My Blood

today.

Next morning arose with the most breathtaking sunrise Miles had seen in a long time. It made up for the sleepless night he had. The argument him and Ryland had made thoughts travel through Miles' head, causing him to toss and turn all night until 4:26 am. Miles just gave up trying to sleep and went where he knew he'd feel alright.

After ten minutes walking outside in sixty degree weather at dawn, Miles arrived at the writhing willow tree. He stared up and put his foot on the first step, and began to climb. Near the top, he sat down carefully on the limb of the tree and gazed into the sunset. Miles sat there, half asleep, squinting around the dawn field and sky. Everything has a slightly eerie gloom to it, feeling slightly off to him. It's a sunset, they're supposed to be beautiful, right? Miles shivers, then jumps at the sound of Ryland climbing up the trunk. Miles noticed, that Ryland did not look like how he is supposed to look like.

"You're not quite what you should be," Miles blurts out without thinking, as Ryland takes a seat right next to him.

"Have you ever noticed," Ryland begins, squinting up at the blue-purple-pink-orange sky, "that when you squeeze your eyes together, everything changes?"

"Yeah," acknowledged Miles. "Not dramatically, though. Just enough to make it comfortable and unnerving." Once Miles finished he squinted at the sky, like Ryland, and saw it to be pink-yellow-blue.

"Exactly. So tonight at the party, if you ever feel uncomfortable or I'm not there, just squint." advises Ryland.

Miles remembered the party, and felt a little different. Sick you could call it, like rain falling up. He did not want to go, at all. And even the thought of Ryland not being next to him made him shudder and send goosebumps down his body. Miles, overwhelmed by the past twelve hours, wraps his arms around his brother and buries his head into his shoulder. Miles was suddenly bombarded by memories of when he used to cling onto Ryland after his unending nightmares as a kid. He used to do this with his mom, but after she died Miles would cling to Ryland instead. Ryland and Miles let go of each other and get down from the tree and head home in the daylight.