Glitches

Chapter 25 - The fight

A couple of moments went by. None of us said a thing.

The lonely porcelain lamp on the table flickered once. Then twice.

"What happened between you and Paul?" My voice cut through the silence, surprising the both of us.

"What?" he asked bewildered, giving me a confused look.

"Why do you treat him like a hostile?" I asked, turning my head so my eyes locked on his.

"He hasn't done anything wrong."

"Listen. Stephanie," he sighed, rubbing his eyes, "in my opinion, everyone is a hostile until you're proved wrong. That's how you survive in this world, okay?"

"You didn't treat me like a hostile the first time we met. In fact, it was you who came to me in the first place."

"That's different Stephanie."

"How? How is that different?" I could slowly feel myself become more irritated.

"It... It just is okay?" he said, running his hand through his short hair.

"Does Paul have something to do with that?" I pointed at his messy cut hair.

Sam's eyes widened slightly, his gaze no longer meeting mine.

"What? No."

"Then why did you cut it?"

"Because I wanted to," he answered quickly.

However, I wasn't really convinced.

"Sam," I pushed, "what's the real reason that you suddenly decide to cut 70% of your hair off?"

He stayed silent; his gaze glued on a spot on his cargo trousers. After a moment, he spoke up.

"It doesn't matter."

His head slowly raised, his eyes meeting mine. His face was hard as stone, but his eyes showed such an amount of pain and fear, that I felt my insides turn.

"It matters to me," I spoke in a soft voice, taking his hands gently in mine.

My fingers stroked his knuckles gently.

He lingered for a moment, his gaze at our hands. But he quickly pulled them away from mine.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You can't just shut me out Sam," I said, desperately trying to get him to open up to me.

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!" With a harsh movement, he stood up from the chair, fire in his eyes.

I got out of my chair as well.

"But sometimes you have to!"

My voice raised to the same level as his.

"You were the one who told me to share my pain and problems with you! You were the one who said that if you don't share your fear and weaknesses they will start to eat you up from the inside! So why don't you share your fears and weaknesses with anybody!"

"Because I don't want to!" he yelled, his hands clenched into fists.

"I don't care! Can't you see that I want to help you! I just want to know what's bothering you!"

"You can't help me Stephanie!"

Sam was fuming now. His face was red with anger, and his eyes burned into mine. He looked like he could do some serious damage.

"I surely can't if you don't tell me what's wrong!"

"JUST LEAVE IT"

Before I could register what happened, Sam grabbed the lamp – the only light source – and threw it against the wall behind him. The sound of porcelain shattering filled the now completely dark room, followed by a thump of a body falling to the ground.