From His Eyes

From his eyes (Chapter 13)

Chapter 13

Cruz

I look down at a meal I haven't touched in a whole 20 minutes. I'm sitting at the dinner table in complete silence while my family chatters away. Today was the first day of term and it SUCKED. I spent most of the day alone and I would like to keep it that way. I look at my parents laughing like nothing is wrong but today... instead of me laughing with them my eyes prickle with tears and I try to blink them away. Anger rises inside of me. How could they act so happy on a day like this? Today... two years ago, Rose died in a car crash, and I got the worst phone call of my life. HOW THE ACTUAL HELL COULD THEY ACT NORMAL? My father's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. "What did you say dad?" I ask holding the burning anger climbing up my throat. "I said... have you thought of taking piano this year?" he looks straight into my eyes and all I can see is red. "WHAT?" how could he ask me this TODAY? "I asked if you would take piano this year..."

"I heard you the first time. And NO, I'm not taking piano." He looks at my mom and then back at me... a look on his face I cannot read. "Why?" No no no. He did not just ask me why. He knows why. I look him straight in the eye and see my mom whisper something in his ear. His whole face washes over with quilt. "Cruz... I.." I cut him off, "Don't." I say sharply while getting up. I run out of the dining room and slam the front door behind me. I hear them calling my name, but I can't go back. Not now.

Deep reds and blacks surround my whole body and I let my feet guide me. When I stop and look around, trying to catch my breath... tears spill out of my eyes. I look around me. I'm in a forest. The old trees tower above me and in that moment all the pain I've tried to push down crawls its way out. I cried and cried until I couldn't anymore. I opened my swollen eyes to find myself lying on the lush forest ground. Out of nowhere, I could hear a melody playing softly in my head. It had been two years of fighting all of this on my own but tonight something in me couldn't stop it. My mouth opened and the words that came to mind came flowing out of me like a river.