Renaissance

Chapter 19

What hurts the most

was being so close

and having so much to say

and watching you walk away

and never knowing what could've been

not seeing that loving you

was what I was trying to do.

∞

As he had wished, Victoria had finally left the office. Immediately, the stiff atmosphere had lifted and one could almost taste a much happier air about the place. It turned out that his team was also immensely relieved that Eagles was gone - although they were definitely not as mad as Greyson was about everything that she had done, which, admittedly, they knew nothing about. Only he knew everything, and he kept it to himself. Just the thought of her indirectly nearly getting Melodie killed made him fire up like he was in his house at the moment, barely resisting the urge to punch the walls in raw rage.

Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, a picture of her as a little child appeared in his mind. He imagined her running to her backpack and grabbing her art scissors and holding up the newspaper in front of her. He imagined her very carefully cutting it out, even getting a few cuts here and there but still dead set on what she wanted to do. He imagined her holding up the finally finished clipping and jumping around with it. He imagined her putting it on her table and putting her head in her arms and staring at it for a couple more hours until she drifted off to sleep with a bright smile still on her face.

Then he blinked his eyes open and the reality of the empty room came back.

Sighing, he picked up the clipping again, running his fingers over the paper that had been worn both rough and smooth in the days that had passed. He imagined her doing the very same thing countless times over the years. He tried to imagine feeling her touch again through the paper.

His eyes fell on a word.

At first it merely met his eyes with no connection whatsoever. He had read the article so many times over and over that it had become to him simply another word of the text he had long memorised.

And then somehow, something clicked in his mind.

Mel?

It was as if gears had suddenly sprung straight into action. His mind raced right into full speed.

Hmm?

Of course.

Where's your hometown?

Why hadn't he seen it before? He had been depressed for such a long time over the same girl and the same article.

Dunbar, Pennsylvania.

And the answer had been under his nose the whole time.

That's an awful long way from L.A..

Yeah...

He scrambled off his seat so quickly the chair fell back to the ground, but he didn't even bother putting it upright again. He just rushed around the house, trying to grab the few things his mind, in its frenzy, could scarcely gather that he needed.

Is it a nice place?

Beautiful.

Bolting out his door, he dashed straight to his Mustang. In his fumbling he had to try three times just to unlock his car. Screeching out of the parking lot, he floored it to the expressway headed toward the LAX airport. He was breaking the speed limit by 30 miles but he could scarcely care at the moment.

Do you miss it?

Terribly.

There was only one thing on his mind.

Why don't you go back?

He skidded to a stop outside the airport and recklessly got off his car, slamming the door shut and nearly forgetting to lock his car. Not wasting a second, he dashed to the first reception desk he saw. He hadn't even bothered with any disguises at all, and people were already beginning to gather and whisper, but he paid them no attention.

Do you want me to?

There was only one person on his mind.

That's not what I meant.

"Get me the first flight to Pennsylvania," he said.

Maybe.

∞

I'm still looking up.

God knows I'm tough enough.

I won't give up on us.