Teach Me How to Love

Rule 9: Be Curious

~Be Curious~

My feet nervously tapped, to the ticking of the clock in the library, against the chair. Everything about me seemed to be unable to keep still for more than a second. My mind was racing with so many thoughts and possibilities of what could become of this not so normal library meeting.

Fingers, to be specific my thin fingers, drummed anxiously against the wooden table. Dust floated calmly downwards onto the table only to be disrupted by the relentless drumming of my fingers.

I stared at the clock barely seeing it through my curtain of golden curls, that seemed quite lively compared to the rest of me.

The curtain of curls jerked up along with my head when the creaky doors to the library opened. Abigail, who had opened the door, strode towards the seat next to me with a steadiness that could have been mistaken as confidence had you not gotten a good glimpse of her face.

Although her face was as blank and unreadable as ever her eyes managed to give me some clues as to the inner turmoil of grief, sadness, anger, depression, and longing that raged inside her fragile body.

When she sat down her mostly silver eyes, as of now, met my own murky brown eyes- trying tell me everything she couldn't say. Of course her being Abigail meant that I couldn't comprehend any of the messages her unique eyes sent me.

"Abigail I can't read eyes," I mumbled to myself, except I believe she heard. Since she had turned away from me refusing to look at me.

A single wet bundle of sadness fell gracefully onto the table. And there it stayed all alone until it fell silently off the table and on the carpet.

"My dad used to tell me that all the time," she said so softly I barely managed to hear her voice over the sounds of her sniffling.

"What happened to your father?" I asked gently. I've been wondering lately about what she meant about her father leaving her.

"He died," she mumbled through her salty tears.

Something within me finally seemed to realize just how broken the girl before me was. Her pale arms were wrapped around herself as if she was trying to replace her father's warm embrace with her own cold and dull embrace.

A broken spirit was reflected in her eyes now that her multiple walls of steel were removed in her moment of vulnerability. They were completely blue, a deep royal blue. A color that lacked any silver coloring so it also lacked any indecipherable thoughts or emotions.

Sometimes you are so busy focusing on your own problems you forget that others experience problems too. Lately I've been forgetting that Abigail is human and is more or less broken.

"I feel so incredibly weak and pathetic as of now," she said as she was finally get a grip on her emotions once again.

"Why?" I asked. My finger nails ran across the wooden table tracing slightly visible marks in the wood.

"You never cry. You've been through more than I have yet you never cry or complain. It's true bravery," she said with a faint smile.

I'm not brave, I thought quietly to myself. I suppose one could view it as bravery but I view it as tolerance to a situation and just already having adapted to a situation.

"A brave person would try to stop the abuse," I responded as I clenched my jaw and looked away. Memories of my father's abuse resurfaced causing me to wince.

"And fail since you need more than bravery to succeed," Abigail responded, defying the odds once again.

"You have to start somewhere," I said absently. Silence once again occupied the almost vacant library.

Without a word Abigail took out a stack of papers from her small messenger bag. She dropped them onto the table and I swear I saw the table shudder as if it was going to collapse. Luckily it didn't collapse. The last thing I want to do is explain to the principal why the table broke.

"These are tutorials to help you with what we are learning. They should cover just about everything until I resume lessons," Abigail said tersely.

Then with the same confidence she entered with, she left. Only Abigail could look confident with tear stains on her face and a runny nose.

On her way out a small photograph fell out of her bag. I rushed to return the picture back to her, but something held me back.

The picture imprinted onto the paper was what stopped me. It showed a man not much older than my own father. He resembled Abigail quite a bit. Deep royal blue eyes, just like Abigail's when there was no silver in her eyes, stared back at me in an almost haunting fashion.

The man shown had thick blonde hair like Rachel's and a casual grin. The name Matthan Simmons was written in neat cursive, which I identified as Abigail's handwriting, in the upper right corner.

I couldn't help but feel like this Matthan guy was familiar. After a brief hesitation I stuffed the picture into pocket and walked outside.

The walks back to my house have been getting colder with each day as it approached the peak of Winter.

Soon I arrived at the familiar dilapidated house. The roof looked like it could cave in on itself at any moment and vines covered the few places where cracks don't cover the house.

The black door seemingly reflected what lay inside the house, a void of darkness. I entered the house about to walk into my room when I noticed a spot of maroon that contrasted the brown walls greatly.

In the corner of what used to be my mom's room, a small book was lodged in between the wooden panels that supported the ceiling. I stared at the book for awhile before slowly inching my hand closer to the spine of the book until it touched my pale hand.

Finally after much contemplation I hastily pulled the book out and opened it to a random page before the guilt could settle in.

My mouth literally dropped open at what greeted my eyes. A black and white photo showed a picture of Matthan Simmons's haunting face.

___________________________

Author's Note: I am so sorry for the long wait. So what do you think? Who do you think Matthan Simmons is? Why was his photo in Matthew's house? What do you think happened to Abigail's father?

-WrittenDreams3

~Question~

What names do you like?

Tobias, Xander, Arrabella, Katrina, Bella, Liam, and Talia.