M U T E 》d.h

F I F T E E N

*December 31st, 2007*

'Dan?...'

'El, Are you okay? Your nose is bleeding.. And you're shivering.. Here'

'Dan. Please.. Go away, I don't need your help'

'El, I need to talk to you.. But first, let me help you. I-'

'NO! Dan'

'El, I'm not leaving you.. Please, let me explain'

She broke down into tears and hugged Dan tightly, he hugged her back. He didn't care if blood stained his white shirt. As long he gained her trust again. It was all he needed.

'My house is very close. Do you want to come over and talk there? My family isn't home at the moment'

She nodded against his shoulder, she let go of Dan's body and held onto his arm. Before they start walking. Dan took off his jacket and gently placed it on Eleanor's shoulders. She wrapped the jacket around her body.

~~~

Both Eleanor and Dan were sitting in Dan's bed in his bedroom. El cleaned up her face and took off her makeup. She stared onto the chocolaty brown covered walls. Whilst Dan stared on Eleanor's face.

He was trying to find her hidden emotions behind her eyes. He was trying to read Eleanor's mind.

He stared at Eleanor's freckles that were dotted along from her cheeks to her nose, to her forehead. To him, they look like constellations in space. Different shades of reds, oranges and brown that matches her hair. It suits her snowy, pale skin.

And it's beautiful on her.

Eleanor, however, still felt very anxious. She has calmed down, but still silently crying to herself. Tears were still escaping from her eyes.

The silence broke when Dan's Nokia phone rung. He picked it up and looked at the contact. It was from his girlfriend, probably wondering why Dan didn't show up at the party as he promised. He didn't really care at this point.

'El... Are you ready to talk now?'

She nodded her head. She wiped away her tears that where sitting on her skin. Dan reached out and held her right hand with his left.

'I.. Um.. I found out my dad past away. He... He overdosed on his medical drugs'

Dan squeezed her hand gently, rubbing his thumb over her hand. She couldn't cry anymore, she was emotionally drained.

'When did this happened?' Dan asked.

'Few weeks ago...'

'Were you close with your father?'

'No.. He left when I was a child and when mum was pregnant with my brother back in 2000. He left for another woman back in Cambridge. Apparently mum wasn't good enough for him when she told him the news that she was pregnant again'

'El, I'm so sorry'

'Please don't say sorry, it wasn't your fault'

'Still...'

Silence fell again. She continue to stare at his brown walls. Avoiding to look at him in the eyes. Dan spoke up again.

'Look..... I know this is really bad timing but I have to confess something to you... El, I know you since primary school and we both separated during our early teenage years. I've tried looking or you, on Myspace, Facebook and all, trying to contact you. But I couldn't find you, I thought I lost you but now, I can finally say it...... El.. I-'

A sudden crashing noise awoke both Dan and Eleanor.

Dan jumped out of his bed, looking outside his window. Seeing flashing lights of red and blue. He walked over and see that a car has crashed into a street sign just a few houses down. He walked into the hallway and see Phil walking out of his room with the same expression that Dan has on his face. They exchanged looks and carried on back into their rooms.

However, Eleanor was shaking. She was scared from the sudden noise. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

There was a knock on her door, Louise peeped through the crack of the door.

'I guess you heard the noise. It's okay, it was one of the cats knocking a flower vase off a shelf. Go back to sleep, love'

Louise gently shut the door and walked off.

Eleanor couldn't get back to sleep. She was still wondering about her last dream.

I had a dad.. In Cambridge, who past away. He left me when I was a child.

Who was this Dan person? He looked familiar.

What was he going to confess to me?

________________________________________________________________________________

edited.