Author's Note: So I watched a movie with my boyfriend last night and - don't judge us - it was Epic. I don't care that I'm twenty-one and he's twenty-three; it was the bomb dot com. Seriously. I don't care if you people don't like cartoons (which is ironic since this is an anime based site - nobody can read manga without checking out the show) just watch it. Kinda tears at the old heart strings though.
Broken Together
Chapter Three
17 June 2011
It was ironic, really. The sun was shimmering down and a cool breeze blew across the field. It was the perfect day. The sky was a perfect shade of blue and flowers were in full bloom. I had graduated, second in my class, over a week ago. Everything was just so perfect. Except for me. My world was shattering before me. It felt like I was stepping on glass no matter where I went. Needles pricked at my chest, stabbing my heart. I had never felt so much pain in my entire life, and there wasn't even a trace of blood.
I just stood there in my black dress and cowboy boots, my hair was pulled back into a bun with small strays that made naturally lose curls around my face and a black bow on top. Nobody had to tell me how I looked. I knew my blue eyes had dulled to gray and my tanned skin had paled. Dark circles and red puffiness accented my grayed eyes. I was shaking, too. Nobody said anything, nobody touched me. I was as afraid as they were that I'd break like glass if they did.
My eyes drifted to two boys that I had known my entire life. Seiya stood beside his older brother, studying me. It was no secret the boy liked me - he had since we were in elementary - but I never paid much attention to him. It was the man in the wheelchair beside him that I'd dedicated my time and attention to. The man that left with Andrew two years ago to join to Marine Corps and leave me in the past. They just left me and I had never felt so deserted in my life.
And that's when I had started actually acknowledging Seiya. We'd go on group dates with my friends and officially stabilized ourselves as a couple. Being kept busy was the only chance I had at keeping it all together back then. And now... now I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Everything seemed impossible to escape. I was at the place on the edge of the world, ready to fall, and nobody could even save me. I couldn't save me. So I had to run.
-0-0-0-
It had been a week since the funeral and the first day out of my bedroom. Nothing I did would bring back Andrew. I could mourn for my entire life and he would never come back to me again. He'd never give me piggyback rides or buy me ice cream or take me to the county fair or drive me through the mountains with his beaten pick-up-truck. We'd never go on a mini vacation or hunting trip up to the cabin ever again.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked Darien as we sat on the back deck. Seiya was always the one that took longer to get ready. It was funny, really, how concerned he was with his looks. This town wasn't nothing anyway.
He knew what I was talking about. Darien always knew everything when it came to me. Except that I loved him. Or maybe he did know and just brushed it off. We made eye contact and for a minute I could read him again. All the pain that was emerging from inside him. He had lost a best friend and brother, too, when Andrew passed. He was right there with me... except I didn't have to see it or hear it.
"I'm never going to walk again." He whispered.
"Dare, I'm sorry I didn't mean to -"
"No. I'm glad you did. Maybe it'll help me feel better and accept it to say it out loud." He cut me off with a sad smile.
"No. You will." I urged.
"What?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Walk, Dare. You'll walk again. You can do anything." I insisted.
"I don't think you realize -"
"You will Darien Lee. I promise." I spoke sternly.
He smiled, finally a genuine smile. "It's settled then. I'll walk."
"Hey babe, are you ready?" Seiya called out through the door.
"No, I'm probably gonna need another twenty minutes." I joked and rolled my eyes as Darien broke out in laughter. Of all people to ask if somebody else was ready... I admired him for a minute. His smile was still as gorgeous as ever. Everything about him was as gorgeous as ever.
And that was the night Seiya asked to marry him. And I ran, as fast as I could, from everything that haunted me in this stupid town.
-xXxXxXxXxXx-Back to the Present-xXxXxXxXxXx-
"You told me I would." He replied. "Where's Seiya?"
His eyes skimmed the area around the outside before peering in through the windows, trying to see his younger brother. My stomach seized this time and I felt sick. I didn't know how I could admit to Darien that I left his brother without him absolutely hating me.
