Her Pale Blue Eyes

Chapter 5

Four years ago.

Selene's mother held Jon tightly as he cried into her shoulder. He was twenty-four and their father was pronounced dead by the doctor who just left the hospital room to give the family privacy. Selene was twelve years older then him and already far removed from the family, though she remember thinking she'd miss her father's cruel ill-placed jokes. She also remembered thinking, 'I told you all those cigarettes were going to catch up to you, dumb bastard.' Some times she think when she go though bouts of writers block that it's he was has returned to spite her for her wicked thoughts. 

She had excepted to never hear the words of her father's approval, and had concluded that if he bullied you light heartedly it meant he loved you. Naturally he was a selfish person, like Selene, and she thinks that her brother felt distanced from him because of it. Jon was sweet natured like their mother. Oddly enough he became a defense attorney, though ultimately she assumed he just feels sorrow for the people he represented. 

The wake for her father's funeral was held in their home, and that night after everyone left only the Clarks remained. Everyone was camped outside with beer, or wine, or water to drink but Selene's had run low so she gone inside for a refill. The house felt hallow, like a body without a soul. 

She plucked an old glass bottle of ginger-ale from the back of fridge, unscrewed the lid and took a deep swig. She rubbed her lips with the back of her hand and replaced the cap when she was done. Behind the kitchen was a hallway filled with pictures of her family that led to her father's old writing room. Some of the images were just of her as a child, and of her brother as he grew older, some of her parents alone and then with her and her brother smiling at the camera with perceptible effort, like hangers were stuck in their mouths. Some with their pets over the years, the latest being her mother's miniature poodle, Frances, whom she would dress up in little gowns and jackets made for dogs. She spent a few minutes looking up closely at each image when she heard a voice coming from the office.

Without thinking she followed the voice, noting it's familiar dips and inflections but unable to put a face to it. She inched into the doorway, paused there with an eerie feeling like she was spying on someone and was about to turn away when she heard her name leave the lips of Alexander Clark. He stood from where he'd been sitting in a chair just as Selene turned back around to face him in the office's doorway. Selene leaned against the wooden frame. "Hey," she said.

"I didn't mean to come in here," he had started to say but Selene waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. Is everything okay?"

Something about him looked very tired, to the point of exhaustion, and she was sure it wasn't the death of her father. "Just dealing with some relationship stuff, I guess."

"Ah your girlfriend," she posed.

"Ex."

"Oh. That's different."

Alex looked down at the black and white checkered tiles, or perhaps at his sock covered feet. His profile illuminated from the warm porch light outside the window. It was in that exact moment that Selene saw Alex as an adult for the first time in her life. He had stubble dusting his jaw line, which also seemed to cut with a strong edge below his ear. "You want to talk about it," she asked, not yet stepping further into the room.

Alex glanced up at her. Her perfect straight hair, her ghastly pale blue eyes that seemed to frighten everyone but only drew him closer into her - even if she never knew it. Though Alex had a sneaking suspicion she knew about every time he stole a glance of her, and that she'd let him do it anyway without reprimand. He chewed at the corner of his lip. Then he word vomited.