The Light Within

The Light

RECAP

I slowly crept down the hallway, in nothing but my towel. My feet made creaks as I walked about the darkness. I clutched the fabric in my hand, slowly making my way to my room.

Suddenly, I saw a tall figure standing at the end of the hallway. His head turned towards me, my face getting hot. He made his way over to me, and it wasn't until he got into the light that I saw, it was Mason.

MASON

"Dude, just go and talk to her. She hasn't came out of her room for a while."

 I held the file of Willow Nirabla in my hand, flipping through the pages packed with information and a background story on her. I had no clue she had it so rough. Her mother killed herself right after Willow was born, she couldn't handle the thought of taking care of her baby. The document said in the middle of the night, she walked over to her husband sitting in an armchair beside her hospital bed, Willow's father, and slit her throat right in front of him. The grief and pain is what sent him on a drunken mission, to destroy Willow's life, as she did her mother's.

My heart wrenched inside my chest at just the thought of Willow blaming herself for what her mother did. 

"Okay, now you're officially banned from reading anything depressing ever again." Ian stated as he reached over and pulled the packet out of my hand.

"Hey, I was reading that!" 

"I don't care, I swear you just had a Vietnam flashback." 

"How can you be so emotionless? She's been to hell and back, don't you have at least a bit of sympathy for her?"

"Nope." He said as he walked over and sat down, backwards, on a chair, his chest against the back of the seat.

I sighed. I knew Ian had a bit of history with these types of things, but he didn't have to be so impassive all the time. As I ranted on inside my brain, I heard a clicking sound down the hallway. Were Ian's parents still up? Ian and I made eye contact, his shoulders relaxing when no other noises were heard.

After a while, we were hungry, so I decided to go and get a snack from the kitchen. I got off the couch in Ian's room and moved over to the door, opening it. 

I started towards the stairs when I heard floorboards creaking. I stopped in my tracks, if Ian's parents saw us still up at 2 o'clock in the morning, we might as well go and grab a shovel to dig our graves. 

Then, there was a crack of light that disappeared as fast as it came. A small, petite figure was slowly coming forward. Wait, did Kylie even stay up this late? I started towards her, about to tell her to go back to bed, when I came face-to-face with Willow. In nothing...but a towel. God, she looked so amazing even when she had done nothing to her appearance. Her hair flooded down her shoulders, a few strands hiding her eyes as she looked down. She slowly lifted her head, her big, brown eyes coming into contact with mine. Her eyes were so unreadable, it was frustrating, yet mysterious all at the same time. 

"I-I was uh, just going to-" I started, but her towel started dropping, she started breathing heavily and ran into her room. The door slammed, making me jolt a bit backwards.

I moved a bit forward, my nose an inch away from the door. I could hear her drawers clamping shut, the sound of clothes moving around. After a few moments of silence, I lightly knocked on her door with my knuckle. As I waited, I could hear small shuffling coming towards the door. She opened it just a crack, to where I could only see a small portion of her face. She had gotten dressed into a tank top and white, fuzzy pajama pants. 

"Hey, uh, are you okay?" I asked, my hand holding onto the door frame.

Her small, little head nodded a bit and all I wanted to do was take her in my arms and wrap her up after what her father did to her. She was so shy, afraid to even speak. I lowered my head to hers, our foreheads touching. I breathed lightly, her body shivered a bit. I could kiss her, make her see she's not alone, make her understand that I know what she's been through, that I can help her. But, I was too much of a gentleman to do that. I knew how she would take it, and it wouldn't be good. 

"I think I should go to bed now." Her quiet, squeaky voice said. 

"Yes, but it's going to be hard for you isn't it? I can tell you like doing things on your own, but this is a new environment, you think you might have trouble sleeping, don't you?" I asked. 

Her head bowed, my forehead slipping off of hers. She knew I was right. Her shoulders started lightly shaking, her head staying down. I put my hands on her shoulders, traveling up to her face. At first, her body stiffened. Slowly, it melted to mine as she broke down in my arms. I pulled her closer, even though I have barely met her, I can tell she needed someone to be there for her. 

"Hey, hey, hey, it'll be okay. You'll be fine." I comforted. Shit, what did I do?

After a while of sitting on the floor in her room, she calmed down. Her head lifted off my tear-stained chest. Her eyes went wide, as she started scrambling off my lap. She went to her bed, slowly backing away. I inched a bit closer, my hands up in surrender.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just... wanted to help." I said softly. 

She looked around, her eyes sizing me up. Her shoulders relaxed as she took a deep breath. She started walking closer, her feet taking slow steps towards me. She came to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Her head rested on my chest, and I took no time in securing her with my arms around her. 

"T-thank you." She said calmly. Her voice was raspy and deep, a tone I never expected to come out of her. 

She moved away, her eyes staring into mine. It was like I had known her all my life, like I knew her inside and out, yet not at all. She slowly pulled her arms away, forcing me to let go. I never wanted this moment to end, but I knew her boundaries and how to respect them. She moved over to the bay window, resting her head against the windowsill. I moved over to the door, knowing this was too much for her. 

"See you in the morning, Will, sleep well." I said as I closed the door to her bedroom. 

I walked back to Ian's room, not even knowing what time it was. I walked in to see him watching Live Free or Die Hard, his body spread out on the bed. 

"Dude, when you say 'I'm going to go get food', that kind of requires you to come back... with food." He said sarcastically.

I scratched the back on my neck as I walked over to him, laying down next to him. 

"Don't even get me started, man." I said with a warning tone in my voice. 

I was falling for Willow Nirabla, and yet she doesn't even know me. I was almost going to kiss her, and she has problems with men. I left her after I practically invaded her safe space. Fuck, what have I done?