The Third

Chapter 14 // Unreachable

The rough, squeaky jolts of the truck's brakes woke me from my slumber, and I looked out the foggy window. We had pulled into a driveway of an old beat up house; but it was a beautiful sight.

Shingles were shedding off the roof, slipping down onto the ground. The deep red bricks that made up the walls were crumbling and eroded. The lawn was yellow and dead, a thick forest of weeds. Dirt piles were scattered about, covered in a slight dusting of pearly white snow. The murky, green pond just behind the house absorbed all the sunlight and left the scene gloomy and dead. Windows were shattered; shards of glass covered the porch. The rotting mahogany door was open slightly. It was a pathetic looking house, old and withered, but it was beautiful. It was one thing that had not been completely destroyed in this mess.

It had once held an individual, a couple, a child, a family; it had once held life.

A beautiful thing.

I looked at Mattaeus in the front seat; I watched him stare motionless at his tanned legs, covered in dust and dried, burnt skin. My vision shifted to Reid and his expression was blank. Sadness was evident in his eyes. Welled up tears balanced gently on his lashes and I watched a single droplet in its descent to splatter onto his rolled up pants.

He dropped his head down into his arms, resting on the old torn up steering wheel.

From the passenger seat, Mattaeus glared to the back seats and I tried to lock my eyes into his.

He ignored my gaze and focused his attention back on Reid.

He licked his lips and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Reid forced his head upwards and looked at Mattaeus in the deepest way. The way one looks at a love, a best friend, a brother.

"I don't know if I can do it." His voice came out frail and unsure.

Mattaeus raised his hand and draped it over Reid's right shoulder. "You can. Just," he nervously ran his fingers through his messy, dirty hair, "just stay strong, Reid. Stay strong for us. For them."

His only response was a slow, heavy-headed nod, and with that he opened the door and wearily stepped out of the truck.

Mattaeus's eyes closed tightly, held together by Reid's every move.

He turned around to me; half watching Reid's figure approach the house, half watching me.

I looked at him, wide-eyed, practically screaming for an answer.

He pressed his lips together and looked me in the eyes. I allowed myself to once more become encompassed by them.

"This house," he swallowed and looked around, gathering his many thoughts, "it's Reid's mother's. Reid grew up in this house...he lived here for twenty-one years."

I was speechless. I was broken. I was drowning in myself.

It made sense, all of his tears and his agony.

"It used to be flawless. A perfect little house on a perfect little pond, a perfect lot, a perfect lawn. He expected it to be the same; he did not even consider the damage The Third could've done."

My face stiffened and I stared at the black carpet beneath my feet.

"I feel so bad Matt," the words barely had the strength to slip between my teeth, "so bad."

He just nodded and his eyelids kept in all the visions, flying through his head. I did the same.

A young boy with long, messy blonde hair ran through my brain. The boy's eyes were bright blue and ecstatic, he had the typical half toothed smile of any toddler. He skipped happily around his yard, summer breezes blowing his hair back.

The vision gave me a feeling. It was a good feeling, a great feeling even. It was real happiness. Freedom.

Great, beautiful things that we'd all grown up knowing so well.

But in that moment, it was unreachable. It was the present.

That little boy, bouncing around in the heat, was now standing at a worn down door. Shivering, surrounded in snowy memories, he stood in the shadow of his house's ruins. He tugged at the collar of his shirt and scanned his 'sanctuary', slowly and painfully.

Mattaeus tightly grabbed my hand, and together we watched Reid step inside.