Sunshine Girl (Ryan Upchurch)

Empathy & Disdain

Ryans POV

I watched as she tossed and turned until she jolted awake.

"Fuuuck!!!" She screamed out. I watched as her body flew forward with such force I was shocked she didn't land on the floor in front of the bed. Her dark hair was disheveled, blue eyes wide and full of tears, her chest rapidly moving as she attempted to catch her breath.

"Baby you okay?" I asked as I removed my headphones. She didn't know I heard and saw more than enough to know she wasn't.

"I'm fine. Nightmare. Probably from the medications they gave me." She replied as she got up and went to the bathroom. I stayed in my seat and waited for her to reappear. After several minutes she opened the door and climbed back into bed.

"Whats wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. Im tired and it doesn't help when you ask me that 10 times in one day Ryan." She spat out. She threw the covers over her head before I had the chance to even reply. I shut my laptop off and left the room to keep myself calm. Her overwhelming and sudden anger didn't help me as I was trying to heal from the accident. She was becoming so different right in front of my eyes. We had just gotten her shine back just for it to be ripped from her quicker than she could blink. I stood in the kitchen as I stared out the back door. The wagon and harnesses stuck in their place, frozen in time. A painful reminder of what recently occurred in my life. I slowly turned away from the haunting memory of yesterday and went to the bedroom again. She was already back asleep and I snuck into the bed with her. Her body faced away from me like she was cold shouldering me in her sleep. I attempted rest and maybe got a couple hours throughout the night before calling it quits around 7:30.

I got dressed, ate breakfast, and walked onto the back porch. I stared at the wagon. I walked up to it and picked up the harnesses and put them in her tack room. Before long I was in front of the wagon. Blind with rage I pushed it further down the arena away from the spot I hated looking at now.

When I got back inside she was silently standing in the kitchen looking out toward the arena.

"Why'd you move them?" She asked.

"The harnesses needed put up before some rain ruined them." I replied.

"Then why'd you move the wagon?" She asked.

"Just figured it would be better to move it toward the exit." I said as I opened the fridge and got a bottle of water.

"It was fine where it was. Quit fucking lying." She said as she turned around and faced me. She had a look of hatred and scorn in her face for just a moment.

"Look you can either get off of my fucking back and let it go or I can leave. You clearly aren't talking to me and its just gonna cause a fight between us. You're not angry at me so don't take it out on me. Cus I won't fucking take that shit. So either get yourself sorted or fuck off." I replied as I set the water down and walked out the door. I left. We were both pissed off, slept like shit, and were hurting. Staying there and fighting wasn't gonna solve our issues so I chose to walk away until we had gathered ourselves.

Aaliyahs POV

I watched as he drove away and stood there in shock. In my blind rage over the past day I had started pushing him away from me. But I couldn't control the anger I was feeling. It wasn't toward him though. It was toward myself, my body for letting me down. For not telling me that I was growing a defenseless human inside of me. I would've never put myself in that position had I known. And I should have. I stared off at the empty parking spot before I heard my phone ring behind me. A Kentucky number was on my phone, but it wasn't saved.