Living Legends

29) Hayley's Story

“I’m sorry, Hayley,” Jack muttered.  “I know what I want to say, but I don’t know how to say it.”

            “It’s fine.”  She squeezed his hand reassuringly.  “Just start from the beginning.”

            He laughed dryly.  “The ‘beginning’ is a lot earlier than you’d expect.”

            If Hayley was confused, she didn’t show it.  “Would it help if I told you my story?”

            Jack glanced up in surprise.  “Sure.  It would help me collect my thoughts, at least.”

            “Okay.”  She smiled, but behind her vibrant green eyes lingered a definite sense of worry.  “My story is probably much simpler than yours, since it starts in high school.  I was almost done with my freshman year when I came home from school right in the middle of a major argument.  My parents had fought a few times before, but they had never yelled or thrown things at each other until that moment.”

            Jack was horrified.  “They threw things?”

            “A pen, a book, things like that.  It went both ways.  I was scared, but the next morning everything was back to the way it was.  I thought it had blown over.  A few months later, they fought again, this time to the point where my mother threatened to move away from my father.  It was an empty threat, of course, but in time I saw my father’s work hours become longer and longer.  My parents were drifting away.  Sometimes I would come home from school to hear my mother crying in her bedroom with the door locked.  I hated it.

            “Sophomore and junior year were more of the same, but since neither of my parents talked about getting a divorce, I thought they were just going through a rough patch, and by keeping their distance they could live more peacefully with each other.”  She laughed dryly.  “I was so naïve.  I should have realized the peace was only temporary.  After a while, my parents stopped talking to me so much.  We hadn’t eaten a meal as a family in years.  But I was so caught up in my studies and friends that I didn’t care.  I tried to push it away—subconsciously, of course.

            “From the outside, it looked like my family was picture-perfect.  My dad was a little bit of a workaholic, and once my mom got a job, she started cranking out money too.  The money was nice, I’ll admit, but I was lacking the relationships I had as a child.”

            Jack nodded and realized Hayley was still gripping his hand.  He didn’t let go.  “You always seemed so perfect in school.  So…” Beautiful, he wanted to add, but he didn’t dare.

            “Maybe,” Hayley said mysteriously, not looking his way.  “I kept telling myself life was great.  Things could be better, but things could be a lot worse, too.  I had a ton of friends and people liked me.  Not to brag, or anything.”  She grinned.

            “Nah, it’s the truth.  You were popular.”

            “And a fat lot of good that did me,” she snorted.  “The only thing that remained from my time at Orange Grove was photography.  My Gran gave me a camera in seventh grade, and it took off from there.  All throughout high school I had my camera with me.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but taking pictures was like taking snapshots of memories.  I could relive those memories whenever I wanted just with a click of a button.”

            Her tone suddenly grew remorseful.  “The thing is, I don’t have any pictures of my parents.”

            Jack swallowed.