Stitch by Stitch

Facing the Past - Present

A soft knock sounded on the closed door, but Kody paid it no attention. He sat on the floor, his back against the side of his bed, staring off into space. It was all very overwhelming. The notebook, the memories, her handwriting. Pieces of her that he had built a stone-thick wall against, slowly escaping through unintentional cracks. He drew in a ragged breath, trying to stop the stream of memories from drowning him.

The door opened and he quickly closed the notebook, sliding it under the mattress. Jess walked over to him, a knowing look in her eyes.

"We missed you at dinner," she said softly, sitting cross legged in front of him. She held out a bowl of salad and chicken to him, a light smile dancing on her lips. The smile disappeared when Kody remained unresponsive. She set the bowl to the side. "Did you read it?"

"Go away," he growled, his eyes dark with anger. "Get out!" He stood up, Jess still on the floor in front of him.

"I know it hurts," she said, her voice cracking as she strained to break through to her brother. "I know it hurts, Kody. But you will never feel whole again, until you at least remember her! Hiding your feelings away, smothering the memories, none of it is helping you."

"No one asked for your advice, Jess! No one will. Now, get out!" Jess stood up, her brown eyes watery as she stared at her brother, no longer recognizing him.

"Fine," she said sharply. "I'll leave, but just so you know, everyone is sick and tired of the way you have been acting. It's damn near time you start facing the past and open your eyes. You aren't the only one who suffered when Hallie died, the whole town lost her, Kody. You are just too deep in self pity to realize it, and it's absolutely pathetic." She slammed the door, leaving behind a shell-shocked Kody to digest what had just happened. His heart was racing and his fists were clenched, there was a ringing in his ears and his vision was spotty. He collapsed on the ground and banged his head against the wooden foot of the bed. The pain barely registered. The scene from earlier was all too familiar.

For so long, he had fought to suppress that memory of Hallie huddled on the floor, barely even acknowledging him as he walked into her room. He had gone to deliver her a bowl of soup and a box of tissues because she had told him she was staying home sick. But she wasn't sick, she was crying, for a reason he would never forget, hard as he tried.

Kody wiped a tear from his eyes and hastily got the notebook back from under the mattress, opening to the next page where one simple passage filled barely three lines.

"I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on."

~Nicholas Sparks, True Believer

Cherish those great memories, but don't burden yourself with the bad.

*Author's Note*

Ok, so first of all, I'm so sorry this chapter was so late. I had from last weekend and then had to study for my AP Chemistry final and the upcoming college credit deciding test for it (this Monday, ahhh!), so life has been a bit busy. I just got a new job too, so training has been hectic and very sporadic, making a writing schedule very difficult to keep up with.

But anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. I'm excited for some of the upcoming chapters. I'm thinking I'm going to be skipping ahead a bit in Kody and Hallie's relationship, to start getting to the main conflict/emotional part of the story.

So yeah, let me know what you think. Vote, comment, fan, anything and everything would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for reading this!

Have a great day!

~Becca :)