Hauntings Of The Past

CHAPTER 5

ROSÉLYN'S POV

Where is he?! How come I can't find him ANYWHERE!? Did he skip school halfway?  Why?! He didn't even tell me.

Several classes passed by with no sign of Black, none. My eye never never found his figure. As a conclusion, I concluded that he bunked school. Which led me to think, why?  Trying to disregard that thought, I continued towards my next class, where Black was supposed to be. The whole lesson, my mind didn't seemed to be in the classroom, my mind was wandering all over the place. Thoughts jumping from one to another, never seeming to stop at a particular thought. After the finish bell finally rang, I strolled my way to the garden as I had a break. I collected my notebooks and tried to think how I would finish the assignment given by the teacher.

I bumped into someone, looking up to say sorry, I saw a guy, walking away without even acknowledging me. He was tall,  very tall. He had this grey hoodie and dark pants, his hood was covering his face as he walked away. I walked towards him to apologize for bumping into him. I tried to tap his shoulder, but before I could do that, a hand on my wrist stopped me. I followed the view of the hand to the face of that belonged to the hand. Xavier was looking back at me with eyes that seemed to glisten with unfamiliar emotions. Moisture surrounded his iris, his eyes rimmed red and his skin flushed.

Pulling me with him, he stirred towards the school rooftop which was empty almost all of the time. I kept shut all the way knowing he wouldn't want me to ask about it in front of everyone. He opened the door that kept us from the rooftop and went in slamming the door, locking it. Taking me towards a small space he plopped down on his butt making me fall beside him. I looked up to his face to see his jaw tight and eyes frantic, like he was looking for something that might calm his mind. Finally he brought his eyes towards my frame and only tightened his hold on me. Not once did his jaw loosen or his grip on my hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" His eyes moved from my frame as his hold on me loosened, "I don't know. Maybe. I need time." "Well, I'm here waiting, if you want to talk about it, take all the time you need. I'll be waiting, right here, beside you." He stiffly nodded his head and leaned his head backwards against the wall, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath. I leaned back as well, looking at the blue sky as clouds passed by, the sight placing an odd tranquility inside my mind. I felt a light weight on my shoulder and felt soft hair tickle my cheek. I already knew what it was and didn't bother to check.

Moments passed in absolute silence as I felt the material on my shoulder dampen with warm liquid. I heard sniffles every now and then. Through it all, I didn't make a noise, just held his hands tightly letting him know that I was there. After a few more minutes, he slowly raised his head up and shifted towards me. I followed his movements, facing him and still clutching his hands I looked towards his eyes. Puffy and red, filled with tacit words. I didn't know about the causes of his suffering but understood his feelings. And it hurts me knowing that no one but he himself can get out of the world of his suffering. All hr needed him to know was  that I was there for him, just like he was in the morning.

"As you might already know Black is my brother" he saw the confusion in my eyes and continued," yes, he is my brother. The talks are true." He said with a bitter smile. "He came back after 4 years, mum and dad called him back as they couldn't bear to be away from their son anymore. It was too much for them." He said. "You know, we used to be very close when we were younger. We were always sticking to each other's hips.

A year before he left, he stopped talking to me completely. It felt like he couldn't see me. Whenever I was infront of him, he would act as if I wasn't there. It felt like living with a stranger and I couldn't take it anymore when I confronted him about it. The only response he gave was that he didn't have a brother."

Acrimonious tears fell from his eyes as he buried his face in the crook of my neck holding me as if I were to disappear any moment as well. I felt my throat tighten as I held him. For some moment he was quiet, the only sound that could be heard was him sobbing into my neck as I rubbed his back with one hand and softly scratched his head. After calming down reasonably, he continued with a scratchy voice, "After that I punched him and stormed out of the house, I spent the night out that day. In the morning when I returned home, my mother was bawling her eyes out as my father tried so hard to keep himself together. I approached them to find a paper, Black's handwriting was all over it. It stated that he couldn't bear to be in the same house as a murderer." With that he started hyperventilating, his breathing became uneven as his eyes lost focus. I was starting to freak out, I didn't know what to do when someone had a panic attack. So, I tried doing the only thing I knew with him.

I held his face in my hands, trembling myself, I forced him to look at me as I whispered softly, "You're safe, no one hates you, Xavier. You didn't murder anyone, I know you didn't. I believe you and so does everyone else. Look into my eyes and see if I'm lying." At this his eyes captured mine and stayed there, looking for any traces of lies. I kept my gaze steady and took a deep breath hoping he would follow. He did, and somehow he slowly started calming down. Not completely but he could breathe properly now. His eyes still continued to water and he hands still trembled. I slowly held both his hands in mine and put them on my lap. I waited till his trembling stopped then I tried letting go of his hands, but he wouldn't let go as he slowly laid his head on my shoulder. I let him, knowing he needed this.

School was ready over by the time we got up. The janitors were cleaning up the classrooms as we left the school premises. My hand still in his as we made our way to his car. He was about to get in the driver's seat as I stopped him and got inside instead, letting him know that I was driving. He only nodded and made his way to the other side. Strapping down we took off towards his house. Inside the car, his hand found mine once again as he softly tightened his hold. I glanced towards him to see him give me a small smile. I gave a small smile of my own.

"Thanks for not leaving me when I was quiet for so long." He said softly. "It was nothing compared to what you did for me this morning." I replied with my own soft voice. "It was. To me it was everything." I glanced towards him to see him taking even breaths as his eyes closed on their own accord. With a small smile of his own, he slept peacefully.