Celeste's childhood wasn't something she loved talking about. It was filled with nothing but painful memories. Whether they were the ones from when her father, along with her brothers, left, or the ones from her mother's death and her stepfather's a...
tw: mentions of drug abuse and overdosing, please be careful while reading :)
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THE HEART shaped pendant that rested upon my open palm glimmered under the lights that had illuminated the entire kitchen and seemingly absorbed the brightness they offered, the small portion it had reflected back to my eyes blinding them the moment it reached my tainted gaze. And the silver chain that was attached to it hung loosely from my palm, resting upon the wooden table that sat in front of me.
A faint smile embraced my face and played faintly across my lips, my eyes repeatedly scanning over the gift I had bought for Momma's birthday. Shaky fingers of mine traced over the pendant, my smile slightly faltering as different possibilities about my mother's reaction ran across my mind, weighing so heavily on top of it and travelling all the way to my heart, snatching all the previous excitement away from its grip and leaving dullness in its place.
I let a sigh out before I inhaled sharply, feeling my chest constrict as a result of my action; tighten so much until my ribs penetrated through my flesh and tore it open, the blood running through my veins and my arteries escaping them all at once, leaving them so drained and cold. Dull. And Worthless. A failure. Lacking the only thing they were responsible for shielding.
I repeated my action more than once and imagined a different scenario for every time my chest seemed to constrict both tightly and painfully. I forced the wall of hope I had started surrounding myself with to shatter all at once; to collide with the floor and to break into millions of tiny crumbles that would only get mended in case my mother had kept her promise. In case she had actually started showing her willingness to change.
"What do you think?" The words rolled off my tongue, not even waiting for my mind's permission for them to do so. They tasted so bitter. And so dreadful. Just like they had always done. And just like they would continue doing on every single birthday of my mother's. My gaze flickered upwards, my vision regaining the focus it had so desperately asked for as soon as it met Enzo's gaze. "Will she like it?"
Lorenzo nodded, not even a second after, a smile identical to the one that had crawled onto my face dancing faintly across his lips. The waves his ocean irises had held seemed to toss and swirl; to crash so loudly against each other. Over and over again. They carried emotions I had no power to dig for within their depths and held ones—such as understanding—that were too easily recognised across their surfaces.
"She'll love it, Cel. Especially when she knows how hard you've worked to buy it," he responded, eyes softening, their waves stilling for a few moments. He let his gaze drop and land upon the same necklace I had bought for my mother, a tad of longing coating his tainted eyes. "It's so pretty, too. I would've definitely bought an identical one for my mother if she didn't leave."
His gaze flickered upwards, meeting mine on the impact. His smile widened even though mine had completely vanished, and the layer of longing that had previously masked his eyes dropped, exposing the hurt that swam freely within his irises upon the realisation of the words that had just slipped past his lips. He cleared his throat, eyelids fluttering and shoulders slumping. His smile got wiped off. "Will you come today or you're planning to stay here?"
