A CAST OF PAIN (Closed For Editing)

Chapter Forty Six

Having said that, she stood up.

"I would like to be on my way to bed now. Good night Mum and Dad.

And she was gone, leaving the couple to exchange confused glances.

******

She was running as fast as she could up the stairs to prevent the flood of tears that threatened to spill out of their reservoirs if she didn't get to her room fast enough to let them out. But, she hadn't even made it to the first half of the stairs before her dam broke loose.

Hot tears spilled out of her eyes without restraint and flowed down to her cheeks leaving her to constantly dry them with the back of her hands. They refused to stop flowing and she refused to stop running. She just knew she had to get to her room.

*********

Few Hours Later.....

The wind breezed through them, making whooshing sounds in their ears, almost threatening to take out their ear drums but then, it was just a gentle threat from nature, right ?

He had gone to and fro, twice, three times.

The first time was to help her down here so she could sit and relax her leg. She had stumbled and fallen and hit her leg on one of the stairs' nosings, in the middle of her running up the stairs and had sustained a cut on her right leg in the process.

The second time, he had left to get a first aid box to treat the not so deep wound.

The third time, he went to get her a cup of water and a damp cloth to wipe her tears with. And she was grateful.

To him, to both of them, Lawrence and the faithful canine who was now asleep on the floor beside him. He had done a good job watching over her while Lawrence made his trips. His constant whimpering gave her something to smile about, made her desire her own dog.

But she didn't feel like vocalizing it, not her desires for a dog of her own and certainly not the fact that she appreciated his efforts. Not at the moment. So, she said instead:

"You can go now, I'll be okay." She noted the iciness that still laced her tone, maybe he did too but, he was doing a good job in acting like he heard nothing.

She turned to look at him wanting to repeat what she had previously said Incase he hadn't heard her the first time but he seemed to be out of the world at the moment. So she put her announcement aside and followed his gaze to the open skies he was staring at.

"I was just returning from taking Cody out to potty when I saw you." He said, taking his gaze off of the sky and setting his gaze toward her instead.

She returned the gaze momentarily but, the pristine sky seemed more interesting so she turned her face towards it.

"You know, " he began, clearing his throat. "I come here sometimes when we're not hanging out together as friends and all, and I look down from up here and I'm like, "Wow! What a large, large family...."

He stopped and turned to face her yet again but her eyes seemed to be drilling holes into whatever she was staring at. So he returned his gaze to the open skies and seemed thoughtful for a while.

"Only few people know this about me." He paused, his "And by few people I mean, Flora, Paul and Martha. I guess you're about to join the exclusive group tonight."

A small smile appeared on his face as she finally looked down from the sky at him.

"It's something you kinda already know anyways."

"I do ?"

"Yeah. I mentioned it the day we went Christmas shopping at the mall, I also tried to tell you at the pool but you said to me...."