"He's not here. I'm sorry." I whispered. He didn't say anything - just stood there. He wasn't looking at me or the house anymore. He was looking at the ground off to the side. "I just think I made the decision too quick. I was hurt and he offered to take me away from everything."
"I understand."
"What happened since I was gone?" I asked. I was almost afraid to ask. I was afraid to speak to anybody from this place, but I had to.
"Just life." Darien answered. "A whole lotta life. Everybody's married off and has little ones. Even Sammy got himself a wife and they're expecting soon. I'm sorry about your parents, by the way."
"My parents?" I shot my head towards him, since it had trailed off to the scenery behind him previously. "What are you sorry about my parents for? Because I didn't contact them or something? I never meant to hurt anybody, I just... I just couldn't."
"Nobody told you?" He raised an eyebrow and those eyes became readable again. Pain. Sorry. Why were those the emotions always directed towards me?
"Told me what, Dare?"
"How long have you been back?"
"I just got back last night and this morning I tried to go home but Sammy chased me off. He honestly wants nothing to do with me. This was the only place I knew to come to. I figured everybody else was already moved out and I didn't feel like asking for directions or facing them for that matter." I explained. I was hurt and confused. I was spilling out my life story ever since I came back.
"Your father's dying, Serena." He whispered. I shook my head. "He has cancer and he's at the end of his ropes. He's day by day at this point."
"This town never did offer me anything good!" I cried out in anger as I got to my feet. "This stupid place! Why the hell did I ever come back here in the first place? Nobody wants me here! No good news ever comes from here! This is my sign from God that I made the wrong decision. I'm going back to New York."
"You say it's a sign that you shouldn't have to be here and I say it's a blessing that you get to see him in his last few days." Darien replied sternly.
"What if he doesn't want to see me?" I bit my lip. I thought about the words he was saying. A blessing. This town was not a blessing... was it?
"He's waited four years to see you... I don't think he'll stop today."
That was typical Darien. He always knew what to say and do to make me feel better. He knew how to stop unbearable pain. He knew how to heal people, he was an expert at it.
"How is it that you can come back into my life so easily? I left your brother, Darien. I left everything. You should hate me, really." I reasoned.
"We were inseparable, Serena. And I never came back into your life, you came back into mine. You were hurt and you made some bad choices. I did too. You weren't the only one bleeding that day, Serena. You weren't the only one bleeding that month or that year. And you're not the only one bleeding right now. So I understand. We reacted in different ways, took different paths, but I understand because somewhere along those sixteen years before Andrew and I left, you became part of the person I was and I can't change that."
"You and Andrew were my best friends, Dare." I mumbled, feeling lost.
"This may come as a shock to you... and promise you won't tell anyone?" Darien questioned and my mood picked up a little. A secret?
"I promise!" I blurted out quick, eager to hear whatever confession he was going to make. Suddenly I was fourteen years old again and slipping secrets between myself and the boy who had two years on me.
His eyes shifted around the woods, as if checking for somebody, then he rocked a leg towards me and brought his right hand to cover one side of his mouth. His voice had now dropped to a whisper. "Seiya and I really weren't that close."
I sat there, dumbfounded for a minute, before completely losing it. Mere minutes ago I was bawling my eyes out, now my sides were stinging with laughter. It was no secret Seiya and Darien didn't get along. They were two completely different people - polar opposites, really. "You're such a jerk, you know that?"
"Some things will never change." He shrugged with a crooked smile. His eyes then drifted down to my apparel. "Like that fact that it's the middle of the afternoon and you're still wearing pajamas. "Serenity Grace, didn't you ever learn to grow up?"
"'Bout as much as you!" I shot back.
"And you still can't lose an argument." He shook his head, that boyish, crooked smile never leaving.
"Says the person trying to get in the last word!" I accused. It was true, though. I couldn't stand losing at arguments but neither could the boy - well, man - before me. We had been a constant headache to all of those that were around us.
"How about you clean up and we'll go see your old man?"
At this statement I nodded and retreated back into the house to shower. I needed to scrub the past day off of my body and a steamy shower would be perfect.
