In Her Eyes

Chapter 3: The Visitor

I bolt up at the thought of a stranger intruding in my home. Think Scarlet, where is the closest weapon? Screw that. Where can I hide? I look at my closet, too obvious. Under my bed?

I have no time to think so I scoot under my queen sized bed and put my hand over my mouth to silence the breathing. I look to my right and find an old football cleat wedged under my bed. I stretch my arm and securely wrap my hand around the cleat.

I hear footsteps in my room and they come to a stop. "Scarlet, are you there? It's Henry." Oh, oh. Max must have called Henry to check up on me. I slide out from underneath the bed and put the dirty cleat in the trash can. Henry laughs at the sight of me crawling from underneath the bed. I manage a small smile at him and say, "Sorry, I thought you were a robber." Henry wraps me up in a tight hug, almost as soon as it happens it's over.

Henry was my dad's younger brother. Whenever Max is gone with his firm, he asks Henry to check up on me for a day or two. Henry's an okay person, but he understands the pain of losing someone you love.

My dad was such a warm person, the minute you met him he could put a smile on your face. That was one of my favorite things about him, until he died.

Henry breaks me from my thoughts when he asks how school was. He understands the burden of having to pack-up and move a lot. First after mom died, Dad couldn't stand to live at the house anymore because of all the memories we shared there. He was so sad when she died, I almost think that part of my dad died when my mom passed. I had to move again after my Dad's accident, Max was devastated over losing our father, he rarely talks about him anymore.

Moving in with Max was a big adjustment, another new school with people who just didn't understand. My grandfather was stationed in many different places throughout his military life, their family had to move every few years, that's why Henry understands.

After a brief conversation about school we head to the living room to watch a football game. Neither of us watch the game, but we both sit in a comfortable, peaceful silence. Henry doesn't ask anymore questions thankfully, it's bad enough I have to lie to Max about school, Henry would just be the icing on the cake.

My phone rings loudly startling Henry from his trance on the t.v. I look at the screen to see Max's name. I apologetically look at Henry and go up to my room to take the call. "Hey Scarlet, did Henry come over?" Max's voice soothes my head, knowing that he's safe and sound for another night. I reply, "Yeah, he just got here about 20 minutes ago." Max releases a breath of relief. "Great. How was school?" He asks. "Great, I made the football team." I say. I can almost imagine Max's smile over the phone. "Show them what it's like for a girl to kick their ass" he replies with no joking manner. I laugh at his kind words, "Coach made me quarterback."

The joking stops and the line is almost dead silent, I worry that Max hung up but his shaky voice relieves me of that thought. "Dad would be so proud of you Scarlet." I can feel the tears pricking my eyes and quickly tell him to call me tomorrow and hang up.

I sit on my bed in silence and wipe the tears out of my eyes when I hear that my phone has a message.

I open the message to an unknown number. Weird, I think, who could have gotten my number?

Unknown: 'They say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. Well apparently, no one has ever been standing next to you.'

I laugh at the pick-up line. This was sooo cheesy, but I was already feeling better. But as soon as the feeling came, it disappeared. Who is this? In desperate need of more information I replied back.

Me: That was so cheesy... :) Who are you??

Unknown: The man of your dreams ;)

Me: Ha ha. But seriously, who are you?

Unknown: You're just going to have to figure that out Scarlet.

Me: How do you know my name?

Unknown: How could I not know your name angel?

Me: Give me a clue as to who you are? At least tell me your name.

Unknown: Well... I love football with a burning passion. That's all I'll say angel.

So he loves football? Does that mean that he plays for the team? Who could it be?

Me: Do you play for the team?

Unknown: To answer your second question, you can call me Trey.

Me: I need to go.

Unknown: Goodnight Angel.

I went to bed that night dreaming about my mystery man. Maybe there was someone out there that cared? That supported my dreams. Maybe I could truly be myself one day, that my team would respect me for who I was.

Maybe I could be more than just the quarterback?