shades of red

claret red;

"Are you here to explain or
shrug off the truth?" I brutally
asked him.

"No, I'm here to e-explain."

"Let's sit down then," I nodded
towards the living room.

"W-Wow, you have a beautiful
h-home," he said in awe as he
gazed up at the corners of the ceiling,
decorated with Victorian accents and
golden hues. Gracefully, white leaves with
beaded borders fell down the sides
of the corners of the walls.

"Thank you," I gave him a
small smile. "My mother is
a designer, so she likes to use
our house as her drafts."

"Nice," he beamed at me.
"Anyway, so I-I came here to
tell you the rea-s-son behind why
I was acting so st-trange at my house."

"I'm listening."

"I..I..I have two babies. The ones you
saw in the picture f-frames are my children.
They were b-born when I was j-u-ust finishing
hi-ig-h school."

"Aw, what's their names?"

"The boy's n-name is Theo and the g-girl's is
Adelina. We were g-going to name them Skyla and Skyler at one point."

"I assume you like the sky," I smirked at him.

Charlie chuckled, "The s-sky is blue, and b-blue h-o-l-olds
a special meaning in my hea-a-r-rt."

"Is that why you struggled to draw using
the color?"

"H-How h-how did you notice?"

"I'm quite observant."

"But yes, Az-Azura was their
mother's name. It m-means blue.
We w-were so so in love. We were
going to get married, you k-know. I used
to just spend h-hours with her, ju-s-t-st drawing
her."

"Where is she now? She didn't move with
you guys?"

"No, um, s-sh-she d-d-di-die-died." Charlie's
fingers tugged his hairs. He burrowed his
face in his palms and quickly wiped away
tears that had escaped.

"Oh," I was stunned. "I-I..I'm sorry,
Charlie."

"She died after giving birth to them.
Lost too m-much blood, her heart g-g-ot weaker,
her ribs broke and her cervix was getting
crushed, her spine was curving too much
because of th-h-e weight of twins. Eve-r-y-rything
that happened after was just a blur to me. I just
remember telling h-her I lov-v-e her and that she gave me
this b-b-r-br-bracelet." Charlie tugged his shirt sleeve up and
on his wrist was a spiral of blue strings tightly
wrapped into one. "I wear it every single day."

He took a deep breath in to try to compose himself
as memories flooded his brain. "I used to have
selective m-mu-mutism. She helped me h-heal from it.
I got it-t when I was y-young, saw my dad beat up
my mother one too many-y times, scared the hell
out of me. Doctors said I learned to a-associa-a-at-te
daily life events to fear and that made me stay silent.
This pulled me o-out of my learning track, st-started failing
school, couldn't read without someone helping me
slowly p-p-pro-nounce the words. I went to therapy
but it was too expensive and didn't work. I stopped going
for over ten years till Azura came around. She con-vi-vinced
me to start trying to speak clea-rl-rly and everything seemed
as if I could e-ea-asily accomplish them with my eyes closed
when she was nearby. She was my everything. My
absolute everything. And now, she's gone."

I wanted to hug Charlie but I didn't know how
to move. This seemed surreal, things you only read
about in fictional novels or see in movies.

"I got her acc-id-identally pregnant; I forgot to wear
a condom. It was m-my-my fault she di-die-ed."

"But..if you did wear one, you'd never have your
two beautiful children." I squeezed his shoulder
lightly.

"We could have had-ha-had them when we were ready."
Charlie gritted his teeth.

"That's not how it works, Charlie."

He sighed. "I know, I know."