fragile

30

Mira sat on the couch with Skittles snuggled next to her, taking a nap.

She stroked his back gently before flipping through the album that was placed on her lap.

It was of Colton's childhood.

She smiled as she looked through. The photos looked worn and a bit discoloured as if it was taken decades ago and no one had allowed it to breathe until now. 

Her eyes widened as she spotted a young, probably seven-year-old Colton standing out in front of a small, brick house.

He was grinning boyishly as if he was excited for something.

Maybe a new house, or something?

Glancing at the other photos, she noticed that he had a dishevelled, messy bowl cut that hung over his eyes a little, lasting up until he was a little older.

Mira couldn't help but giggle at that.

In another photo, he was being kissed on the cheek by a little blonde girl at the beach.

The photo was captured at the perfect time — Mira could see the blush on his cheeks and he was smiling shyly.

It was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

She couldn't control the smile on her lips as she eagerly flipped through even more photos.

Colton seemed to have a lot of friends when he was younger, she realised.

There were group photos with him and his friends, him and Sammy with their arms over each other's shoulders, smiling brightly up into the camera and many others.

There were also a lot of photos with him posing with Casey, who looked happy and completely different to the Casey Mira had met.

There was a photo of them at what looked like a party.

Casey was smiling genuinely, her eyes expressing joy as she ruffled his messy hair. He on the other hand, sulked grumpily, staring at the ground with his bangs covering his eyes. His arms were crossed stubbornly in typical child behaviour. 

Mira wanted to laugh at how adorable and innocent everyone looked. There was no trace of sadness or the pain that life had brought on or was about to bring.

Everyone was smiling and looked like they were free of all of life's obstacles.

Colton was even able to keep his childhood innocence.

There was a family photo with all of them standing together and smiling widely into the camera.

To anyone who didn't know Colton personally, they would assume they were one happy family.

Things seemed to have gone down hill in high school, though, so she knew that they were once a happy family.

Still, there were photos from high school as well, from when he was probably sixteen until graduation—posing with his friends at football practice with his football gear still on as he crouched on the floor in the middle, grinning. Then other photo with him and two other dudes at a party, wearing his letterman jacket with the school colours, blue and white, smiling, his other hand holding a beer bottle.

He looked so happy in the photos. She couldn't believe that this was the same boy that he was the most hot-headed person on the planet and had beaten someone until they fell unconscious. Mira would never have been able to tell that this guy was going through so much.

She felt her chest tighten in pain on behalf of Colton.

Mira knew it was all a consequence of how bad things were in his life. She sighed.