Here's my entry for the third day of Dalek week, Blindfold.
I decided to do something figurative.
I walk around blindfolded
Talk, I'm not listening
I read through a thousand books
But forgot everything.
-Blindfold, The Classic Crime
Alek sat down heavily on the edge of his bunk. He was angry, hurt, and more than a little embarrassed.
He gripped the edge of the bed in an attempt to steady himself. It felt as if the room were tilting, skewed to one side.
How could he not have known that his best friend was actually a girl? Perhaps he had always known and simply hadn't wanted to admit it to himself. Denial was a powerful thing. Though, after tonight's awful revelation things were jarringly and painfully clear. It was as if a blindfold had suddenly been ripped away from his eyes.
Alek tried to figure out what exactly had upset him so much about learning Deryn's secret. Was he embarrassed because he hadn't realized what she was? Because she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him her secret of her own free will? That she had lied to him? Or, that she let it slip that she was in love with him? It was a little of everything he supposed.
He raked his fingers through his hair and then leaned down to remove his boots. Taking first one and then the other he threw them as hard as could at his cabin door. They hit the fabricated wood with loud thumps. It didn't make him feel any better. If anything he felt worse; alone and betrayed by everyone around him.
He was ashamed to admit it but what Alek wanted at the moment was his mother. And for the happiness and security he'd possessed only hours before, afforded by the blindfold that ignorance provided.
He lay down, eyes stinging, heart breaking, determined not shed a tear. He was sixteen for heaven's sake. He was a man.
However, the day's frustrations and anger coupled with the grief and stress of the past few months had taken their toll on him and he could no longer contain the emotions he had tried so hard to hide.
Against his better judgment and to his eternal shame Alek cried himself to sleep.