✘ : 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 | 𝐥. 𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 : ➞

10

𝙤𝙝
𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚.

—

I DIDNT EXPECT this to be how I felt after a night I've been dreaming of since before I can remember.

I didn't expect to feel like absolute garbage after a journey of something I wished for on every birthday cake, on every lucky number I saw and every shooting star I saw flash outside of my bedroom window.

I've stopped crying. It's about mid-day, and my eyes feel puffy and swollen. I still wear the clothes I wore outside—clothes that touched the freshest air and touched a wild beast from Pandora itself. I don't think I ever want to take them off.

These were clothes that branded a mark of both absolute wonder and gratification, as well as absolute pain and heartbreak.

I want to be thinking about the freshness, the feeling of being absolutely free—the feeling of the grass beneath my fingertips, the wind and the animals and the sights—everything that made Pandora as enchanting itself.

But all I can think about is my fight with Spider.

All I can think about, is that he chose them. I don't want to hold this on Kiri and Lo'ak and the others but I do, nonetheless.

I don't know who else to blame. I've blamed Spider all my life; maybe it's time to place it on someone else. They were the ones who stole my brother—but he allowed himself to be.

I don't think I want him to come home. Not now. Maybe I don't want him to ever come home..

No. I shouldn't say that. I don't mean it--at least, I don't think I mean it.

There is a knock on my door that makes my chin tip up from resting on my knees. I let my hands drape down off of hugging my legs, returning to my side as I sat up.

The door opens, and Max comes in. "Hey, kiddo." he says, "you've been in your room all day. Everything.. okay?"

He sits next to me, the bed dipping with his weight.

"Yeah, fine." I say rather quickly. I try to make up to it by saying, "sorry, I'm just.. tired." I sigh.

He nods. He inhaled a deep breath, the sound loud in the deafeningly quiet room.

"Well," he says, "I think I may have something that might cheer you up."

My brows furrow, and I finally look up to him. He gives a soft smile, cocking his head as if to say come on.

And I do.

Anticipation engulfes me as he leads me out the room.

"This is something I've been wanting to show you for a while," Max explains, "we weren't sure if we should show this to you. But.. we didn't feel right keeping it from you as it wasn't ours to keep."

"Okay..?" I narrow my eyes, my anticipation clouded mostly by confusion. What secret thing have they been keeping that they waited until I was seventeen to tell me?

He leads me toward the back, "you know the door that's always been locked, and out of bounds?"

"Yes?" I say, before chuckling at a memory. "Spider and I used to make up stories about that. Like.. there was this big monster hiding behind it, ready to rat us out if we ever dared open it."

I smile. It drops seconds after when I remember the situation between us.

Why couldn't we just stay kids? It was easier that way.

Max smiles. "You two used to be inseparable." He looks ahead of him instead of at me, now.

I inhale. "Yeah. We were."

Silence followed. Then, Max simply began forward back toward the door, and I followed without another word.

"So," I say, "what's this big surprise you have for me?" I try to keep my tone normal, but I can't hide the excitement in my voice.

"You'll see." Max smiles, reaching into his pocket to take out a key.

My heart picked up as the clicking of the lock turned. I wasn't sure why I was so anxious, so anticipated to see what they were keeping behind this door we were banned from entering since before I can remember.

"Are you ready?" He asks, a small smile on his face. I nod, swallowing as he pushes open the door.

I take a step into the room, closing my fist so my nails were touching the heel of my palm.

Max flips the switch to the light on, making me squint from the assault of brightness.

I look around the room. It is relatively empty—no desks, no chairs, no computers or anything.

There is only one thing in this room, and it is hidden by a black cover. Max steps toward me, sparing me a short look before he grabs the cover, taking hold of the rough fabric.

He pulls it off, and my heart stops in my chest.
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a/n: sorry for the short chapter, however this one has much meaning!