Broken Ties (EN)

(10) Double Life

As soon as his eyes locked on mine, I couldn't look away, I noticed that he was aware of my equally rapid breathing and he slowly took his hand away from my mouth and lowered it to my wrist, for a moment, I thought his movement was a caress, but that idea was soon erased when I felt pain in my wrist, he was squeezing my wrist without ever looking away.

"- Zac!" I looked down at my wrist, he was really hurting me. I remember yesterday when he squeezed my wrist in class, the force was exactly the same. I get no reaction from him. He's firm and tense.

"What did he want?" he shouts indignantly, and I shudder at the change in his voice.

I've never seen him so upset. I know two things: that he's stupid and that he's strong. But I never imagined him to be violent. And right now I feel overwhelmed, scared that I'm going to become a punching bag.

"- He's nothing... but I... I wanted answers" - I say in sobs as a tear of pain falls down my cheek, the uncontrolled force he exerted on my wrist was unbearable, I could already hear little bones breaking. He realizes that my voice is coming out in pain and quickly lets go of my wrist. He goes to the door, pushes it open with brutal force and kicks the bed.

"- You're not going to ask him anything, you hear!" he shouts in a threatening tone, he walks over to me and our noses touch, the smell of tobacco is inhaled through my nostrils, it's as clear as the water he's been smoking. I can see his hands shaking, such must be the adrenaline and nervousness he's feeling. This time he puts his hands behind his back, I sense that he has noticed and is taking my wrist pain into consideration, this action of his is to prevent him from touching me and hurting me. His voice only sounded threatening. "- That animal will lie like he always has, he can't know about us!" - he shouts, completely altered, pointing at the cell phone he himself had thrown onto Sarah's bed.

"- Us! I've lost something" - I say in a whisper, my eyes closed in fear, feeling only his breath on my cheek. I was too close to him to confront him, there is no connection between the two of us.

"- He can't know you're here with me, he'll destroy you" - he whispers this time repeating my exact way of speaking. The only thing is that I was whispering in fear and he was whispering in sarcasm. Everything about Zac is a discovery, he has serious communication problems, perhaps the result of his lack of education at home.

"- I don't understand..." I swallowed my saliva dry, in order to catch my breath. "- Tell me your side of the story before I tell you his" - I beg and open my eyes. His eyes are closed, his nose is glued to mine, and I feel like touching his face. His right eye twitches, I suppose from anxiety and stress. His lips are pink and thin. They're dry from talking so much, and I feel a crazy urge to kiss him. He looks like an angel with his eyes closed, vulnerable, like he needs help. I can't understand how calm he is, he doesn't look like the boy who came into the room a few minutes ago.

"- Stop!" - he opens his eyes and notices me looking at him. And the demon takes hold of his body again, he goes from peace of mind to a hurricane. He pushes me and I take two steps back. I just wanted him to tell me the truth, I just wanted to know if it was true that my mother and I had been deceived for all these years.

"- I need to know the truth Zac! What does he do every weekend when he says he's coming to see you?" - I puff out my chest and shout at him, and gather my courage, he's nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing, two steps towards him. "- Do you know!" I shout disconsolately with my arms in the air.

"-No!" he shouts back, and I let out a scream of rage at how impossible it is to talk to this freak. All he had to do was tell me, there was no need for all this drama.

"- I'm going to ask him! I need to know" - I shout and point at my cell phone, I need to know what he does at the weekend. And Zac puts his hands on his head and musses his hair frantically.