It scared her when she woke up. His 4 AM reflection in the mirror in front of her. She lied motionless in bed, his breath warm on the back of her neck, and his arm draped loosely on her waist as his hand hanged from the side of the bed. Her eyes adjusted to the faint light coming in from the window, and she saw what a mess last night had been. All the dirty lies and all the heartbreak on the floor, some tears and some cries still lingering in the cold air. But somehow still, he had landed up just beside her, somehow in the dark creul night he managed to pull her closer and make her fall asleep. What was this? She often wondered. As did he. But, both of them knew, that when the dawn broke, and the sun peeked from the horizon again, all will be forgotten, and all will be forgiven.
She tried not to move a muscle, and tried not to breathe too loud because she didn't want to wake him up, not yet. Not when everything seemed too calm, not when the house was this quiet, this peaceful, it rarely ever was. Relationships were hard, she knew that, but this one seemed a little harder than the ones her friends were in. This was hard, not because it was usually filled with lies and spent on crying and shouting behind doors, no, this was hard because there was no escape from it. Even when she wanted to escape, to leave, she couldn't. Something always brought her back to this small house at the end of a shady street where no one seemed to care about the endless wailing and the monstrous screams coming from a two bedroom hut at midnight.
But the dawn did break and the sun did peek from the horizon every day. And so, everyday was spent wondering, and hoping that the next day would be better. That the next day would be happy.
And it was happy. There is no denying that. Moments like this where she found herself today, in bed when it was quiet out and his breath was calm and his heartbeat could be felt on her back, these were the moments she considered happy. Even if they were short lived.
It was indeed shortlived. His muscles moved and he let out a slight moan as he twisted and turned in bed, opening his eyes and looking into the eyes of his girl, the same eyes that cried nights for him. "Good morning," he said, placing a light kiss on her forehead. His breath still smelling of dry tobacco, burnt leaves and alcohol. "Good morning," she replied, "I'll go make breakfast."
As they both got up from bed, the room started spinning in circles. For him, it was because of the drugs in his system. For her, it was because of the drugs in his system. She let out a short whimper in pain and looked down to see that her foot had a prominent cut just above the heel. Blood clotted now, turning the wound a sharp shade of maroon.
In the kitchen, everything seemed normal. Not perfect, but normal. He sat at the dining table, phone in hand, pretending to read the news. "Pancakes," she said as she placed a plate of his favorite food in front of him and they both sat down to start their morning.
"Are you going to work today?" She asked.
"No. I'm not feeling well," he sighed, "Are you?"
"Well.. One of us has to."
"Are you gonna start that shit again?!" "I'm not trying to start any shit. I just answered your question."
He breathed deeply. He didn't want to fight. Not right now. His head was hurting as if seventy spikes in his brain were spinning around. The last thing he wanted was another fight. He looked at her, trying to calm himself down. The way her blue eyes watched him from across the table sent a warmth down his body. He always questioned how she could do that. Just from a single look, a deep single look into his own eyes, she could bring the sunshine. His gaze fell to her hand that was holding her plate on the table. A long blue mark, something in the shape of a leaf was visible on her wrist. He tried to remember if he did that, but nothing from last night came into his mind. "Did I do that?" He whispered.
"No," she lied, "Car door hit it, I was in a hurry so wasn't careful with it. Listen I should get going now. I'll see you at night."
And with that, she silently left through the front door and ventured on with her daily routine. The same old work at the restaurant five blocks away. Same old waitressing. Same old heart. But something was different today, and she didn't sense it. Until he showed up at the restaurant and ordered tea.
