"Mommy, why is he beating you all the time?" I said, hands shivering around the thin quilt.
"Because even love is in the form of darkness." She said back with a smile as we both were locked up in the room.
"Where were you, kid?" My dad yelled as he shoved me to the couch. I laughed at his surprising question, he never asked unless he wanted me to take another blonde fuck for him.
"Walking." I hissed as my back ached from the rough push. My dad had good aim. He was always like that around me and my mom, he never loved her.
The foul smoke erupted everywhere in the small apartment. We only had one living room where dad slept and my tiny room since dad liked to spend more on prostitutes and drinks.
"You didn't make my dinner." I rolled my eyes at his accusation, it wasn't like we had anything to eat.
"Fuck you and your dinner." I stood up in rage as he clutched my shirt and dragged me to my room, he took his sweet ass off of his favorite couch just to beat me up. I laughed harder as every punch cracked my face and my dad got even more defensive. He left me alone after he realized he had spilled all my blood out for a while. I knew he didn't have the guts to kill me because he needed me for his benefit.
I didn't move from the floor as I stared up the ceiling and cried for my mom.
○○○
The blonde haired girl didn't come to school today, I hadn't seen her, not that I cared anyway.
"Wow, you took a lot of beating." The purple haired girl appeared to stand beside me as the next bell signaling for the first class was heard.
"You don't say." I snarked and went into the class, sitting as my sore face burned in pain. I was in a sour mood today due to a headache and the back pain when I passed out on the floor.
She was a no-show. I remembered our encounter yesterday, she seemed so worn out and defeated. Now, she wasn't anywhere when I searched the music room and the hallways.
Since my house was nearby like hers, I always walked to and from school, I saw her getting back to her house that was near mine. I put the frozen pea pack on my swollen cheek and jaw, but my dad's punches made it hard for me to stop throbbing in pain.
"Sorry, Mrs. Brenda." The blonde haired girl said.
"It's okay, Evannie. I know you were working hard for the winter ball, I can't wait to hear you." I scoffed lowly at the fact that the girl was the teacher's pet. Mrs. Brenda, the Biology teacher, gestured for Evannie to take a seat and she does, typically in the front row.
My eyes were on her the entire time, she wore a light pink sweater with brown knee lengthed pants that made her emerald eyes stand out. Her hair was styled in curls as it drifted to her waist, I almost howled with laughter when she tied it like she did before.
"Rys, what's the function of sperms?" I hadn't heard my name until she repeated her question and I blinked.
"Making girls pregnant." I shrugged as I laid back on the chair. The whole class laughed and Mrs. Brenda scowled at me then proceeded to ask different people, I tuned them all out.
These emerald eyes gazed at mine when she turned around to grab her bag that was clung to her chair with amusement. I was the one to break eye contact as I grabbed my bag and went out of the class.
"That was an awesome answer, dude." I stopped at my locker to see a typical brown haired player with a smirk.
"Yea, thanks." I carelessly replied. The guy rolled his eyes and introduced himself.
"Ben Davids." He held his hand out for me to shake.
"Ryson Adams." I shook his hand with unease, due to the whole stopping school, I never had friends. I was a social outcast, I could have been potentially famous here but I chose not to, these high school titles wasn't my interest.
"I'm having a party on Friday, you wanna come?" Before I could reply, he gave me a note of his address with a thumbs up before dashing to his next class.
As I was passing to my next class, the soft familiar melodies were heaven to my ears, how could such sounds come from an instrument with strong emotions? I had no idea. I looked at the door window as Evannie played with tears coming down her eyes, she wiped them with the back of her hand as she stopped. I didn't know what was I doing when I opened the door and she turned to stare at me.
"Why are you crying?" I asked her like I had known her for a long time. She frowned at me with her red nose and dried cheeks.
"Why do you care?" She questioned back in a hushed tone. Grabbing her bag, she stood up and faced me. Her emerald eyes searching for something from my amber eyes.
"I don't, I was just curious." I snapped, she continued to stare at the silence wrapped around us.
"Then I have to go." She said with finality in her voice, my arm shot out to her as she stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"You didn't answer me," I stated.
"It's nothing." She blinked as she gave me a final glance and walked out. I had to figure her out in some way, I didn't know someone's life could be as similar to mine. She was suffering like I was, I had known it when her eyes met mine.
○○○
The bell finally saved the students as they rushed for the cafeteria, I was in Michigan school but I stopped it for a while since my parents couldn't afford it when I was in fifth grade, I had to be homeschooled till eleventh. I was a senior student here because they accepted my homeschooled certificates. I didn't particularly care about studying but I would look into a book once in a while.
Michigan school was like a shelter away from dad when he used to be angry and would beat me all the time, it started from kindergarten until senior year. It had changed a lot, they upgraded it from the grey hallways to white polished ones, the rooms were bigger than the usual tiny rooms I had grown used to.
I went to the bathroom as the jock came out of the cubicle to wash his hands, I heard that he was called the king of pranks, it was pathetic.
With light green eyes that recognized me, we both were silent because we didn't want to go into another detention.
"Are you fucking Evangeline?" He asked me out of nowhere. I hadn't expected a better question since he was the jock. I was biased about jocks like him, the only things in their minds were attracting girls and sleeping with them, not for the love of the sport.
"None of your business." I didn't know that name. It sounded familiar.
