Fall Down & Smile

Chapter 19

"At Your Most Beautiful"

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awkward rhythms

It was a dark and stormy

Delete.

Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap.

The house on the hill was older than anyone knew. The stairs

creaked under invisible feet and the couch made a pass at the chair. The

curtains blew with a laugh as the footstool told a bad joke. The mantel

rolling it's bricks with a grimace.

"Ew."

Delete. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelete.

"Fuck."

Sigh.

The door slammed.

Triston sat in a high backed chair, staring at the picture in front

of him. A man and a woman, so happy and free had an underlying secret of

possible deceit.

The chair across from me moved.

He sloshed a goblet of wine in between his fingers, as the candles

were burning low. His eyes narrowed until he could barely see straight and

anger flashed behind his intense green gaze.

I felt something burning through my skull. I looked up and nearly

fell out of my chair. "For crying out loud. What are you doing home

early?" I managed to get out.

Dawn stared at me. Her hands were crossed in front of her on the

table, her previously French braided hair was now limp and frayed. "I hate

you," she growled, her eyes narrowing to slits.

I blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

Her face softened and tears began flowing down her cheeks. "I hate

you. Why'd you let me move here? Why'd you let me follow my dream?" She

sobbed.

I frowned. "Are you trying to be funny?"

She shook her head. "No. Why did you let me come here, Iya?"

I slapped my hand to my forehead as if I'd just been

enlightened. "Stupid me, I thought you wanted to come to California. I

thought you wanted to pursue your acting career. Man, am I insensitive or

what?"

She put her head on the table and cried.

I sighed and knelt next to her chair. "What happened?"

She sniffled. "Curran sent me home. I was horrible today. I

couldn't remember any of my lines. I can't fit into my wardrobe because of