Glitterdust (Completed)

37. Invitation of a thief

"Is this yours?" My wig is swinging back and forth on Joey's index finger. A smile, that I can only interpret as mocking, rests on his face.

This is the first time we see each other again since we broke up, since his deceit, since he stole my life.

I wished bad things would happen to him. How I wished that he got a nasty rash, covering him from head to toe. How I wished that he lost his sight, so he had to give up gaming. How I wished he would mess up and lose the contract. But here he is, standing before me and he looks better than I had hoped. His skin is smooth, besides the 'I haven't shaved in two days' stubble, his eyes are still intense brown and he looks as healthy as ever. If I didn't know any better, I would call him hot.

But hot or not, the mere sight of him disgusts me, because I haven't forgotten what he did to me.

"Thanks." I snatch the wig from his hands. I adjusted the dreaded thing so it wouldn't cause me any headaches anymore, but I think I made it too loose and it must have slid away from my head.

My heart beats fast in my chest when I stuff the now useless hairpiece in my backpack. I feel the hairs in my neck rise and when I look up again, his eyes burn into mine. It is as if we're standing in a glass bell. Everyone around us is submerged in their games, no one is paying attention to us. Only the frantic clicking of mouses and the tapping of keyboards disturb the silence that hangs between us. We're fighting a battle with our eyes; the one who looks away first, loses.

So many memories come back to me. I remember how it all began, how he pulled me back to life after Greg died. I didn't speak for weeks, the guilt I felt after his death had overwhelmed me. No one noticed I was quiet, everyone was mourning in their own way. My mother lived in the bedroom crying her eyes out, my father stayed in his study taking control of the situation, and Megan... Megan was taken to the hospital.

"She just needs some time to calm down," they told me.

"We're going to keep her safe," they said, but they never told me why she needed protection.

So I embraced my silence, living a nightmare, until Joey came over and handed me a controller. We were playing games for hours. It was just what I needed, being with another human being, and I didn't have to utter a word. He won over and over, until he said: "What on earth happened in the woods?"

I told him everything, confessed what I had done and it felt like a weight was lifted from my chest. After that, I won the rest of the games we played that day.

I remember the day he kissed me, when the marriage of my parents was falling apart in the room next to mine. My parents were yelling at each other and he embraced me, covered my ears, so I wouldn't hear the spiteful things they said to each other. His face was so close to mine, I could see every line, pore and hair, I could see every detail of his face.

 At first I didn't know what happened. His lips brushed against mine, like a butterfly passing by. His tongue flicked between my lips, as quick as a small animal. I remember the look in his eyes. It took him one second and he retracted himself, as if he surprised himself with his bold move. He muttered a barely audible excuse, before I pulled him back and answered his kiss.

I remember how he filled up my life, after my mother had left the house and my father lost himself in his work. I remember how I tried to fill up the emptiness inside of me that was caused by my family falling apart. In the end I left as well, spending more and more time at his place, leaving my past behind, doing everything possible to forget what had caused this downfall of a once happy family.

And I remember his deceit, how he tore out my heart, smashed it to pieces and put them back again. And now that I see him, it still hurts.

He's the first to break the silence. "So you're back?"