Stay

Chapter Thirty

The crisp air of a winters night brings little comfort to the overwhelming feeling of betrayal. I inhale deeply, fresh air filling my lungs and clearing my head, for now.

Jessie grabs my wrist before I have time to leave. "What was that?" He asks, his whole-body tense yet his hand so warm against my wrist. He'd never seen me snap. I don't usually. But when I do, it takes more than a few caring gestures to bring me back down to earth.

"I'm going home." Is all I say, breaking his grip and sliding my knotted brown air over my shoulders. An anxious movement the not many people notice.

He turns to me, holding out his hand. "At least let me walk you home, I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

I only push him away. "I'll be fine. You don't have to baby me, Jessie. I survived long enough without you and I certainly don't need you to walk me two minutes around the block." Jessie glares a me. His eyes bleeding with sorrow.

Now look what you've done. Your only friend and you treat him like this.

But before I can apologies, Jessie simply nods his head in goodbye and walks away.

I stand there for a second, watching the darkness of night slowly consume him. I can't help but wish he'd stayed.

What do I do now? I can't go home, not now. I have nowhere to go. I have no one.

Wrapping my coat around myself, I begin to stroll in a random direction in the hope that I'd find some sort of park. The temperature continues to drop as night takes over, swallowing the little heat we get in the day.

I try to distract myself with the surroundings. Birds burying themselves into their nests for warmth, the clouds brushing over the moon and the twinkling stars shining bright. But no matter what, the picture continues to haunt my thoughts.

My family has never been perfect. We have our arguments and sometimes we don't get along. But I never knew things were this bad.

Tonight, snapping at Jessie, that wasn't just an act of rudeness. It was my walls growing, the walls I built long ago and the walls Jessie managed to break through, just a little bit.

Walking along the rocky path, stars start to fall. They plummet to the ground one by one until there is little light left. The moon no longer shines bright as it disappears into nothing and it gets harder and harder to walk as the ground begins to swallow me whole. Wind rustles my hair, howling like a pack of wolves and causing my body to go numb. There is no sound, only the ringing of my ear drums and one word that is causing my whole world to come crashing down.

One word

The word that no child likes to think of, that no husband or wife, girlfriend or boyfriend ever wants to hear. The breaking of a happy marriage, the destruction of a family and the action I will never understand.

Why isn't my family good enough? Why does he feel the need to claim another? My sister and I growing up showing him nothing but love. My poor mother oblivious to his unhappiness as she continues to hold this family together. As she picks up the broken shards of glass that he wanted broken to begin with.

One word to be the doom of a family.

Cheater.

My world goes dark as I finally give in to exhaustion.