Bridge To Her Heart <3

Chapter 26 (Returned)

Anthony twirled the fresh, unlit cigarette between his ringed fingers and sighed. Every time he thought about Cleo it made his head pound and the craving for the tobacco smoke increase. Every single time he thought about her face he could only picture it in the tears he saw just earlier. The way she looked so afraid of him. The way she flinched away from his lashing words and balled fists only made him cringe at the memory. 

“You’re scaring me….. Tony.”

Her fragile voice penetrated his thoughts over and over again. Anthony let out a strangled cry of frustration and threw the cigarette across the room, watching it hit the wall and then fall to the carpet silently. He watched it lay still and unused, wondering at how something that seemed so harmless could be lethal to someone’s health. 

I need to see your face Cleo, he thought helplessly, I need to feel your skin again

“Anthony Love?”

Anthony stopped his fingers from restlessly combing through his hair and slowly raised his head for what he wasn’t prepared to see. There, standing in his doorway with that slight smile on her face, was his mother.

His mom had come home. 

“M-Mom? B-B-But you- you…” 

He couldn’t get the words out, he could only stare. There she stood with her arms crossed and her weight leaning in his doorway. Her long black hair, that often curtained her face, swooped down her back. She blinked and subconsciously let a lone tear slip from her tired eye lids. 

“You,” Anthony tried to find the right words to describe the emotions he was feeling at that moment, “You left us! You left me and Grandma to fend for ourselves! You left us to worry about you and to-to wonder if something had-had h-happened- Mom- We….. How could you?!”

His voice had gone hoarse from the yelling earlier and that moment wasn’t making it any better. He rose to his feet but couldn’t take a single step towards her. “What kind of mother leaves her son like that?!” 

Tessla Muchette averted her eyes from her enraged son for just a moment. A single moment to keep herself from crumbling into oblivion. 

“Because I was a Coward, Anthony.” She locked her eerie green eyes on him. “Because, after taking care of you for sixteen years I still felt like I was the worst mother on the planet. I had you when I was fifteen Anthony! Fifteen! And the pressure of having had you so young still- It still gets to me sometimes!”

Tessla quickly wiped the second tear that threatened to fall and faced her son with new determination. “So, in the end, I was being a coward, because I was running away from my responsibilities. No mother should ever run away from her kid, however horrible, or disgraceful, or disgusting she is, she should never-”

“You’re not disgraceful, disgusting or horrible to me mom,” Anthony interrupted her, “I never, ever thought of you that way! Yes, there were times when I wanted to punch the guys you brought home because they treated you as if you were some toy they could play with! As if you were some cheap item they just bought! But I always saw deeper than that. I saw a thirty-one year old mother and daughter who was trying to provide for her small family.”

Tessla couldn’t take it anymore. She let the first sob escape her throat as Anthony came over to her and hugged her. “So when you left mom, I suddenly saw the strong women I’ve know my whole life crumble and it cracked something inside of me. You’ve always been there for me, but then you- you left m-m-m…”

Anthony was never the crying type. His Uncle Tido had taught him that tears were a waste of a man’s time, but at that moment he knew he only had tears for the one’s he truly cared about. 

So while he shed hot tears for his returned mother, he thought of Cleo and how much he loved her. 

~*~

“Mr. Crawf? You asked me to come early today?” Cleo slipped into her first period and hesitantly walked up to her teacher’s desk. She had a feeling about what he wanted to talk about, but didn’t dare voice it aloud. 

“Cleo,” Mr. Crawf said simply, a polite smile on his face, “How’ve you been?”

“Fine.” She wondered why he couldn’t just cut to the chase already. 

“That’s good,” the lanky teacher crossed his tall legs, “As you know I read and sent out your essay right at the deadline and the results came in today. I find it very-”

“Please Mr. Crawf just tell me already!” 

Mr. Crawf raised a single eyebrow and stared questioningly at Cleo as she slapped her hands over her mouth in surprise. She wasn’t expecting to explode on him like that. It wasn’t like her at all. The understanding Teacher chuckled and rose from his seat, offering his hand for Cleo to shake. “Cleo, I’m glad to call you the winner of The National Junior Writing Competition.”

Cleo thought she might faint as she took his hand. 

“You will get your dream trip to New York city and be provided with whatever it takes to becoming a published writer.”

She didn’t even have the strength to shake his hand. 

“Cleo are you alright?”

Her breath came out in short rasps. “I’m- I’m…”

She didn’t know what she was. All she could think about was flying over New York city in a jet that was carrying her to the life she’d always wanted. Tears brimmed at the corner of her eyes as she realized she would finally get the success she deserved. She’d finish of school in New York, get her own place, become a published writer and-

And-

And……

And she’d never see Anthony again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hey guys I know this is a short chapter but bare with me here! Anyways if any of you are confused about Cleo and Anthony’s age, Anthony is sixteen (really close to turning seventeen) and Cleo is more freshly sixteen. If I said in a earlier chapter that she was seventeen then I was wrong=)

Anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter in some way. I will definitely try harder at the next chapter<3