Sunset Eyes: Chapter 1

Another day is slowly passing by as you eat your lunch in solitude. Not being a social butterfly made it hard for you to make friends when you transferred to Canter High. In fact, you had no friends whatsoever because of it. It didn’t bother you much though as you prefer it to being suffocated by people all the time. As you eat your lunch, you watch the other classmates at their tables. They’re talking among themselves, laughing and smiling. Must be nice. Due to it being a month after you’ve come to know this school, you decide to give up on having that kind of relationship with anyone. Or at least, you tried to.

“Hey there!” An unknown voice startles you a bit as you look up to meet the eyes of the person it belongs to. Or eye, in her case.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

Being the only one at your table, you simply nod as she enthusiastically takes a seat. Upon closer inspection, you notice that her clothes have more than a couple of holes in them. You also notice that she’s drooling a bit as her golden eyes stare intently at your muffin “Are you gonna eat that?”

“Not really. I’m not that hungry”. That and you don’t believe that denying this girl your muffin would turn out well.

“So, what’s your name?” Trying hard not to stare directly at her eye, you answer her.

“Anonymous. Call me Anon”.

“Okay Non-“

“Please, no. Just call me Anon.”

“Oh, okay… “.

You feel like an ass as she lowers her head. The way that her smile fades makes you regret how you hate being called Nonny. You try to salvage the conversation “So…um, what’s your name?”

The marinara sauce building in your pockets recedes when you see her face lighten up. “I’m Kayla!”

She must hold the world record for quickest rebound. “Kayla huh? That’s an…Interesting name.” Her face instantly darkens again. She sighs heavily.

“Go ahead and say it”

“Say what?” You answer back, puzzled.

“You know what! I saw you staring!”

Damn. “I wasn’t going to say anything. I just think that it’s unique, that’s all.”

She realizes that she’s been yelling at you and starts to calm down.”…Sorry about that. It’s just, when all people ever do is make fun of you, that’s all you ever expect.”

Harsh, you think to yourself as you answer back. “I don’t see why they’d do that. It’s just how you are, and I don’t find anything wrong with that.”

She smiles from hearing you say that. “That might be the first nice thing that anyone’s ever said about me.”

“It’s not really a- wait. Does she mean ever, as in since she’s been born? Nah, can’t be. It would explain why she’s sitting with you though, as pathetic as that sounds. No one ever sits with you. You realize that you haven’t said anything for a good five minutes. Not wanting to seem weird, you hastily spill words out of your mouth. “So, what do you do for fun?”

“I like playing games at my house”

You ask her the next question immediately. “What brand?”

She grins. “Sony”.

Hallelujah! “Smart girl”

“Yep!”, she says with an even bigger grin.

“Maybe you could play me sometime”.

“Sometime?”

“As in…today?”

Did she really just invite you to her house? It’s a bit sudden, but who cares? Her eyes are fixed on you, desperately awaiting a reply. “Sure, Kayla. Why not?”

“Yay!” And with that, the lunch bell rings. You still can’t believe that happened, but you’re happy regardless. After all, what could go wrong?

You couldn’t wait till school was over. As you walk into your last period for the day, you notice Kayla following you inside. Turns out that she has chemistry with you. How come you never noticed? You have no time to ponder this as she runs up to you “Hey Anon!”

“Hey.” “You’re still coming over today right?”

“Of course. I said I would, like, four minutes ago.”

“Great! I can’t wait!”

You feel the warmth of her body as she embraces you before skipping happily to her seat. The feeling of her skin on yours is all you can think about until the bell rings. After school you begin to walk with Kayla to her house. The more you talk to her, the cooler she becomes to you. It’s a shame how people can’t see past her looks and see how great she is. As she leads you to her house, you begin to notice the secluded area you’re in. The once abundant rows of houses slowly diminish until you find yourself next to Kayla, in front of a single white house. It’s not particularly broken down, but it’s far from brand new. She grabs your hand as she leads you to the old wooden door. After four knocks, the door opens. A tall, tan-skinned woman is standing in the doorway.

“Welcome home, Kayla. How was school?”

“School was great mom. I brought a friend over to play with me.”

Her mom’s eyes open as wide as the freakin’ moon! “A friend!? Kayla that’s wonderful!”

Her mom looks at you, amazed by your very existence. You decide to introduce yourself.

“My name’s Anonymous. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs…Um.”

