Fear. The house stinks of it. And all this over a foolish boy.
That very same boy, the one who let loose the panic in my once-content and silent household, has the audacity to look depressed.
That's what I tell myself, anyway.
At first it did annoy me, his moping figure, messy hair, and monotone answers. Then one day, I was washing up when I saw him standing like a lost idiot in the garden. I clucked my tongue disapprovingly and was about to start drying plates when he looked at me.
He looked me straight in the eye, and everything seemed to stop moving. Her eyes looked back at me, and they were not a child's eyes anymore. Was it that wizard who shown up last summer? But his eyes had still been youthful then, still alive, still hopeful. Now they were the eyes of a man who had lived through a war. Haunted eyes. Sad eyes.
Eyes she hoped she would never ever have.
In the end she had them anyway.
Iridescent green, and almost beautiful. And the sun fell in them the way it had in Lily's, turning them almost clear. But this was not Lily. She had never had eyes like that.
For a moment I want to give in. I want to tell him the truth. And I don't care what it will do to him. I just never want to see those hateful eyes ever again. Would it be so bad if I set him free? He wants to leave. And I want him gone. I want no such death crippling my household. I want to break my vow.
But it was only for a moment.
I'm not as weak as you think I am.
Instead I snap at the boy, if he was in the yard, he might as well make himself useful. As he turns to go, the house seems quieter than it should be, as though she's listening. As though she knows the treacherous thoughts that ran through my head. A shiver runs through me, and I can almost feel her tears.
I make another vow.
To simply ignore him, the way I did in the first place.
And to ignore her.
For fear of ghosts is such a silly weakness.
I go back to drying plates.
A/N: I submitted this unbetaed. D00d, so hardc0re! (I wish) Please review.