Chapter Four

Ryan

Waking up on the next morning, I wasn’t so shocked about having dreamed of her, blazing under the sunlight, her hair waving behind her like sun rays spreading across the ocean.

I took a long, steamy shower in the hopes of washing everything away. By the time I reached the main center, there she was, looking as beautiful as ever. I watched Sarah tuck her hair behind her ears while being deeply engrossed in whatever she was reading. When I interrupted her, I felt like a thief, stealing the peacefulness that surrounded her completely.

Sarah

I was reading a trivial book, one that has all the useless information normal people wouldn’t want to read and was fascinated by the cool facts about animals.

“Dolphins evolved from land animals. The land ancestors of dolphins lived about 50 million years ago and looked a little like a wolf”.

When a silhouette formed above my head, blocking the light, I raised my head and saw Ryan eying me as if I was from a different planet.

Ryan

'Hi there', I said to catch her attention because she only noticed me when I got too near. She replied back and after shutting the book, she stood up and off we went.

Sarah

The day passed by in a blink of an eye and before departing, Ryan shocked me by asking about my phone number. My face might have given the information away which is why he quickly explained ‘In case, you know…Kate had another emergency and would like you to take some of her classes. I just thought you might want to know before-hand’. He was considerate and I liked that. After handing him my number, both of us went to separate ways.

Ryan

Another smooth day has passed, I wanted to say at the end of our final day together but I couldn't. When I walked in to class earlier, I was amazed yet again. Sarah gave her students a 10 minutes recess in which she had them play hide-and-seek. I saw her pretending that she couldn't see James, the little guy whose hiding place was under the table. At long last, she surprised the boy by saying 'boo!' and at that, the bell rang.

Furious for god-only-knows-why, I hurried outside, without escorting Sarah this time because she had learned the place by heart already. Reaching the main building, I stopped there to sign on the board and searched through my pocket for my keys.

'Where did you go?', she said out of the blue and instead of responding, I found my keys and started walking away with a quicker pace and when I couldn't ignore her anymore, I turned around and said, 'Okay, I give up', raising both hands in defeat. She gave me a puzzled look and I resumed, 'I don't know how you do it…' I trailed off. Her eyes just kept watching me in silence like I was some sort of lunatic, speaking gibberish. 'You come out here, all happy around kids, for every single damn day, not to mention, doing all of this for nothing when I- - I…’ stammering on my words, I finally confessed, 'when I can't even stand my own little siblings'.

The twinkle in her eyes cut across my heart as sharp as a knife as that tear escaped from her chocolate-brown eyes and rolled down her left cheek. That drop of salty water alone froze me in place and did all the talking and even if she didn't say it out loud, I was sure as hell that I understood.

After what seemed like a decade, Sarah said flatly 'Mine died'.

I wanted to jump off my place and hug her, with the promise of protecting her or comforting her, I didn't know which one is which, because for the first time, it felt as if she had all the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders.

Fighting back tears, Sarah ran to the ladies room.

And I couldn't have hated myself more than I did back then.

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Author's Note

Ignore grammatical mistakes as English is my second language and I'm trying. Let me know your thoughts about the structure and the plot.