Uprooted (COMPLETED)

9| Losing Touch

*the next day

Ross's POV:

My reluctant eyes stretched open abruptly, my heart pounding without warning, my thoughts forgotten. I strained to remember the dream or nightmare I just had, but I guess that's a good thing. I almost wished for a sliver of remembrance, so maybe, just maybe the images splayed in my mind would be better than my reality. I shook my face to wake it up, rubbing my knuckles against my eyelids, and blinking erratically. I know I've slept too long, it's already afternoon, but I can't seem to pull myself out from the softs sheets that surround me. A carousel of thoughts seep into my brain, leaving me thinking about last night again. I try to shed myself of the leftover memories. The police officer's words replayed. "Your father will be ina' holding cell until he is put on trial, ya understand boy?"

Streaks of vivid sunlight penetrated the window and trickled onto the floor, dragging my feet off the bed to close the curtains. I moved slowly enough to make no sound, only a short yawn escaping my lips. I stood in the glimpse of warmth that was provided by the inviting rays that flowed from the horizon and onto my body. The fatigue of sleep flushed away with a final blink.
My hands grasped at the curtains, ready to close them with a forceful yank, but I stopped short when I saw her sitting silently on the roof.

The lazy breeze stroked her midnight hair and pushed it back like wild dandelions floating in the wind. The dark wisps trailed off her neck in the late sun's warmth. Her small journal whipped through pages with the sky's blow. Her face was turned away from mine as she looked beyond. I was sure she was hurting, but then again, so was I.

I tried to make out words on the page she had been working on.

Breathing that isn't my own...
Defeat and vulnerability...
Disarmed with the crunch of my bones...
Distance won't save me tonight...
I don't dare to touch happiness if I know it is to be taken away...
I wasn't brave enough to cut open his shadows...

That was all I could properly read as the wind brushed the page up and down. She was clearly struggling, she needed someone, but that someone couldn't be me. The last time we had spoke she ran away from me which put her in the position with my dad... I did this to her.

I had to do something, anything. Without any more thought I opened my window silently and wobbled onto the roof. This is harder than it looks. I positioned myself next to her, holding my knees in my arms.

I breathed in the fresh air, "It's beautiful up here isn't it?" Her face slowly turned to me. "I think my mom would have loved it too." Her mom? I'd never thought of her life or family before she came here. "Don't think I'm some sap for telling you this," she threatened, "But she died of lung cancer when I was a kid, that's how I landed in this shitty foster system."

"And your dad?" I scooted in closer and swore I could feel her body heat radiating off her velvet skin.

"Your run of the mill deadbeat, nothing special, he ran off as soon as he heard I was cooking in my mom's stomach." Her eyes were grayed behind a thick tangle of eyelashes. They were hued a rippled storm cloud above the trembling sea as rain threatened to creep around the edges in an attempt to take over. She closed her eyes as she choked back excess emotion and hid underneath each heavy eyelid. As her gaze fell upon me again I still had not recovered from her last glance and was lost in a stare. Her light still hadn't faded, even in agony.

"I'm sorry you know? About all of this. About your parents, about my dad." I released my grip around my knees and lightly brushed my fingertips on her tingling shoulder. She shuttered under my initial touch.

"Please." Her aching eyes burned into mine. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why?" I cooed innocently, my hand moving up behind her ear and stroking her tangled locks.

"God damn it Ross! They are gonna take me away again, I know it. Can't you see how much this sucks? And it does, it fucking blows. You can't do that, that thing you do with your eyes. They draw me in and I know damn well I can't," She paused and sucked in a sharp gulp of air, "Your eyes mirror your father's." She gritted her teeth, shook me off of her and before I knew it she had disappeared into her window.

"I'm not him! I'm not my dad!" I called after her, clawing up the roof, but I barely moved an inch. I huffed in surrender and leaned back. "What the?" I shifted my back and felt something underneath me, gently picking it up.

Sierra's book was bound in brown leather and was dry with age and worn with use. Its thin volume smelled of pencil shavings and was sprinkled in eraser marks. The book's stitching was loose and barely held itself together. I carefully opened it to it's inside cover and read : To my beautiful daughter for when you travel this world in words.

"Sierra's Mom, please forgive me for what I'm about to do." I looked to the sky then flipped through the word-packed pages. My finger randomly landed on a few of the last pages that had been written on, my curiosity took ahold of me as I read on.

The Heart's Snow Storm
The coldest time of the year is spent without you
Shivering in the dripping sun, our backs turned to the other

Below the words sat scribbled and x'ed out ideas, but I managed to continue:

Melted boundary lines

Dare I say yes to allow you to kiss my flesh?

The forbidden heart to beat the strongest is the one to last the longest

Etched in the stars your blossomed face

The next my eyes were glued to the page. She was certainly talented.

Wounded Virtue
I don't want to be vulnerable and I swore I'd never be but that was until you noticed me
So please don't see me the way I see myself

Our Hideaway
Meet me where light can't reflect upon your smile
Hurry erase the fingerprints you've left on my mind
Exchange sneaking glances and silent smiles
Cause two hidden hearts are hard to find

Make Me Feel Wanted
I wanted him more than the sand kissing the shore
I wanted him as the rain fell against the roof, when your lips were the only proof
I wanted that flame to scorch until you are my only torch
I wanted him to consume my aching being, so I ask without him is the world worth seeing?

The next page had been titled "In Too Deep"

The sky's darker shades of blue only remind me of you
Stars please hide my desire because I can't put out this fire
Because we too burn and then fall fast
As we are too close to touch but too far to last
Slow dancing in the dazzling light
Then stumbling back into the night
We weave dark thoughts into stardust
Pushing and pulling into a drowning wanderlust
To blanket the atmosphere with our ember's to mars
Sketching constellations on our lips to carve
Branding on constellations and rhythmic revelations
Sipping the dew drops of the morning sun
I'll wake up from this dream to find you're the only one

I shut the book immediately, feeling instant guilt. What am I doing? If she finds out I've read this she'll kill me! A small smile creeped on my face. At least I know she has feelings for me, that no matter what she says I have to keep trying. Unless it's about someone else then... No. It is now my mission to make her stay, they can't really take her away, can they?

Author's Note: sorry for the slow update, I had to think of some things to write in Sierra's journal so it's longer than usual. I hope Ross's POV was a little refreshing, even though not much was done in this chapter it means Ross knows how Sierra feels even when she refuses to say it out loud.