Chapter 19

Aww. Touching.

A month later and nothing had changed much. When Zander came back we went back to the normal routine. I went back to work and Rylan stayed home. He took up exercise again. He dropped the drugs and it was really paying off. His mood swings lessened and life was become a little bit bearable again, for me anyways. Zander on the other hand wasn’t taking it well.

Every day after school he would come home and straight to his room. He started composing again but the symphony he had begun to write was dark and full of sadness. He hardly talked to any of us, only David, and even him not a lot. Finally I knew something had to be done. Something needed to change.

After working a full night at the hospital with a family I came home to take a long awaited rest. Rylan was still in bed when I walked in. The house was dark and I started to undress as I walked into my room. When I had almost shut the door I heard the low notes of the cello being played. A solemn and depressing song played over the metal strings. Rylan lay with his shirt off face down on the mattress. “I can’t take that anymore Shiloh.” His head was smothered in a pillow as he spoke making his words mumble together.

Air rushed out of my lungs, “What’re we going to do about it?”

“You know exactly what we’re going to do. As much as we both hate the idea of moving back to Miami, I don’t think we have much of a choice anymore.” My knees bent and I laid on the bed next to him. My hands crossed over my chest and I looked up at the ceiling. Rylan’s hand stroked the top of my shoulder as he looked at me. I took a deep breath and held it in, “I know. “ He picked himself up and leaned on his elbows. A smile spread across his face as he tried to cheer me up.

Suddenly from the hall a loud slam caught our attention. It was the sound of a cello hitting the wall. Both of our heads snapped down the hall to Zander’s room. In pure reaction Rylan and I stood up. He jumped off the bed and ran in front of me towards Zander’s room.

Crashes continued to sound as we ran closer and closer to him. When Rylan opened the door we saw the mattress turned over. Zander had a lamp in his hand ready to throw it at the wall when Rylan grabbed it. He spun and we saw his eyes lit up. His arm tried to tug away from Rylan’s but his eyes started to glow also. “Put it down Zander,” he whispered softly, “It’s okay.” His hand came up to the side of Zander’s face and stroked it. It took Zander awhile to finally regain control of himself. When he finally did his head sunk.

His arm slid from Rylan’s and he sat on the end of his turned over mattress. “Love sucks,” He hissed under his breath. He played with the lamp in his hand.

“Love doesn’t suck. It’s being away from the person you love that makes it suck.” Rylan’s eyes had shut off and he returned to my side. “It’s Abigail isn’t it?” I asked. We hadn’t actually talked about it yet.  Slowly Zander’s head nodded up and down, “I knew it.” Rylan looked up under his eye brows to me. The last thing he wanted to know was that someone in our family loved someone in the Oreson family. I nodded at him and he walked out of Zander’s room.

Exhaustion ran through me and tugged at my eye lids but I listened to Zander talk. “It feels like someone ripped the heart out of my chest and slammed it into a brick wall over a million times.” A laugh broke through my tight lips.

“That’s definitely love.”

He threw the lamp down on the ground, “I know that even if I’m near her she won’t want me, but I don’t care. I want to be there so that I at least have a chance.”

My arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled his weight into me. He leaned his head on my collar bone. “What would you do without David?”

The room fell silent for a few moments my hand rubbed up and down Zander’s arm. “David moves in a week. His family can’t take care of him anymore.”

“What?” I pushed him away from my shoulder and looked down into his bright silver eyes.

He shrugged, “He said he’s going to Minnesota. There’s a family with six kids who are looking to adopt one more.”

My hand returned around Zander. My chin rested on top of his head as his weight shifted into me. “I’m so sorry Zander.”

He shrugged underneath me again. No words came out from his mouth. We both sat in silence for a moment. Zander’s head moved beneath my arm and looked around the room. “I broke my cello,” he whispered almost ashamed.

“We’ll buy another. Don’t worry about it.”

He and I sat together until he finally decided he needed more sleep. When he was laid down I turned off his lights and left the room. My bare feet pattered over the wood floor as I walked tiredly back to my room. As I crossed the kitchen a figure on the balcony caught my attention. Rylan was leaning on the guard rail on his elbows. The wind whipped at his white hair that was again growing out. His bare back was doused with sweat and he was trying to catch his breath. Despite the sleep that was tugging at my eye lids I walked out onto the balcony and stood next to him. His eyes were shut and I could tell he was concentrating as hard as he could.

Silently I leaned on the rail next to him. The waves crashed below us loudly as the wind whipped them against the rocks. I looked out over the waters. Down the beach there were kids flying kites through the wind. Their parents watched over them carefully as they ran close to the waves. Picnic blankets with food were set out across the dark sand. Their screams came across the beach over to us. A smile crossed my face as memories of taking Zander out there filled my mind.

A warm hand grabbed mine. I looked to see Rylan pulling it over to his chest. He kissed the top of my knuckles and rested his cheek on my hand. His warm breath blew from his nose across my skin. My elbow slid down the rail closer to him. Again his lips kissed the top of my knuckles. It looked almost as if pain was streaming through the front part of his head. I pulled my hand from him and his eyes shot open. The silver pools were gleaming brightly. They dimmed slowly and he lowered his head. My arms wrapped around his body and I leaned my head on his chest.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he whispered as his hands wrapped around my body, “Especially to him.”

“What’re you talking about,” My hand spread across his back and I felt the tired fighting it’s last battle against my mind.

“I have a bad feeling about Miami,” His lips kissed the top of my head lightly.

I mumbled something into his chest. I felt him pull away and look down at me. My eyes lids were shutting and opening as I tried to stay conscious. Rylan laughed and dipped. His arm went under my legs and body. His strength carried me lightly through the house. “Promise me that I won’t lose you.”

“I swear,” I reached my hand up and touched the side of his face. A small smile spread across my face. My arm tucked back between mine and Rylan’s body. My eyes shut just as he placed me on the soft bed. The last thing I felt was his soft lips touching my cheek.