The Light in the Dark (completed)

The light

The magnolias swung in the breeze. I loved the purple/pink flowers which bloomed at the edges of the garden. Zach and I had been visiting this same place various times since we've been back home. School was kind of awkward because everyone knew how to make you feel uncomfortable.
I was regaining my strength slowly as the days went on.
Holly? Zach signed nervously.
Yes. I responded.
Are we like officially a thing or... I smiled at his question. I let loose a small laugh.
What do you want it to be? I sign.
Oh well, he paused. We can be a thing if you want to be a thing.
I think after what we've been through, we can be a thing. I sign with a smile dancing around the corner of my lips. Zach smiled nervously and I covered his hand with mine as we gently swayed on the swing. I smiled cheekily at him and swung us up higher while gripping into the sides.
A holler of delight escaped my mouth and I stole a look at Zach. His mouth was stretched across his face in a grin.
The swing slowed down and before it had came to a complete stop, I hurled myself off of it landing on my feet and laughing. Zach seemed more hesitant, waiting for it to slow a bit before he jumps off after me. I smiled at the surprise in his expression as he landed with a thud ungracefully.
A laugh must've escaped me because Zach glared at me teasingly.
I've got to get home ,Zach, sorry. Mrs. Walls will be wondering where I am if I don't hurry. I sign and pull myself from the ground. I hold out my hand and Zach takes it, helping to pull him up.
Okay. I'll walk you. I smiled gratefully at him as we walk out of the garden gates and onto the uneven cement.
Using sign language means, you have to have your hands free. So we just walked down the street, hand in hand, silently. There were none of those romantic moments you see in movies or read about in books. You almost have to stop everything just to say something small.
Sometimes I wonder what drew Zach to me. I was a nobody who couldn't hear the rumors about me. Always standing in the shadows. Trying not to be noticed. He was the popular guy that girls would die for. I'm guessing nobody knows that we are a "thing" yet because if they did, I would be the most hated girl in the school.
The walk to the orphanage was swallowed in a blur of my thoughts. I waved him off and climbed up the stairs opening the door slowly. Zach waited till I was in and closed the door before he left. I rolled my eyes at his protectiveness and closed the door with a smile still resting on my lips.

•••

School... Yay. I walk in silently and rush toward my locker. I was rather early but it didn't matter. I would sit in the back where I was able to read and write. I had developed a liking to writing. Being able to express myself in words or change past events and make things seem amazing.
My locker was full of books and binders. I picked out my gray binder which was marker English in the corner. I pulled out my notebook and the book I was currently reading. I walked through the hallways, pushing past the crowds of people still coming in. It didn't help how close to all the lockers my classes were either. I made my way into my English class and sat in the back adjusting my stuff into my desk and leaving my notebook out. I flipped through the pages of poems or short stories I had written. I just write down whatever I'm thinking.

We cover our feelings with fake smiles and laughs.
We hide the sadness in our eyes with our cheerful words.
We try to forget and our past and focus on the present.
But behind these dark eyes holds my past.
They hold the fear and regret from those many nights.
Images still flicker from the blood and the shattered glass.
You won't be able to escape them, believe me I've tried.
You can only try and find happiness to distract yourself.

I look down at the paper I had just scribbled my thoughts down on. I looked up for a moment realizing Zaxh was walking over to his seat in front of me. I shut the notebook and slid it into my desk while biting the inside of my cheek.
    What was that? Zach signed curiously and I just shrugged.
    Nothing important. I sign, not completely lying. He gives me a strange, disbelieving look and raises an eyebrow. I'm sure I'll hear more of this later. I hadn't talked to him much at school honestly. A few girls walked in on our conversation, seeing both our hands moving in the air. They all gave me a childish stink eye and turned toward their seats with a frown plastered on their face.
    In English we had to partner up and write an essay on a book we'd been reading in class. Suddenly I was surrounded my girls begging with their smiles to work with Zach. I rolled my eyes and started to work by myself when all of the girls started to leave suddenly. I looked up and smiled to see Zach sitting in front of me saying.
    Ready? I smiled and nodded. We worked the rest of class on it and turned it in at the end.
    I walked toward my gym class. I changed into my gym clothes and sat in the bleachers outside of the changing room. All of the basket ball goals were down and the net full of basketballs was rolled out of the storage closet. I was never really good at basketball but I've always been told my body was built for it. As the rest of the girls emerged, some of them shot me evil glances but I didn't really mind it actually almost made me smiles a bit. I followed everyone off the bleachers and onto the court where coach Dawson was splitting us into teams.
    Finally, me as the last one sorted, I was picked to be on Zach's team.

•••

   The game ended at 15-9. Us in the lead. The other team had to run five suicides while our team got to change.
    When I stepped out, the other team was finishing their last one and returning to the locker room, panting.
    Next class was art, which I also shared with Zach. As I got into the room I took my seat near the back, as usual, and organized my belongings. Zach's seat was in front of me and he smiled at me before seating himself.
    Mrs. Underwood wrote on the board in her neat handwriting, draw whatever you want. You will be presenting at the end of class.
    Drawing wasn't much different from writing. Getting to express myself. I gathered my canvas from the front and a few colors. Black, grey, white, and yellow. I started quickly with a person. Her long, dark hair flowed over her shoulders and she was thin with a black striped shirt. Her back was turned toward anybody looking at the painting. Everything around her was dark and you could almost make out a tunnel that she was in. But there was a small light at the very end that illuminated half of the tunnel. I looked back and took in my work. I looked up and saw that Mrs. Underwood was talking and calling people up to present. The first person up was Chloe I think. She had a picture of a poorly drawn waterfall with a deer in a field beside of it. She sat down and everyone else starting streaming through their art. Some were sunsets or animals or people or nature. Mrs. Underwood called Zach to the front a I watched him walk up. I almost gasped at his painting. It looked like there was a cloud and resting on it were people with beautiful white, flowing, outfits and out from the middle was a golden structure of man I didn't recognize. I looked around to see people with open mouths. He quickly sat down and turned over his painting.
    It was my turn. I awkwardly stood up and walked toward the front where I turned my painting around. Some people cast me confused glanced but others looked with interest. I thought about the dark. My parents, my hearing, Paris, and everything that ever turned me against life. And then my eyes rested on Zach and I saw the light.