Opposites Attract

Chapter 2 - Suffocating Shadows

                                            ---------Chapter 2---------

                                              ~ Suffocating Shadows ~

 You always have to expect unscheduled events in life. Allow things that you have absolutely no control over whatsoever, to take place. It may only be a minor twist, like the route you take somewhere, but then again it can be a lot more serious - life changing serious. You can live your life ignoring all the vital signs that are pre-empting something major. But then when it actually occurs, it will knock you for six and could leave you with scars - life-long scars.

 Somehow the day went by in a flash. They usually preferred dragging on, pulling me through their excruciatingly painful repetitiveness kicking and screaming. But maybe it soared by because I had made a crucial decision this morning. I was going to try and take a leaf out of Bella's book and try to be, maybe not quite so ecstatic - people may start to wonder what I've been sniffing - but definitely more positive. The theory I was working on went a little like; that each day was a new start and that I just had to take each one step by step, like a toddler learning to walk. Why the sudden change of heart? Well maybe it has something to do with the near death experience Bella put me in this morning when she used me as a human trampoline, but then again, I don't think that was quite it.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what made me want to start really appreciating life but I know knew that I was going to try and make the most of each moment. And it seemed to actually be quite beneficial because even though I went to my usual classes, they seemed to have had some injection of excitement put into them because I seemed to almost enjoy them - shocking I know! Being enraptured by the lessons, it was a weird feeling.

I hung out with my usual group of friends, but even being with them seemed...different. As if they could sense my change of attitude and fed off it, or maybe it was just me finally opening my formally sealed shut eyes to see how funny and awesome they really were. I don't think I've laughed so much in a while - at one point so much that orange juice threatened to squirt out my nose, (not an attractive look I'll let you know.)

I felt really selfish looking back; that I had been taking everything for granted. It was really perturbing me but I was trying to push aside the crawling, like tiny 8-legged spiders scurrying around my stomach trying to clamber out, feeling so that I could finally appreciate everything.

So when I stepped through the door way of my modest sized family house that constantly had a homely smell of cinnamon and mixed spices wafting through - which always seemed to calm me - I was still riding on my days high, which meant I didn't detect anything unusual until I stepped through into the living room.

Believe me when I say you could have cut the tension and angst with a knife. My moment of bliss was quickly severed, my face contorted into confusion and worry as I glanced from my mother's frail hunched position perched on the edge of our ebony coloured sofa to my father's persistent pacing in front of her. It took a few seconds for my presence to be acknowledged but once it was, both sets of eyes where boring into me so strongly I wouldn't have been surprised if they burned right through me and into the next wall.

 My mum seemed to visibly shrink and the tears that had been threatening at the edges had begun to slide down her pale, sorrowful face. My dad on the other hand looked like he was about to have a hernia. There was a vein protruding out of his forehead, his darker than night hair was sticking out at all angles, probably because he'd been running his hand through it constantly, and from his posture and expression, it was obvious how livid he was. He literally looked as if he was going to kill something. They were such a contrast, it was quite unsettling. They both gave me equal dread and fear and had started up an entirely different form of churning in the pit of my stomach than I experienced earlier. Damn my stomach has had a rough day of it.