Serenity to Souls

Sleepless Night

I gulped. Hard.

Tyler's eyes told a whole story. They bore feelings of offense, grief, and multiple others that I couldn't place my finger on. I traced a faint layer of moisture accumulating in them, but as he blinked, they disappeared within a split second, almost as if they had evaporated into nothingness.

Looking deeper into his eyes, I flinched. I perceived a flame-like pattern in his pupils, and they shifted in color. 

I was probably going mad.

This night had really gotten to me. Badly.

"Answer my question."

For the millionth time, I was brought back to reality. Blinking, I shot an uneasy glance at the person in front of me. "I was just trying to be sure."

In response, he just stared at me. A stare brimming with pain and injury.

Abruptly, he simply turned around, resuming his navigation through this dark land.

"Where are you-"

"Let's get this over with." Tyler interfered, his vocal chords reverberating in a husky voice. Disappointment laced his expression, laden with a billion others.

I inwardly groaned. He took my question too personally.

Should I clear the tension between the two of us? It would take some major socializing skills, which I pathetically lacked. Then again, I wouldn't want someone to hold a grudge against me for asking a general question. No one does.

After a while of internal debating, I had ultimately decided to get myself on good terms with Tyler.

"Look-"

"You don't have to make excuses," he cut me off, "to cover up what you truly meant."

"I'm not making ex-"

"I've heard enough from you."

I took a heavy, irritated breath. How dare he interrupt me when I try to explain for myself. I stopped walking, clenching my fists so hard that the wounds on my palm began to reopen. Tyler mirrored my action of stopping, but never turned to face me.

"Stop interrupting me as I try to reason with you." I lashed out. "I'm already not a good socializer, and yet, you carelessly stamp all over the words I use to bring a mutual understanding to the both of us."

I continued, ignoring the blood that had begun to soak my hands, gradually dripping to the grass in bulbous drops. "I never meant any accusations. Perhaps I worded it as such, but I was just doing it for clarification, I was concerned for my safety."

I wasn't about to stop there. "Now that I got that cleared, I strongly believe you should respect my rights of speech. I...I...I-"

"That's enough," he replied in a dull voice, still refusing to face me, "you made your point."

"Judging from how you sounded, I bet you couldn't care less about how I felt."

"The wounds on your palm have reopened again," Tyler commented, "just how careless are you?"

I gasped. If Tyler never turned around, just how did he know that I was bleeding again?

I was at a loss for words. I looked down at the earth below me, unknowing of where else to rest my eyes on.

"I guess it can't be helped." he sighed. I slowly turned my head up to face him. He looked back at me.

The corners of his lips tugged upwards, his eyes softening as they found their way to mine.