A Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 3 (Part 3)

Then his body jumped and he took in a gasp for air like he hadn’t been breathed in hours. He let out a few coughs and was breathing heavily when his eyes fluttered open and fell to mine. Even though everything I looked at was the orange-red color, his eyes still showed their true color.

“You’re awake! Oh my god, I thought you would never wake up! I’m so sorry Zach, I didn’t mean to do anything. I’m sorry that I left my house, I’m sorry I went into a dark alley, I’m sorry I let Tyler get me, I’m sorry you had to save me, I’m sorry you had to bring me home, I’m sorry you… you passed out or whatever just happened. I’m sorry for everything, it’s all my fault. You didn’t deserve this, I… Why are you smiling?” I suddenly stopped.

I looked at him and he had a small grin on his face as he looked up at me with his head still on my lap.

“It wasn’t your fault.” He said quietly.

“Don’t try to make me feel better Zach. You’re the one who needs to feel better.” I placed my other hand on his cheek and wiped away one of my tears that had fallen on to his face.

“I’m fine. Your reaction was way worse than mine, you really scared me right there.” He sighed.

“I scared you? How was my reaction worse than yours? You stopped breathing for like fifteen minutes, I don’t even understand how you’re alive.” I grabbed his face even tighter.

“I don’t mean now, I mean my first reaction. I didn’t think it wouldn’t be that bad.” He said.

“You mean this has happened to you before?” my eyes widened.

“Yeah, earlier today actually. Can you sit me up against the wall?” he asked.

I tried to help but I wasn’t able to stand up myself. I grabbed his arms and we crawled to the wall and we both sat up against it.

“This happened to you twice in a day? Now I feel even worse.” I said a tear somehow finding a way down my cheek.

“Hey, don’t cry. Valerie this isn’t your fault ok? It wasn’t anyone’s fault. There are just some weird things going on that I don’t quite understand yet.” He put a hand on my cheek and wiped a tear away, his hands were so soft.

And he kept calling me Valerie. I didn’t like lying to him but I think it’s what I needed to do.

“What’s going on then?” I looked up into his eyes.

“I don’t know. There’s someone I need to ask about that.” He moved his hand from my face.

“Do you know why everything looks orange?” I looked out across my room.

He followed my gaze, “That’s another question I have. Do you want it to go away?”

“That would be nice. But I’m scared, you have that look.” I said looking at his face.

“What look?” he looked back at me.

“The look that says I’m not gonna like what we have to do.”

“I don’t think you will. We just have to say those words again and it should go away. We might feel a little something but nothing as bad as what just happened.” He looked in my eyes with a look that said he was sorry for everything that happened.

“I trust you.” I said.

He gave me a small smile and I quickly grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers. He looked down at them for a second and so did I. I thought for a second I should let go. Maybe he thought I was weird and didn’t want to hold my hand, but I kept holding it. Partially because I was scared of what would happen, but mostly because I liked holding his hand.