tea stained newpapers. mileven au.

twenty one.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:
BURNT TONGUES.
MIKE'S POV.

he didn't mean to leave for so long.

he knew it was wrong to completely disregard the duties of his demanding life schedule just because of someone else, to leave lucas without any warning and blankly waltz around pretending like the buzzing phone in his pocket didn't exist.

but yet, it was so hard to stop the feeling of being unwanted from getting the best of him, from dragging him away from that beloved mansion he had become so fond of visiting. he wanted nothing more than to disappear, drift away to the outskirts of that forbidden city only to fall apart and put him self together again in privacy of the quite leaves and crashing ocean.

he ended up in staten island, a burrow not to far away from manhattan. once he realized where he was going, the burning sensation that had traveled into his mouth had almost immediately subsided, leaving only the foul taste of iron on the tip of his tongue. as if the air around him injected a comfort serum into his bloodstream, numbing the various feelings escaping from his battered heart.

in other words, he drove here unintentionally. his soul pulling him towards the only other person he knew he could shatter in front of, someone he knew shattered the same way he did when their emotions got the best of them.

they were siblings after all, connected by dna and their stubborn personalities.

nancy wheeler was a successful individual, much like her brother mike. unsurprisingly enough, years ago she started working as an intern for the new york times. it should be well known, but the writer's sister was probably one of the most respected people during her time there, completely adored by some of the most powerful figures in the business.

this was exactly how she managed to recommend two extraordinary college boys when she was finally hired as a reporter for good morning america.

which she still worked for by the way. however nowadays, the young women preferred to isolate herself from the rest of world in her humble little home just off the new york city shoreline.

she claimed she moved out here to get away from the constant fast paced life of the big apple itself, to rejoice and have a more comforting spot when she found someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. nancy had always been mature like that, planning away the small things for the better of her future.

yet, mike knew the hauntings of their parents violent past that resided near the center of those skylines was something even he had trouble staying around sometimes.

he didn't blame her for leaving.

really he couldn't if he wanted to. he was doing the exact same thing right now... just for a different reason.

though one could say, mike wheeler's fuel to run away was to be eventually drowned by guilt... possibly even shame. it was so embarrassing, so frustrating to deal with all his feelings being crushed all at once. but he couldn't help but to admit that he did in fact feel absolutely horrible for being so selfish, for allowing the hands on the large clicking clock of life to spin in one constant motion as he released all his feelings with the waves each morning.

he felt selfish because he kept reading all of her pleading messages and was too much of a coward to respond.

at this point, the only thing he was destroying was himself.