Cursed Purple

7.

JACK WAS OVER EVERYDAY since Mother came home. He would help me with taking care of her, never putting up a fight, and he helped keep me sane. He brought over a movie or two everyday and I quickly became well acquainted with all the classics and even some obscure, indie movies. We even watched all movies based on a book series about teenage vampires.

He bonded well with Mother and I could tell she took an immediate liking to him. Almost every night after he left, if she was still awake, she would question me about him. Then tell me how good he was for me.

"He's bringing light back into you, Violet. It's all I've ever wanted for you." She said that one night before her medicine knocked her out.

Mother was holding on everyday. She hadn't gotten any better, but she hadn't gotten any worse. It had been a week since she returned home and I knew that the clock was running out, but these days were so much better than when it was just the two of us that I didn't want to let them go.

Jack had brought something into our home that hadn't been there since Father passed on. He helped me with dinners, dishes, cleaning the house. He was a miracle in human form.

He was everything I never knew I needed until now.

Only now did I realize how empty and dull my life had been before. Everyday doing the same mundane tasks and never bothering to try and change it. Now, I didn't want anything to change. Life seemed like a tragic kind of perfect.

Jack was over at the house and we were curled up on the couch, watching one of his many movies. The only sound besides the movie was the steady beat of the machine hooked up to Mother. My head was resting on his shoulder. We had grown closer the more time we spent together. Closer than I thought we would in such a short amount of time.

We talked once or twice so late that it was almost morning and I insisted that he stay. He slept in the guest room on those nights, but I could always tell that he was just down the hall from me and that made me nervous. I was dressing like I cared now. I had changed some.

I confided so much in Jack and he had told me so much about himself. Where he went to college, how he grew up in Eleanor and wanted to move away but ended up right back, how he wanted to move out of town to somewhere more exciting. He even told me I should come with him. No matter how appealing the offer sounded, I knew that this small town was the safest place for someone like me.

In a large city, people would take notice of my abnormalities. How things seemed to move around more often now wouldn't be hidden elsewhere. I hadn't even told Jack about me and everything that made me, well, abnormal.

He never asked about my eyes. He never went into any subjects that made me uncomfortable. He was very aware of how I felt about certain topics and he was always so good at talking about the right things at the right time. We talked about political issues, the upcoming elections, and even cat videos on the internet.

He showed me how to use social media platforms that I had never even tried to use before. He showed me what is called an Instagram and the pictures of him and his family on there. He has a sister who is older than him. She lives in New York and she is pursuing her dream to be an artist. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his family. His parents lived here but that was his only connection here. He wanted to get out of this small town and go live somewhere else more exciting. Colorado, he once said, or Washington. Anywhere but here.

He never pushed the issue of an "us" since he made that comment to Mother that first day. Which I was thankful for. I wasn't sure if I could be in a relationship. If I was in a relationship, I would have to come clean about myself and I didn't want to scare him off. I needed him more than he knew.