Getting Through The Dark

Picture

"Yeah." He looks away. Deciding to change the subject, he turns the tables towards me.

"Do you have siblings?"

"One," I pause to look at him. "I have a sister."

"Younger?" He guesses.

"Yeah." I say slowly. "She's nine." He smiles.

"What's her name?" He presses on.

"Kate."

"Katherine?"

"No, just Kate."

"Oh." He drops it finally. Or so I thought.

"I always wanted a sister, when I was little."

"Why?"

"I don't know," He laughs, "I was a little ladies man, and I thought if I had a sister I could hang out with her friends." He admits shyly. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Really?"

"Don't judge I was like 6!" He laughs.

I keep walking and notice more photos. He identifies a few older photos that I couldn't guess. I now new what his father, brother and one of his old friends looked like.

"Where did you live before you moved here?" I ask out of nowhere.

"San Francisco." He wasn't smiling. "But my brother lived in Bakersfield for three years."

That would explain why he was tired of this city. He's been here for a few years. Going to collage of course but from living in San Francisco and then moving to Bakersfield, three years would drive you crazy. I've lived here my whole life so I have nothing better to compare it to.

"My dad got a good job offer so we moved over here." Reid explains before I could ask. "And now that we're here Damian is leaving."

Damian? Oh yeah, his brother. I would have to remember that. I was pretty terrible with new names. Less important ones. I never seemed to forget Reid's name. Or Lucas'. However I already forgot his families names. Oops.

"Why is he leaving?" The look on his face when I said this told me right away that I shouldn't have said it. I had hit to close to home. A black whole. Right into the dark parts of his life.

"I wish I new." He says so quietly I wasn't sure I was even supposed to hear it but he wasn't looking at me.

Slowly the awkward moment passed and we just fell into silence. He seemed to have recovered a little but the pain was still there. Behind those beautiful eyes, there was a broken boy. Wanting to start up an other conversation, I pointed to a picture.

"Who's that lady?" It was a beautiful young woman. She was maybe, in her late 20s. She had long hair, dark like Reid's. She had the same eyes as his brother, I had seen in other pictures. Then I realized something. Shit. I just jumped into an other black whole.

"My mother." He says with a straight, unreadable face, staring at the portrait. That black whole seemed so inescapable. Instead of trying to escape I decided to dig deeper. Bad idea.

I sit next to him and lean closer. I take his hand in mine and try to look as caring and helpful as I could.

"Reid?" I say quietly, and gently. "What happened with your mom?" At first he didn't answer. He just looked really upset. Like furious. But I saw sadness in his glowering eyes. His anger was mixed with sadness, loss and confusion. I didn't know what to do, until he spoke at last.

"She left." Was all he said. She left. I assume she broke up with his dad? I had no idea how serious it was. I gave him a moment to be sad, are hands still together. But after a couple minutes I stand up and bring him to his feet. He looks up at me and I smile hopefully convincingly. He fakes a smile back, very unconvincingly.