||My Invisible Wound||

||Dancing in the Shadow of Your Heart||

      c h a p t e r | n i n e

     He sat on my bed. I didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He opened his mouth for a moment, but closed it quickly, before any words would escape his tongue.

      Elyes didn't look at me. He was probably uncomfortable, especially with the fight that we had the day before.

      My fingers pulled the sleeve of the sweater tighter, making me feel secure about not showing the scar. I wouldn't hear the end of it if Elyes found out.

      Elyes breathed in, sounding as if his nose was stuffy, and he closed his eyes. "How come you weren't at school today?" he began.

      I stared off into the distance, my eyes looking at the closet door. My life is falling apart, that's why, I thought. I knew that if I said something remotely close, he would try his hardest to make me think differently, that my life wasn't going down a black hole in space.Instead, I just shrugged. "I didn't feel like going."

      I was trying my best to avoid eye contact, but he came closer to me, sitting on the right side of me on my bed. From the corner of my eye, I saw his hand go up and touch the left side of my chin. Without much force, my head and his arm moved in sync; he was trying to get me to look at him. "I heard what happened."

      Of course you did, I thought.

      Whenever something was bothering me, he tried his best to investigate and get the answer. In that case, he asked my parents. They—of course knowing him for four years and knowing that he was my only best friend—told him about Jason. "I'm sorry," he said. "Jason can be an idiot and that was his mistake. Being an idiot, I mean."

      "Yeah." I, of course, didn't want to think about Jason. He was long gone and we weren't really close anyway. It didn't matter. But what was going through my mind was our fight; Elyes's and mine.

      He breathed. "Thinking about the fight, right?"

      I nodded.

      It was silent for a moment until he said, "Well, I have some news for you. You didn't get in trouble. I confronted Paige and she didn't rat on anyone." My eyes widened at the thought of it. Paige? Not ratting on me? I looked into his eyes. "She said that she just fell and they apparently bought it. She wanted to talk to you."

      "No." I shook my head. "I will not talk to that bitch."

      "Then okay," he said. "You don't have to."

      "Then good," I answered. "Good." I looked towards the window, seeing the beams of light seep through the curtains.

      "Hey." I turned to look at him. "This Friday, there's a bonfire at the beach. Wanna go? You know, to get away from everything for a little while?"

      I didn't have to think about my answer, about my actions. My immediate response was nodding my head "yes."

                                                            :c:

The night clothed the sky above; the moon was full with a few mysterious clouds hovering around it. Elyes slammed his car door shut and we headed for the sand.

      Ahead was a crowd of people who stood, drank, danced to music, talked, and warmed themselves around the large, standing wood pieces that was caught on fire.