Through Your Eyes

Chapter 21: Reese

The place was completely empty. I let out a brief sigh of relief. I quietly shut the door behind myself and shimmied past all the junk on the floor. Since my parents weren't well off, they kept everything they could that potentially had even the slightest value. This made them hoarders, and all the clutter made this fact very obvious.

I always worked really hard to keep my areas clean, especially around my plants. But with my absence, even those spaces were now piled high with all kinds of random garbage. I glanced longingly at the large windowsill where I used to have my garden, zoning out as I envisioned them all waiting there for me, bustling with life as they excitedly greeted me.

It would have been cruel for me to keep them here, though, so I sold them to an actual hell farm where they wouldn't die without my constant care. Those plants needed a lot of attention and took a lot of work to maintain; I couldn't leave them alone in this rundown place with no one to look after them.

With a sigh, I ignored that empty feeling and turned to my corner of the house. Since my parents and I used to share this one room, it was already cramped enough without all the useless crap covering the floors. We slept, ate, and spent any free time we had in this one room so it was always a mess.

I rummaged through the random stuff piled high on top of what I left behind. I tried to tidy this place up before leaving, but that clearly hadn't helped as it all looked like shit now anyway. It took at least an hour to get everything off my stuff, even though I was just going through such a small area.

Once I finally uncovered my things, I found old photos, notes, and finally the job contract. It got quite crumpled up from being shoved in the corner, but I straightened it out and could read it well enough. I folded it up neatly into my back pocket and turned around to leave.

I instantly stopped in my tacks and held my breath.

"Hey, Ri Ri. It's nice to see you again... especially after you left without saying goodbye."

My throat dried up and I couldn't say anything in response. All I could do was slouch over slightly and guiltily avoid contact with him. My dad saw me. Even though I tried to avoid both my parents, my dad somehow found me.

"Hey... what's wrong?" He reached out to comfort me and I stiffened as he gently grabbed my shoulder.

What should I say? What could I say?

I was the worst child possible. Sure I was trying to help out now, but I had been such a burden to them over the years. They could barely support themselves, let alone a little devil who had to be sent to school and fed even more than them while growing up.

I'd silently left for this very reason. I had no clue what to say to them after all that.

"There has to be a reason you came back... Did you-" He stopped mid-sentence as he looked into my eyes. The vibrant red glow was hard to miss and he knew exactly what that meant. His eyes glowed the exact same color, after all. "Wait... did you meet your soulmate on Earth?"

He sounded shocked, but not angry. I was just glad my mom hadn't been the one to discover me. She would have flipped out, and I really couldn't handle that right now.

I breathed in through gritted teeth and managed to say, "Yeah..."

"Then why are you here?" He lowered his hand from my shoulder to clasp my right hand and held it tight, looking me directly in the eye. "Did something bad happen?"

I snickered, doing my best to try and hide my fear. "Depends on what you mean by bad. My soulmate's human, dad. HUMAN."

He held my gaze with softness in his eyes, then glanced down at my hand and caressed it with his thumb. I watched him do this as silence filled the room. He had always been very thoughtful, careful of each word he said because of his job. If he ever offended his employers, they'd chop off his head in an instant. So I waited patiently for his response.

"Who is this human?" he finally asked.

"Funny thing is she's a cop of all things." I laughed at the irony while rolling my eyes. "But she is really sweet..."

"What's her name?"

"Valarie..." My voice trailed off as I envisioned her standing in front of me, smiling back with some cute sundress on. She truly had the most beautiful smile that seemed to glow as much as our eyes did.

He raised my hand, regaining my attention and lifting our eyes to meet again. I finally got a good look at his face and noticed that new wrinkles had formed around his eyes, and that his horns started to chip at the edges. Old age and overwork really started getting to him, and I was reminded once more why I needed to do well in this job to prevent him and my mom from working to death.

He squeezed my hand and looked directly into my eyes. "And do you love her, Ri Ri?"

Without hesitating anymore I nodded. "Yes dad, I do."

"Then whatever this is that you're dealing with," he said while gesturing to the documents I shoved in my back pocket, "you'll get through it together. I believe in you."

I pressed his forehead to mine and brought me into a tight hug. I leaned into his arms and whispered, "Thank you... I think- I really needed this."

He pulled back with a smile. "We're always here for you if you need us."

I smiled back at him, holding back my tears the best I could and waved goodbye. I had to leave before encountering my mom too. I didn't know when she'd be back, and knew it would be even harder to leave if both of them were there.

He waved back as I closed the front door behind myself. With a new sense of determination, I rushed back to the front gate and slapped the document that the pathetic devil gave me back on his desk. This startled him quite a bit, but he stayed polite while saying he hoped I enjoyed my visit. I shrugged him off and leapt into the sky, flying higher and higher until the pressure got so intense I had to squeeze my eyes shut.