“Johnson, Diana Johnson”

You’re a little embarrassed for not knowing Kayla’s last name, but she doesn’t seem to mind. As you and Kayla step inside, you eyes move to take in as much as they can. Your eyes wander to the kitchen table. Bottles of whiskey, vodka, and beer sit lie next to each other. That’s odd. Kayla’s mom doesn’t seem like the type to drink. That thought is pushed to the back of your mind however, as Kayla leads you upstairs.

Her room is surprising tidy, unlike the clothes that she’s wearing. You wonder why she hasn’t trashed those rags as she starts up her console. “What do you want to play, Anon?”

You decide to let her choose and she grabs a copy of Sly 3 Why not? The two-player on Sly 3 is surprisingly satisfying. You really were missing out, but you never had anyone to play with until now. Oh sh*t! She’s really good at this. Even playing as Carmelita while button mashing only does so much. You ended up tackling her to prevent further embarrassment. For a while, you just look at each other, unsure of what to do next. Hypertropia or not, her eyes really are beautiful. After a while you both end up laughing.

She gets up to pick another game, but hearing the door slam stops her dead in her tracks. You look up at her, worried now as she’s visibly shaking. You rush over to her. She’s hyperventilating. She’s muttering “f**k” over and over again under her breath.

“Kayla? What’s wrong Kayla?”

You put your own hand on her shoulder. She stops and stares at you as her eyes begin to water. The next two words that came out of her mouth were a warning. One that you wish you had known the meaning of beforehand. “…I’m sorry”

“Shut the f**k up!” That’s all you hear before a loud thud practically shakes the house. You look to Kayla. She’s beginning to cry, a sight that you never wished to behold.

“Don’t you touch my f**king booze!” You hear a scream, knowing it couldn’t have come from anyone else but Diana.

“I know you’re hiding her from me! She doesn’t have anywhere else to go!”

You move to hold on to Kayla, who’s on the floor shaking more than a earthquake from her panic attack. All you can do is wait. You can tell what’s coming.

“Come down here you disabled c*nt!”

Silence falls over the house for what feels like forever. Even forever must have its limits though as his screaming continues. “I said GET THE F**K DOWN HERE!”

Slowly, Kayla’s legs begin to move against her will. You find your legs moving right along with her. You don’t want her to face this alone. With the both you on your feet, you look at each other. Even with tears streaming down her face, she still manages to give you a weak smile. You give her one back as you head downstairs holding on the each other as tight as you can.

“There you are. How’s my favorite retard doing?”

Kayla just stands there, tears streaming down her face. This action is met with a large slap to her face. Here you are, looking at this rough-faced man. His eyes are a fitting dark red. You can smell a mixture of various liquors on his breath. Seeing Kayla and Diana on the floor has you frozen in place, facing the cause of it all. Your blood begins to boil. You know you can’t face him, but there’s nothing else that you want to do right now. All of a sudden you hear Kayla let out a wail. That’s it. Your fist connects to his face, which causes him to finally recognize your presence as he falls to the floor. Finish him. You begin to kick the shit out of the f**ker. Your victory is short lived as he kicks you down and goes to town on your ass. His sharp blows are quickly replaced by a sudden softness. Kayla and Diana are lying on top of you, protecting you.

Kayla pulls you from under her as Diana screams at you to run. Having no other choice, you start to book it as you and Kayla run for you lives. The screams die down as you run farther and farther and end up on a hill. The silence that follows after is long, but broken by Kayla.

“I’m…sorry Anon”

You look up at her, not wanting her to apologize, but still wanting an explanation.

“When…I was born, my mother almost died. She was in critical condition due to the complications of giving birth to me.”

“How does that explain why he hits you?…is that how you got your-”

“No. I was born like this. My father says I’m a mistake. He says that my mom should have never suffered that much just to give birth to me.”

She can no longer speak as her cries get louder. You no longer want to see this girl cry. With nothing else to do, you kiss her. Her silence is a welcome one, as this act goes on for several minutes. As you break from your kiss you look at her. “I don’t want you to say anything else. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, and always will be.”

“…Promise?”

“Promise.” With that said, she smiles and you two look up at the sunset. It’s strange how instead of looking at that, you find yourself gazing into her eyes. All of this happened because of her eyes. The bullying, the domestic abuse, all of it. You know that you want to be there for her, and you will be, no matter how hard it gets. Now that everything has passed, you look into her eyes, the only sunset you’ll ever need, as the sun goes down and you both drift off into sleep, awaiting a better tomorrow.

***

(To be continued)