ALMOST UNFIXABLE.

064 - In Your Arms

Seeing him like this DISTURBED me.

"Simi," I called him, making sure my voice was as soft as possible, scared that any form of intensity night break him.

He jerked slightly like he was just coming back to reality, proving my assumption right. His mind definitely was here all this while.

And when he looked up at me, I froze.

Jesus Christ.

His eyes. They were bloodshot; deep red... crimson.

"Simi!" I gapped in horror, a sharp gasp punctuating my scream.

He knew how he looked, and he knew I could see it clearly. I'm sure he did. And from the expression on my face and the tone of my voice, he could obviously tell that I'd figured out that something big was up.

But you know what this guy did? He smiled.

Simi smiled.

And that terrified me to pieces.

"Hi,"

He muttered with that smile still playing on his lips. His voice came out in a croaking whisper, an indication that he has been crying a lot, further solidifying that I wasn't hallucinating his bloodshot eyes.

What is this?

"C-Can I come in?" He asked, glancing into the house.

Utterly dumbfounded, I stepped aside to create ample space to let him walk through. He mustered what might be a smile of gratitude, pushed himself off the door post lazily, and walked in. I went in after him, closing and locking the door behind us.

Then I turned around to face him. He was backing me now, his hand over his head, fingers running continuously through this hair.

Simi was greatly distressed. I could feel it, and I could see it. It's been a while since I've seen him like this, this completely off his element. The last time was around the beginning when I was tutoring him and we weren't making progress. The frustration, the anger, the sadness, all of it.

But on God, it wasn't like this.

Never like this.

This Felt bad. It Looked bad. And it worried me to my bones.

I moved closer to him... carefully. I didn't need anyone to tell me that Simi was fragile at this moment and I had to be delicate with him. The last thing I wanted was to trigger something I shouldn't.

"Simi..." I began, my voice in a calm but cautious whisper. "What's wrong? Are you–"

"C-Can I stay over t-tonight?" He asked, gently cutting the rest of my own question off. His question came in the form of a plea and even though I couldn't see him, I could hear the begging in his tone, in the way his voice slightly broke.

And he still wasn't looking at me...

"I can't go home right now because I'll be all alone–"

That's strange. My brows furrowed in a confused frown.

In fact, everything about this visit was strange, not to talk of his whole demeanor and bloodshot eyes. The atmosphere was suddenly looming with something dark and harrowing, and this just boosted it. Chills, literal chills, creeped up my skin.

I didn't like this feeling.

Simi has been living in that house all by himself most of the time for the past month or so, and it hasn't really been a problem for him. Why is it one now?