Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - F I V E

"Hey, didn't you want to go on the ride?" Anisha quickly grabbed the jacket and stuffed back into her large purse. She didn't want Andrew or Mira to see.

"Did you have another nosebleed?"

Ryan Hayes was a little too quiet. He observed easily, he picked up on things no one else did.

He had taken after his father in that sense. Ryan Hayes knew how to hide emotion, to not feel anything.

He was quiet though. He didn't trust too easily. He didn't let anyone in. He was too reserved.

Already at the age of twelve, he had built walls around his heart. He kept everyone and everything out.

His parent's marriage had shaped him. It had made him resentful and cold. He wasn't ever going to let a stupid girl hold that kind of power over him.

He hid his feelings. That was all.

If there was one lesson he had learned from his parent's failing marriage, it was that love ruined people.

Love ruined people. It had ruined his mother. As he got older, he realized that more and more.

"I think you should see a doctor, Mom. That's a lot of blood." Something was wrong with her. And he had tried to find it what was in fact wrong with her.

Earlier that morning, when his mother had been asleep, he had gone through her closet. He was looking for the bottle of pills that Sebastian had handed her the other day.

Ryan was more than certain that they weren't normal pills. And he was going to find out what they were for.

Before he could look in her dresser, Mira had come stomping into their mother's room.

"It's just a little nosebleed. I get them all the time. It's no big deal." Anisha offered him a small smile. Her eyes slowly took in every aspect of her son's face.

They didn't have the best relationship.

But he still cared. She knew that. He still loved her.

He was growing up. That's all there was.

After all, she didn't have the best relationship with her parents either. She hadn't even spoken to her mother in more than a year.

No phone calls. No visits. Nothing.

But that was because Anisha was a disappointment for them.

That's all Anisha ever was.

She looked back at him.

Every time, it was same. She would only feel sadness whenever she looked at Mira or Ryan.

Because she wouldn't get to watch them grow-up.

His blue eyes still held a hint of innocence. And mischief. He was too much like Andrew. But in some ways, he was too much like her.

"Ryan."

Anisha needed to say goodbye to him too.

"Ryan, you need to forgive your father." She bit down on her lip, brushing the hair out of her face and keeping her eyes set on him. Anisha needed Ryan to forgive Andrew. For the both of them. "He's your father, Ryan. He's made mistakes and it's hurting him. He's sorry."

Anisha wasn't sure if she was capable of forgiving Andrew.

But Ryan, she needed Ryan to forgive Andrew. She didn't want things to fall apart after she left. She didn't want Andrew or Ryan to suffer once she was gone.