Zelus (Perseus Reimagined) (BXB)

Chapter 19

"You like guys, don't you?" 

2012

THEY SAY TIME HEALS ALL wounds. What a load of bullshit. It may heal physical wounds, but there will always be a scar.

A year passed, and tomorrow was the anniversary of the accident where my arm broke. I followed the doctor's orders, attended physical therapy, and consumed a healthy diet, mostly protein. And my arm healed faster than it was intended. I needed it to heal because I can't stand going through every day with a cast on my arm. It was both embarrassing and annoying.

My arm healed, but my trauma didn't.

In fact, it's still fresh in my mind that I'd get nightmares about it. Sometimes it shows that I didn't make it. I was hanging upside down, dead, with my throat sliced and bleeding. The blood rolling down into my eyes never fails to jolt me awake in the middle of the night.

It's been a year since I started walking almost everywhere. I'd sometimes take the bus because the ample space and heavy mass seemed more threatening to others, making it superior. It felt safer than a car. Of course, I try to avoid thinking of a truck colliding with it. Though I get anxious that I'll close my eyes and assure myself that I'm safe. Sometimes it fails, and I'm forced to get down at the next stop to catch my breath. Or I'll just walk from there.

It's Friday, and school finishes early today.

I stand by the school's front gate, waiting for Alex, who's walking with his friends, Makayla, Caleb, Duke, and Audrie. They're all in the same class, and it makes me wonder if their friendship is strong or if it's just a yearly thing, and in the next, they go on their own paths. He'd sometimes share stories of their get-together sessions at the mall, the parties they'd throw, and basically just being extroverts. I often feel pathetic knowing I can't share these stories with him because I don't like being around other people.

"Hey!" He skips towards me after waving to his friends. I ignore their judgmental glare by looking away. I know they didn't like me from the beginning, but hey, I didn't care then, and I still don't.

"Hey."

"Shall we?" He's further in front of me, and I join his side as we walk toward home.

Since the accident, this became a routine, one that he made due to my phobia of cars. He lived further from my house, and no matter how many times I told him I'd walk home by myself, he'd still accompany me to my porch. He still wouldn't leave until he saw me entering the house and slamming the door in his face.

He made me feel like a child in need of protection, and that was simply embarrassing.

"How's class?" I ask.

"The same," he responds. "It's always the same. Nothing exciting often happens in a place of education."

"You're not wrong."

"Course I'm not; when have I ever been?" He nudges my shoulders, and I roll my eyes.

We would often walk through the neighborhood behind the school for safety reasons and because it's quieter there. There're no sounds of vehicles rushing by, honking cars, the beating of utensils against frying pans from a restaurant, or the chattering of people during lunch hour. Nothing. Just silence.

"You know, I was re-watching the Twilight series last night because... why not? And I gotta say, watching it with my current eyes made me understand a lot better than the first time I watched them. I used to question why Edward and Jacob hated each other, or why Edward left Bella in the second movie, or why people were afraid of vampires when they literally look like regular people," he was ranting on, and I'm here for it. Whenever it came to matters where he would voice out his opinion, he would give an entire essay. And that's not something a lot of people would do. "Out of everything, I finally realized why Bella would stay with Edward knowing she could be in danger. Even after she was attacked."