Unthinkable

Unthinkable ~ Chapter 16

"Damien! What the hell happened?" I followed him in quick paces, trying to keep up with his long strides.

"It's none of your concern, Manila. Stay out of it." His voice was calm, but deadly. It almost made me stop pestering him, almost made me want to forget the whole thing. That is, until the image of Maybelle's perturbed expression filled my mind again.

"No. It is of my concern. Maybelle is my friend and I deserve to know why she can't stand to look at your face!"

My eyes shot daggers through Damien's glare. What could he have done? This was my brother; the one I loved to the point of aching. And this was Maybelle, the amazingly strong girl whom I'd grown to be very close with. I tried a different approach as my boiling blood simmered down a bit.

"I need to know." My eyes started to frantically search his face for any signs of any emotion. Anything. "Please."

His glare didn't falter for a few moments until he saw the pleading look on my face. His eyes squeezed shut as a breath of air whooshed out of his mouth.

"It happened in the past. If I could take back my actions I would but I can't."

I didn't reply. He needed to explain himself.

"I..." He took another breath, his eyes still closed. For a moment, there was a deafening silence drifting through the air before he turned on his heels so that his back would face me. I was about to yell at him to turn around, but I could just faintly see his hands start to shake. I waited for him to continue.

"It was stupid. We both just wanted an adventure. I can't believe how careless I was and where she is now..."

His hand shot up to his face. I couldn't see him, but it was pretty safe to assume he wiping tears. I suddenly felt bad for intruding like this, but every breath made me even more impatient. I needed to know.

"I was younger, and I had a friend. He owned one of them. It was one that everyone just had to get, no matter how expensive; those sleek, pretty ones. Red and black with killer rims."

I held my breath. Was he saying what I think he was trying to say? No, he couldn't be.

"That girl had a thing for adventure," he said quietly, chuckling slightly. "She could be the quietest girl in the world, but she just had to go on adventures." It made me think of our own little adventure to the waterfall when I had first met her. All of this was just making me more and more anxious though, and I had to bite my lip to keep from asking him to cut to the chase.

"We wanted to... to take it out for a spin." He breath caught on the last word, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably now. "There was a truck and, and a car..." My breathing started to quicken in pace, and before I knew what I was saying, the words escaped my mouth in wispy little breaths.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

Damien turned to me, a tear rolling down his cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't want to hear it. I needed to think. I needed to isolate myself to keep from lashing out on Damien. I started to turn away from him so I could bolt out of the door and away from the situation, but I forced myself to stop. I balled my hands into fists and took a deep breath.

They say it takes courage to stand up to your enemies, but it takes a whole lot more to stand up to your loved ones.

I found myself spinning around to face Damien, and before I knew what I was doing, I yelled straight in his face.

"You ass!"

At first, he didn't respond, his eyes widening slightly. It was almost as if he was... afraid of me for a moment. The expression quickly faded though, and his eyes narrowed to slits.