Cliché

Tornado

Christina

I stood there, looking right at him.

He stood there, looking right back at me.

It was like the whole world stopped and we were the only ones that mattered. Looking into his eyes, it was as if everything faded. And at that moment, nothing mattered except him. The way his eyes were a darker green than usual, I could tell that he felt the same way. Suddenly, at that moment, all the memories came flooding back. All the memories that I spent years trying to forget, all came back faster than the speed of lightning. I couldn't breath anymore, or at least that's what it felt like. The atmosphere felt thick, so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

I have to get out of here before I lose it.

Before he even had the chance to say anything, I closed the curtains to the window and ran down the stairs. When I reached the bottom, I just stood there. What just happened? As my heart was still beating faster than a drum, my mother walked through the door.

Aware that my face was pale as paper, and I probably had an expression as if I had just seen a ghost, I prayed to the Gods that she wouldn't notice. But of course, when was I ever able to get anything past her without her noticing.

One look at me and she was already at my side, bombarding me with questions.

"Chris, what happened?" she asked.

"Nothing mom," I answered, attempting to smile. But we both knew I wasn't fooling anyone.

"Oh honey, are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" she asked, her tone sincere.

"Yes mum, I'm just a bit tired is all." I replied.

"Okay, my love." she said. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour."

And with that, she sauntered off to the kitchen, while humming along to a tune. I wish I was so carefree right now. I went in after her and sat down at the table.

"So mum, how was work?"

"It was...bearable," she said with a laugh. "Some clients like to put up a fight but it's nothing this lady here can't handle."

"I'm glad it was good, mum." I replied with a smile.

- - - -

We were seated at the dinner table, while enjoying the delicious lasagna and just talking about random things. With my mom, I feel like I could tell her anything and she wouldn't judge me about it, or yell at me and get irrational. She wasn't just my mom; she was also my best friend.

Instead of being 'daddy's little girl' like he had hope I would be, I was always more close with my mom than with him.

"So I see we got some new neighbors," she said.

I paused mid-bite and tried to act as nonchalant as I could be. I couldn't let her see that that I was affected by it.

"Yeah, mum. When I got home I saw the moving truck." I replied

"I wonder who they are...," she thought out loud.

"Yeah...I wonder too...," I replied. But of course I already knew who it was. And the fact that he was back, I couldn't help but feel as if it would change everything.

No, nothing would change at all. Its been 6 years since we last saw each other, how could things possible change?

When I looked back up to my mother, I found that she was already staring at me intently. Oh man, I was surely caught.