Guilt: A Fractured Minds Novel

Chapter Eight

A/N: Please tell me what you think so far, comments/votes are greatly appreciate it!

My fingers freeze as he moves closer to me. As he sits down on the bench I look over at him and let out a breath of air.
"Jared you caught me by surprise." I say as I take my fingers off the white keys. His warm smile gives me an apology as he sets his fingers on the keys and plays a few notes. They linger in the air before slowly fading away.
"You decided to play today. What changed?" He asks his grey eyes searching my own hazel ones.
"Nothing did."
"Oh and how true is that?" He asks me raising one eyebrow.
"Why are you here? How did you even get inside my house?"
"I'm here to see how you're doing. Is that such a crime? The door was unlocked, so I just walked in."
"No, it's not. It would be nice if you knocked first."
"I did knock. Do you think I just walk inside of people's houses?" Looking over at me he then laughs at the face I'm making. Shaking my head I play a few keys. Slowly his laughter dies in his throat. Taking my hand in his he holds it and looks down into my eyes. Some of his black hair falls into his eyes. Moving it aside with his free hand.
"Ally what-"
"She taught me how to play the piano. Did you know that? It was all because my mother was too cheap to pay for lessons when she didn't know if I'd quit or not. I ended up loving to play and ever since Tori continued to teach me until she got busy with other things like friends and boys." He stayed silent as I hit a few notes with my fingers.
    "After that we grew more apart and then she started to sneak out of the house at all hours of the night. I remember once I caught her as she was going out the front door. She was mad and made me promise not to tell our mother because if I did-well she had her threats, none of which she actually went through with."
"I know you miss her, but the police are going to find her." Turning to him I pull my hand from his and watch as a small frown makes its way onto his face before he covers it up with a quick smile.
"Jared I think something happened to her."
"Well, she did disappear..."
"I know that, but you're not getting it. I don't believe that she just disappeared on her own."
"Are you saying that you think someone helped her disappear?"
"No, I think something might have happened to her and for some reason she can't reach us."
"Ally, are you feeling okay?" He asks feeling my forehead. Leaning forward slightly he really looks at me.
"Yes, I'm feeling fine-"
"Are you sure because I think you should lay down."
"Stop it Jared. I feel perfectly fine."
"I'm just trying to make sure that you're okay."
Shaking my head I look at him and watch as his eyes skim up to my forehead. Grabbing my hand once again he pulls me up and off the bench. Leading me pass the kitchen and into the hallway he opens the closet full of towels and grabs a small cloth. Next he opens the bathroom. Pointing to the closed lid I sit down and ask him, "What are you doing?" I watch as he wets the cloth. His veins are visible on his hands until they dive further under his slightly tanned skin. Looking away from his muscular arms I look down at me intertwined fingers.
"I'm going to clean off the scrape on your head."
    "Oh." Is all I can think of to say as he crouches down in front of me. He starts to wipe the blood away. His eyes flicker from the scrape to the rest of my face.
    "Thank you." I mutter as he stand up to wash the blood out of the rag. The red spot on the white rag slowly disappears. It's then that I remember that he was there last night. Standing in the middle of the road causing me to crash my car into a tree to avoid hitting him.
"Why were you standing in the middle of the road last night?" I ask and watch as he becomes still as if he's holding his breath.
"I already told you-"
"No, you didn't. All you said was that you were doing something for me, that all of this was for me. What exactly were you talking about?" I ask moving off of the bench and to the couch in the corner of the room. Away from him as he sighs before answering, "I can't tell you that."