"The piano freak and the silent boy, how cute." He stressed the last word and I resisted the urge to punch him. He meant Evannie, maybe it was a shortcut to her long name.
"You know what's cute? Your dripped jeans, you need to learn how to potty train." I sniggered as I walked out, he saw the stain on his jeans and gave me a glare.
I was aware that I had been staring at him quite a few times when he would go to his lectures or smoked in the empty hallways. It was the lunch break and I had to go practice but something allured me to enter the cafeteria."Is this real?" Alexa's eyes broadened when she saw me, I blushed as her friends guarded me with their eyes, "no way, it's the first time you come to the cafeteria." She gasped and I gave a smile to everyone before sitting next to Alexa, who was too busy gaping at me."Don't be dramatic," I flatly said as my eyes assessed the red and white stripes on the walls of the cafeteria, "and I will practice more after school," I added just for her info."That means you can always come here during lunch breaks?" Her eyes widely sparkled at me.
I didn't know. Something about the way she played made the deepest of my fears alive. Maybe it was how at ease she was with everyone or the way she closed her eyes as her delicate fingers consumed the piano like it was her own favorite miracle. That scared me because whenever I looked into her soft green eyes, I had to know everything that she did and felt; it was like we were connected by unbreakable strings. I couldn't get enough but something inside of me told me that I shouldn't have let her in because love was like killing yourself slowly. I loved my mom but she left, so I was biased about love.She stopped playing and took a deep breath as if she was afraid to speak to me. It was something about the aura I radiated around her but my colored eyes couldn't leave hers. It was like our eyes were interlocked into an attraction phase that made the whole world around us stop.
I was still feeding my heart on the piano music sheets and trying out the keys for the newest piece I wrote. The pressure was hard since the winter annual ball was on Saturday and I only had two days to go to practice; it was only Wednesday.The thoughts of that guy, Ryson, invaded my mind again. He was so mysterious to the eyes with his stony gazes and strict expressions. It was like he never had any fun or enjoyed anything. But I could tell that the piano interested him when he saw me play before.Closing the piano lid after Mrs. Davidson reminded me it was closing time, I grabbed my bag filled with sheets and a textbook on how to have key control with the steady rhythm that I was studying for the winter annual and Julliard."Have a great evening," I said to Mrs. Davidson politely, s
Evangeline reminded me of what it felt like to lose my mother when she was rolled on a stretcher to the hospital room. It was agonizing; she made me reveal my emotions and I was tired of fighting the sorrow. Waiting outside while the nurses do their job was the torture I had to endure, I couldn't even fucking get comfortable sitting on their hard rock chairs so I kept pacing."Young man, is your girlfriend going to be okay?" the old woman asked with apprehension imprinted on her face. The mere thought of Evangeline irked me because I didn't want to feel that way towards her. I had been trying my best to get away from her yet here I was, waiting for her to get better. I wanted not to care and just go back to the disruptive father and his prostitutes but I couldn't get my feet to go along the path of the hospital entrance. I wanted to make sure she was better.
I was resurrected to life when the tears of pain formed a huge puddle on the bathroom ground. I wasn't going to cry out for him anymore; my howls became silent and my beating heart calmed down after the mental exhaustion I had put myself through. He was going to leave sooner or later and I had to come back to my stable tracks.I stood up from the ground and walked with my wet blue hospital gown and severely pink aching cheeks with dried tears. I tried so many times to keep him just like my mom but he left. He didn't want anything to do with me in the first place and I was slowly starting to embrace it."We were looking everywhere for you," the nurse grabbed my arm when she saw me at the front of the men's bathroom. "Come with me, darling." This time I didn't rebel, I complied. Like the goody-two-shoes I was.
"What the fuck?" I yelled, grabbing my dad away from the prostitute, who was half naked and now on the floor, "you need to wake the fuck up, you just came out of the hospital, you bastard excuse of a father." I spat out at his angry face, I didn't care, I had reached the limit where I was immune to dad.The living room's stench was unbearable and I had to get out of there before I lashed on dad again.I pushed him as the stripper dressed up and ran away from the crazy household. He didn't say anything, he was too furious to so I left him.I let go of that flashback about what happened before catching the man that had Evangeline and wanted to trade her for slavery. Mr. Yeman was a vile man of no morals, I knew him when I was a part of his gang, he disgustingly
It was time. I wiped my hands on the rich navy long dress I wore in anticipation. I had done a lot of these shows before but none of them meant something like the bigger inside of me. This was my chance to show the Julliard executives that I was worth it.Mom, I hope you're watching this.This is for you.The sound of the audience rushing in to get to their seats made my heart beat faster and my hands sweaty. I closed my emerald eyes and prayed for success, prayed that I don't mess this up.The white stage lights illuminated the stage like a circus show and the audience stopped making noises of approval, the red curtain that was in front of me opened, the grand piano that was my friend in all my times of need placed
The pure rush of the air blasted against my cold pale skin as I drove the red burrowed motorcycle to where she was going, I just had to make sure she got there safely with no trouble.You're not forced to do that.I dismissed my jumbled thoughts and concentrated on the road ahead. It would have been mighty fine if mom was with me, laughing as the wind sweeps her hair out of her face and her precious blue eyes look up at the sky. I could only hope she comes back again.Her friend's silver-colored Jeep stopped in front of a big mansion that had blasting music and neon lights out of the window, they got outside and my eyes stuck to Evangeline's back as she walked with her friend.I left the motorcycle a bit far off from her friend's car