His Nepenthe | complete

18. Fake

F A K E S M I L E S

*

Not seeing the girl - who seemed to be stuck in my life - for a few days was the strangest feeling I ever had. Never seeing her eyes as she smiled, never having her laugh.

I wanted to text her. Make sure that she was alright because there had been no loud word of her around school. But I couldn't wait for a reply.

So I went to somewhere she always seemed to be, going to the person who would know best.

Heath looked at me with a hopeless expression when I asked for her, "Kid," He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Be gentle with the girl, alright? Don't push her to tell you."

Heath, every time I had seen him, always looked lively. Even in anger, he had such roaring energy. But there was something about him now that looked almost dead. Similar to when they fought.

"She's upstairs."

I hadn't even known there was an upstairs, in the four or so years I had gone to this gym. Still, I nodded, turning away before he spoke again, "Could I ask you one thing?"

I eyed him curiously before shrugging, "Yeah sure."

"Please just..." he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh leaving his nostrils, "just make her smile."

I stood wordless for a moment, before nodding once again and heading to the stairs Heath had directed me to. The upstairs area looked more like a home, with things hung up, fallen down. There was a picture of two girls at the corner of the steps.

Brandy was beaming in it. Her long hair was flowing over her shoulder, a yellow sundress hugging her tightly as she held onto a smaller girl with similar features dressed in pigtails and overalls.

Further down the corridor was a closed door, light splaying from underneath it. I knocked on the door, waiting in baited breath for an answer on the other side.

When I heard a quiet 'come in', I felt my heart start beating again. I hadn't even noticed that it had stopped in the lack of her presence.

"Hey, Brandy," The girl stared out the window behind the end of the bed, not saying a word back, "What'cha doin'?"

I walked to the edge of the bed, sitting down next to her. She smiled softly to me, holding out a spoon, "Want some?" She asked, gesturing to the ice-cream from a bowl in her lap.

I shook my head, "Nah, I'm good, thanks." She shrugged, 'your loss', before taking a spoonful. I pursed my lips before deciding to ask her more, "Why weren't you at school the last few days?"

"I needed to be here," She answered quickly before changing topic, "Can you see the bird nest?"

I looked out the window to where she stared, noticing the birds fluttering around a small knitted nest, "Yeah, I can."