as i fall

Chapter 36 - A revealed past

            His green eyes were breathtaking.  He had a young face, one of child, but his eyes were that of a clever and experienced man, way beyond his young years.  An older woman - possibly his mother - stood beside him, her arm wrapped around his shoulders.  Her bright grey eyes searched the room as if looking for someone, and she smiled warmly when her gaze fell upon a girl around my age with pitch-black hair that reached her shoulders and green eyes.  The girl approached the boy and the woman, walking into their open arms and embracing them.

            I watched them.  The love that poured from their warm smiles made my chest ache.  My family had never looked at me like that, and the thought of how much they despised me made tears prick at my eyes.

            The boy was beautiful, and he had no idea of it.  A shock of black hair, the same as his sister’s, was short, ruffled as if he had just rolled out of bed.  His skin was tan, almost flawless, except for a few scars here and there.  He was scrawny, all arms and legs, but everyone else around the room was the same, with the exceptions of the adults that massed around their children.  A quick search of his mind told me he was fifteen, a year older than me.

            We were inside a school gymnasium and it was filled with kids; it was a school dance.  I’ve never been to this school, or any school for that matter, but I just needed to feel normal for once.  I wore a ruffled ivory dress that reached mid-thigh with flower decoration covering the top and a black belt around the middle, black tights, a dark denim blue cardigan with golden buttons and black gladiator heels.  The cardigan reached all the way down my arm, covering the recent wounds my mother had inflicted on me.

            She’d started to abuse me three months ago to this day.  Early this morning she had carved lines onto the skin of my arms, and I’d had to wrap them up in a bandage so that the blood didn’t go everywhere when I came out tonight.

            I had momentarily gotten distracted and when I looked back over to where the boy was standing, he was gone.  Confused, I whipped my head around and came face to face with him.

            “You were watching me,” he simply stated and I blushed.

            “I was- I didn’t mean- um – yeah, about that-“ I stuttered, my heart racing and butterflies flying in my tummy.  He smiled at me.

            “My name’s Caleb Mason, and you are?” he asked me with raised eyebrows.  The answer came out of my mouth without my permission.

            “Alexandra Miller, but call me Alex.”

            “I don’t think I’ve seen you before, are you new?” he questioned, gesturing to the room full of teenagers dancing.

            “Um, no, I’m not from around here,” I muttered nervously.

            “Never mind that.  Would you like to dance with me, Alex?” he held out a hand and I looked down at it with surprise.  I placed my hand in his and a warm feeling spread through my body.  I smiled at him.

            I collapsed onto my knees, no longer able to hold myself up.  As I continued to gaze into Caleb’s eyes, another memory consumed my current reality.

            “Caleb?” I called out to the still, cold air of the night, my gaze searching the trees that surrounded me.  I was now fifteen, and I’d known Caleb for a year, meeting with him in secret so not to bring attention to us.  This forest was one of our favorite spots to meet up.