Breaking Walls | ✓

Chapter 37: I am a tree now

Wilder

After I retreated to my room, the party went on downstairs.

I was smoking on my roof, when I saw Kea leave and Lucas wasn't with her. I watched her walk down the street until she reached home. Then I saw her pull out Vixen from the driveway, which made me happy.

Kea looked her absolute best when she was on the driving seat of Vixen. 

I climbed down the roof and got in Colin's sports because she would notice my baby tailing her. It was one of a kind in this town and the world, to be honest.

She drove past most of town.
She drove around, all night.

She went to all the places we'd ever been to and some other spots I didn't recognise.

She drove on the endless road I had taken her on our date as the sun rose, she stopped where I had that day and walked inside the forested area. I cautiously slowed down and then parked in a bushy area a little ahead. I got out and walked to the place I knew I would find her.

She was sitting on a rock near the bridge.

I stood a few feet away from her in hiding, pretending to be a tree in the morning light. The world was waking up while she sat there, looking around at everything she thought beautiful, giving it all new meaning.

Then she walked over to a bush near the rock and removed a stone, I looked at her puzzled trying to figure out what she was doing.

Maybe she was suddenly into archaeology.?!

She took out a box and placed it on the bridge. She slowly opened it and looked at the contents without taking anything out, then she pulled out a notebook from her back pocket and placed it inside the box.

I was so focused on the green tin frame, I didn't realise she was crying.

I wanted to hug her but it took everything in me to remain a tree because if I went to her now she would not only bury me with the box for following her but I would never get the answers I had been looking for.
I would never find out why she had been driving around the whole night instead of going home or why she was here at 5 am or why she had a box hidden in our spot if I didn't mean anything to her.

I stayed still and soon after hiding the box behind the rock again, she left. I walked till the road and saw her drive away. I followed her to the diner, realising she wasn't going to leave for another few hours, I drove back to the spot where the box was hidden. 

It was a green tin box rusted on the side, probably from the moister. It made me wonder, exactly how long had she been coming here.

Also why this place, of all the places she could choose.

It didn't make sense.

I was nervous about what I might find, dreading the idea that whatever was inside had made Kea cry.  

Despite my apprehension to invade her privacy, I opened the lid with a sinking heart.

Inside the box was an envelope, a few pictures and an old leather-bound diary.

I saw the pictures first, a few were old. They looked like Kea's baby pictures, all with a man that I had only seen once before on Kea's bedroom wall. He was the guy standing next to the Harley in the polaroids. Kea had his smile, there was no doubt that he was her father but why was he tucked away; forgotten, in a tin box in the middle of nowhere?

The next, was a picture of me in class, I hadn't even realised she had taken. It was a few weeks before I had spoken to her for the first time. huh

There were a few more pictures of mine from the school newspaper. The team picture, photos of me practising and the last one was a picture of our kiss, the one that was published after the party.

I had no idea she had even seen half of these let alone have them stashed here. All this time I had thought she didn't care but she did, she cared so much- she had to stash it away in a tin box.

I put the pictures back and took out the envelope, it was creased and folded to fit in the box. I opened it and took out the papers inside.

They were all pages that had been torn from my notebooks that were either in my room or my locker, they were things I had drawn in class. Most of them were sketches of Kea, reading or speaking or just sitting. I didn't even realise that they had been missing.

There was a page that I had hid in a book in my room which she had somehow managed to find.
I had scribbled my favourite quotes on it, including the one Kea had said that day.

"Courage is grace under pressure." - Ernest Hemingway

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." - Mae West

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

"You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don't take." -- Wayne Gretzky

"The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster." E.M. Cioran.

"Open up darling, the world is beautiful when you do." - René Dearts.

René Dearts was my mother, she said these words to me a few days before she died when she saw me struggling. I always remembered it but never really put it into action until I saw Kea and it just happened automatically. 

I put the sheets back in the envelope and picked up the diary, flipping through the pages when a pressed flower slipped out. It was from the vine in my Grandfathers' balcony.

I couldn't believe that all this while she had kept everything. Everything that ever mattered to her tucked neatly away in this box.

I had tears in my eyes when I put everything but the diary back in the box and closed it.

I wanted to read her thoughts and hopefully the answers to every Kea related question I had. 

After an espresso shot or some sleep, I would have my answers.

.-.-.

Reyes- Well finally I sound like the main character of the story, I was beginning to think it was Damian.
Nomads.vj - No I'm pretty sure I've always been very clear about who my main guy is. Colin.
Reyes- As long as I get Kea I'm a happy man I don't really give a flying fuck about who the story's about.
Nomads.vj - That's actually really sweet, I didn't think you had it in you.
Reyes- Ah well I'm full of surprises. *wink*
Nomads.vj- Moving on.

You guys are beyond amazing for being so fucking patient with me.
It's amazing how much love I keep receiving. Be it through messages, votes, followers or comments. You guys are just unbelievable.
Thank you.
All this is useless without you guys.