept either. She asked if I wanted to go to school, and to my surprise I started crying again. She walked over quietly and hugged me, for a minute. Then left me alone, saying I could take the day off. I couldn't utter a word, so I just nodded behind red eyes.

Over the day, I got a lot of texts from friends. All asking where I was. I didn't answer them, but it was kind of comforting, knowing that many people noticed when I was gone. I got some from Pluto, asking where to meet in the morning. Then one asking if my phone was dead. Then, right about at third period, asking where I was. I felt bad for her, and wanted to explain everything, but I wasn't ready yet. So I left her on read, and tried to take a nap.

And at about 2:30, while I was sleeping, there was a knock on my window. It scared me so bad I fell off my bed. I popped up, expecting Pluto, when I saw Roger standing there, hands in his pockets.

He knocked again. "Sleep in?" he mouthed. I was about to answer, and I felt my cheeks heat up, and my eyes water, and I flipped away to hide my face. He looked concerned.

I didn't want to talk, but I didn't want to leave him out there. Roger probably wouldn't leave anyway. So I opened the window for him and sat on my bed. He hopped in, landing loudly, and looked around my room.

"Your parents home?" He asked.

"Nope." I answered quickly, trying not to think about anything that could set me off.

He sat down by me, hands clasped together, resting between his knees, elbows on his thighs.

"Why ain't ya at school?" He asked, like he knew something bad happened.