Revived Souls

P A R T T w e l v e

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|T W E L V E|our Struggles
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I'd learnt a long time ago that love was the centre of every relationship. In my messed up mind, love was like a sun and all the other feelings revolved around it like planets. Sometimes emotions overlapped each other and made everything like a gigsaw puzzle. And then when other negative emotions intensify in our universe of a mind, the glow of love seemed to fade. Love would always stay alive like sun. When cloudy days take over, sun is still there but hidden. That's how love works. In every sadness, there's love hidden deep within our sad hearts.

That's why I never understood why people dealt with their sad stories by drinking, smoking or gambling or taking drugs or even sex. Everybody had their own escapes when disaster strikes in the middle of a fairy tale.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is life.

That probably was why I literally gaped in shock one night at the sight of few alcoholic bottles stacked under Flynn's bed. It could have been somebody else's. But my finger was pointed at Flynn.

"What are you doing?" I heard Flynn ask from the door. I stood up at his voice as I turned around to look at him instantly with my face colored with a shocked expression.

He seemed to turn his eyes down to the bottles and I saw his face getting pale as his eyes widened in panic.
"I...." He looked down almost appearing like a kid afraid of punishments.

"Are you..?" I bit my lips nervously as I began. After gaining a bit of composure, I asked, "Do you have a drinking problem?"

I heard him take a long sigh. "I used to whenever it was hard." He was having a hard time keeping an eye contact with me. His posture cowered as if in defeat and shame.

"You never told me you...you were an alcoholic?" Everything was hard to process but I managed to choke out the words. I was surprisingly upset that he had kept this fact away from me. I had known him for a total of two weeks and we both had gained closure in that short span of time. I was prepared to drown all my sadness with him hoping that he would feel the same warmth to do the same. But I was so wrong.

"It's not easy!! You don't know me!!" He suddenly yelled in response as a dark look overtook his features. "Don't assume that you have got me figured out. Alright?!!"

He took a few deep breathes to calm his anger which was boiling at the highest temperatures. I have never seen him this angry. He closed his eyes tight only to open them and stare right into me.
"Sorry." He softly muttered. "It's just....I wasn't an alcoholic or anything. But I did drink when I felt heavy....heavy with weight of sorrow. I know you are thinking of me in the alcoholic light but I swear that I wasn't my father. Or my mother for instance."

I felt a jolt of pain tugging at my heart knowing that he was struggling just as much as I was but in different ways. I went close to him and squeezed his hand wanting to provide him comfort.
"You don't have to tell me anything, you know. But whatever happened to you, just know that it's all past. Past is passed already and we are powerless to change it." I offered him a small smile.

He turned his grey-blue eyes at me and cast a deep glance. His eyes pierced through the walls of my heart and I felt as if my every Achilles Heel was being deciphered. I searched his face as a half smile broke out. And that smile spoke volumes about his pain, feelings, sufferings and struggle. In that moment, I wanted to fix his brokenness. I wanted to be the light to guide him from the darkest places that he'd been. I wanted to make him feel worth of living.

"You are pretty cool. You are really different from anyone I have met before." He held back a grin as I noticed that he was in a deep stupor.

I did not know how to respond to that. So I merely smiled shyly.