Shrinking

Chapter Twelve

Connor’s POV

Her eyes were a pool of sky blue; and endless pit of cobalt that strikes you with every glance. They were Caribbean waters and fresh blueberries; they were warm and inviting and impossible to look away from. I smiled at her, my head spinning, and she smiled back. Her eyes crinkled around the edges and brought life to her flushed face. She looked alive.

Just then, a loud blare erupted from the inside of Peyton’s grey lacrosse bag. She pouted just before reaching down to grab it. Peyton let out a loud irritated sigh as she said hello, making me smile a bit.

“Mom? What is it? Is something wrong?”

I watched Peyton as her entire body seemed to go tense, her grasp on her phone becoming frightening. All of the life I witnessed just moments before seemed to vanish; gone. She shut her eyes, slowly, and took a long shaky breath.

“How?” She asked, her voice unbelievably quiet and high. Her eyes stayed closed. There was a long silence before she spoke again. At this point I was curious and worried at the same time. “Is he going to be okay?” Peyton’s eyes fluttered open, leaving me to see them coated in water; a sad blue, a sad ocean. She bit her lip, trying to conceal a sob. Was who going to be okay?

I shot Peyton a confused look, motioning for her to fill me in. I may as well have been invisible. Peyton nodded to herself slowly before hanging up the phone. I debated whether or not to speak and decided against it. She just sat there, phone in hand, silent and still for a few seconds, her breathing slow and concentrated.

Finally, she turned to me, eyes still brimming with unexpected tears. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” Peyton rushed to her feet and grabbed her bag just before running to the door of the Rec Center.

“Peyton, wait!” I called after her, but it was pointless. She either wasn’t listening, or didn’t want to. My voice echoed throughout the building.

I don’t think I’d ever been more confused. 

Peyton’s POV

I couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of my heart. You’re brother has been in an accident. Jamie has been in an accident. Jamie’s been hurt. Jamie is in the hospital.

I was sprinting back to my dorm room, ignoring the stares that I was given by other students out in the courtyard. I ignored what just happened with Connor, what he yelled after me, everything. There’s been an accident.

By the time I reached my room, my breath was jagged and my legs were burning, my knee throbbing uncontrollably. My heart was thumping thumping thumping.  I feared it would jump straight through my chest.

Mia was laying in her bed, her blue laptop sitting on her thighs. “Hey, Pey,” she said when I burst through the door. I hurriedly grabbed my suitcase from under my bed and began ripping clothes out of my closet. “Woah, what are you doing?” Mia asked, setting her laptop down.

I stuffed my suitcase to the brim with all of the necessities while Mia shouted at me in confusion. I dumped a toothbrush and tampons onto the top of the clothes I’d grabbed on the floor and zipped the suitcase shut. Grabbing a red hoodie from my old school, I threw it over my head and didn’t bother to take my hair out from underneath it.

By the time I was done packing completely, 5 minutes had passed and I felt every one of them as it ticked on. Mia was still talking to me and asking what had happened.

I stopped, standing directly below the top bunk and looked her straight in the eye. “Mia, I’m going back to Florida for a little while,” my voice threatened to break.