Deianeira

Chapter 2

Ultimately, Chalam managed to fortify his strength to stand even undeterred by the meager shards of glass embedded in his knee. He limped, clasping on to any object he possibly could. After a while, he reached the sorrel, leather sofa. While the joint was still numb with pain, he excavated the splinter-like sources of pain out of his knee wincing every time one exited. He cloaked the recent wound with a crepe roller bandage, still affected by the injury. After he settled into his temporary resting space a while, once his eyes kept closing time and time again, he had finally passed out from exhaustion.

At long last, he awoke to the tone of an incoming text message. It was Clay. The message read: 'Hey dude. You want to meet at the park later?'. After wiping the sleep from his tear duct and questioning the offer, he finally agreed to the proposition. Convincing himself the experience the earlier morning as a dream, he stood. A yelp escaped him; his knee felt harrowing to say the least.

Hours of toiling with his clothing led to him being ready to leave his home. He stood at the front doorway, causing a theater of flashbacks to take over his mind. He bore in mind the feeling of devilish eyes on him once more. Ignoring the never ending stalkings, Chamal left his family home. Every time the event occurred; he would fear it was the last.

Despite delay, Chamal made it to the park only to see Clay waiting for him in the grassy plains of their hometown.

"Nice to see you man!" Clay said walking towards him with open arms.

"Same to you Clay," Chamal replied not completely focusing on his lifelong friend. His pupil darted time to time looking around into the distant line of trees after seeing a shadow move or a hare running in the underbrush. Clay looked him up and down noticing the outline of the bandage, the miniscule frown upon his face. The spark of a conversation ignited into hours of talking nonsense filled with many lies spilling out of Chamal's mouth. His body tensed at the thought of letting Clay, one of his best friends since his early school days, find out about his tragic situation.

"So, what's up with the bandage Cham?"

His face turned a vibrant burgundy as he looked down to his leg before pulling his pants covering the outline of the bandage. Trying to forge yet another lie, he stuttered.

"U-uh. I fell, yes! I fell over, nothing to worry about!"

Chamal's eyes brimmed with tears. Acknowledging his visible distress, Clay initiated the previous conversation once more knowing full well that if Chama was pushed any further the stress would become unbearable.