Diamond Walls

Five: I'm Sinking and Everybody's Breathing

*This song reflects the mood later on in the story. Go enjoy the story :)

"Hurry up, Axel!" I hissed. We were currently standing at the front of the line, trying to choose an ice cream flavor. I say 'trying' because Axel has stood here for five minutes, trying to decide which ice cream flavor to get.

I look back at the swarm of people behind us. Some were looking at us with annoyed looks, others had an amused smile, and some looked like they wanted to chop our heads off.

"This is a very important and hard choice, Brooke. You won't understand until you're older," Axel said without turning his head to look at me. "I think I want hazelnut. Wait, I think I'm feeling cookies and cream."

I stared at him unamused and rolled my eyes. "We're talking about ice cream here, Ax. Just hurry up please, I don't want to get kicked out."

After another three prolonged minutes, Axel finally made his choice. "I'll take chocolate!" he announced.

Such a simple choice, yet he took so long to decide. Typical Axel.

The girl behind the stand just smiled and got our cones for us.

As we took a seat, Axel started with his interrogation. "So, Brooke. What got you in such a good mood yesterday?"

"Oh, um, this girl helped me yesterday after an encounter with Monica. She was pretty nice." I stared at the ice cream I was eating.

"My little sister has grown up! You actually talked to another human being at school without snapping at them!" Axel fake wiped his nonexistent tears. "But on a serious note, Monica tried messing you again?" All the humor on his face was gone.

"Yeah." I nervously clutched the hem of my shirt.

Monica was a taboo topic for us two. Axel and Monica were dating before everything happened. He was completely smitten with her. She was the love of his life. After Monica, I haven't seen him with anyone else.

"Brooke. You should really stop letting them step all over you. You should stand up to them, and tell them to fuck off. Tell them to get out of your life. I've looked after you all your life, and I know from the bottom of my heart, you're an amazing person. You don't deserve all the bad things that have happened to you." He kept his eyes on me, waiting for my reaction.

"You don't understand. You think I'm amazing, but that's only coming from you. You're family. Nobody else thinks I'm amazing. And it's not easy. You don't fucking know how hard it is to do that. I don't want to make things harder than they are now. You yourself should know how amazing and charming Monica is and how much influence she has over people. You've dated her after all." I could feel my temper rising. I knew I shouldn't have raised the topic of his and Monica's relationship and that he was trying to help, but I couldn't help it. Whenever he tried to help, it just made things worse. People who haven't gone through what you did never fully understand.

"Stop being difficult. I thought you were okay with the whole relationship thing I had with Monica already. You know I would choose you over her any day. And stop changing the topic, I'm trying to help you. " I could see Axel's jaw twitch, a sign of annoyance and anger.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm difficult. I can't help it," I said sarcastically. "I tried to be fine with your relationship with Monica. I really did. For your happiness. But you fucking chose her over me. You stayed with her most of the time and you stopped caring for me. And now you try to say that you'd choose me over her? Yeah, right."

"That was in the past. I'm sorry for doing that. I regret it so much. You know it!" Axel's voice was rising. "And you were with Jake most of the time-"

"DON'T FUCKING TALK ABOUT HIM," I screeched. I felt the anger bursting out of my chest and I was on the verge of breaking down in hot, angry tears.

"YOU NEVER TELL ME WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED," Axel shouted as I flinched. I suddenly realized it was dead silent. People stopped their conversation and were looking at us.

"Is everything all right here?" the girl from behind the stand stood before us.

"Yes, of course. I sincerely apologize for the scene we made," Axel replied with a smile plastered on his face and stood up. "Excuse me."

People soon returned to their conversation and the huge scene we made was forgotten. It was like nothing had happened.

He lowered his voice and looked at me, "Come to peace with your past and let it go. You can't run away from your problems all the time, Brooke. I'll be back in a hour so." He then proceeded to walk away.

I stayed where I was, immobilized. Axel has never raised his voice at me like he just did. I shouldn't have mentioned Monica. I screw everything up. Everything is my fault and I don't deserve anything I have. I'm a horrible person.

I felt the tears prick my eyes and soon, the tears flowed freely down my face. I choked and started coughing like a maniac. I looked like a mess. I felt like I was drowning. Falling down a never ending pit. And everyone around me was breathing, looking at me on the steady ground above me.

I felt a palm, gently patting my back, and another hand brushing through my hair. I clutched the stranger's shirt and sobbed uncontrollably, as the hands flew down and held me tight.

I didn't know who this stranger was but I felt safe. The stranger's presence was enough to soothe me.

"I-I'm sorry for-r messing-g up y-your sh-shirt," I hiccuped and lifted my head to see a familiar pair of eyes.

NOTE:

*Well, that escalated quickly. Needed to add in more drama ;) Anyways, who could this mysterious stranger be? It's kind of obvious lol

*Even though I have a lot of things to do because school's ending soon, I decided to upload because I saw that Diamond Walls reached 2.7k, which means it increased 1.6k over the span of 1-2 days! It motivated me to get this chapter up :)

*Thank you so much for reading! I really really appreciate it. Vote/Comment/Follow <3 love you guys!