After experiencing a life-altering tragedy, Emersyn feels as if her world has collapsed. Attempting to accept her new reality, Emersyn wonders how she can possibly keep going when it feels like her life ended months ago. Until she meets Haven, and s...
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I find Haven in the tree house.
Maybe I know her too well or maybe I just couldn't think of anywhere else she'd go after hearing from her mother that she still hadn't returned home after dropping me off. All I know is that when Mom gave me permission to take the car and go look for her, the stars were calling to me. I had a feeling they were calling Haven too.
I find her car parked down the street from the yard where the tree house resides. I leave Mom's vehicle next to hers and trek the distance alone. I climb the ladder and soon catch a glimpse of Haven perched in the corner by the window. She does not turn to acknowledge my presence as I wordlessly settle into place opposite her, merely staring out of the window and discreetly wiping at her eyes.
My heart breaks as I gaze her way. Despite the darkness surrounding us, it is evident that Haven has spent the better half of the day crying. Her sharp features are swollen and puffy. Her sky blue eyes have clouded over, dull and red-rimmed. Her cheeks shine with tears against the pale light of the moon, glittering like the stars above.
I sit with her, sharing nothing but silence. I thought I had been prepared to see her after obtaining the information I was recently given, but the truth is that I am not. On the way here, I had thought up a million things I would say to her the second I reached her side. But sitting across from her now, I can't seem to find any words.
I am lost in my own troubles when Haven shifts to give notice to my presence. I am pulled back to reality when Haven's shattered gaze collides with my own, leaving me struggling to hold myself together.
She sniffs. Half of her face is clouded in shadows, the other illuminated by moon beams. She doesn't look real. For a moment, I feel as if I am dreaming. I almost wish I was–that the entirety of the day had been nothing more than a twisted nightmare that I will surely wake up from soon.
"I'm sorry," Haven whispers. This is all she says; nothing less, nothing more. I thought I had been broken upon arrival, but these words are my final destruction.
I bite my lip as it trembles. I think of all of the things I had run over saying to Haven. How I would tell her that everything was going to be okay. How I would reassure her that she has nothing to fear. And then I think back to the things people had said to me after Dad passed–the meaningless nothings that were meant to be comforting, but instead resulted in the opposite. I hated being told it was going to be okay, because for me nothing would ever be okay again. What I most craved was honesty. For someone–anyone–to recognize my pain, yet bear with me through it.
I turn to gaze out of the window, eyeing the clear night sky. I inhale.
"I'm sorry," I murmur so softly I almost don't realize I'm speaking. I keep my face angled toward the stars, seeking courage. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. That was selfish and cruel. I guess I . . ." I trail off and somehow find the strength to look Haven in the eye. It kills me, to see my little piece of the sun so dim, so defeated, so broken.
