- 4 -

"To say that you abandoned me would be unjust, but that I was abandoned, and at times horribly, is true."

I tried to soak in as much as I could of this one sentence as I felt it imprinting itself on my brain, leaving it's mark as I forced myself to scroll further down the phone to avoid thinking too much into it or I'd wake old feelings that were sleeping somewhere, buried in a deep, dark, corner of my heart.

I sighed, running a hand over my face as I set the phone back on charge, hearing it ding indicating it had started charging and turned around to face the rather large and obnoxious bright blue L-shaped sofa in my living room that covered nearly half the place.

So inviting and comfortable.

Shaking my head, I put my hand in my pocket, letting my fingers feel the smooth cover as I gripped my ear pods in my hand tightly, biting my lip and quickly unplugging the phone, I gingerly walked over towards the drawing room.

My eyes scanned the cool atmosphere for a split second before a smile latched itself onto my face when I looked at my favorite spot to sit in when I wanted to relax.

In the window.

I remembered the time when I painted a landscape of a beach for the art competition when I was in sixth grade.

Through the window, I muttered to myself with a small smile playing on my lips as I was about to tuck my ear pods into my ears, my eyes caught a set of familiar ones in the window and sighed.

Not again.

"What is it now?" I asked slightly annoyed and didn't bother facing the person.

"Just came to see how you were doing." She chirped when I rolled my eyes, tucking the phone in my pocket and simply looking out at the people that passed by, enjoying their evening walks.

Oh how I long for freedom.

"It must be amazing, shouldn't it?" The girl asked me as she looked outside. I looked back out and hummed.

"What should?" I asked, trying to sound uninterested.

"Freedom." She whispered with a wistful sigh, a dreamy look in her eyes and that's when my eyes fell on the paper clutched in her hands, I could see the faint words printed on it in perfect lines, the topic making my vision hazy for a moment before I looked away with a smile.

"Home." I whispered, and felt her icy gaze on me and saw her small smile from the corner of my eye.

"Do you remember?" She asked tucking her legs underneath her when I hummed in response.

"As clear as yesterday." I answered, and from her look she was clearly satisfied.

"It's one of my masterpieces." She said, staring at the paper in her hands as if it was the most precious thing she ever held.

My most prized possession.

"And it will remain so." I told her, watching her smile widen before both of us looked outside.

"Can I read it? It feels like forever since I last saw it, let alone thought of it." I asked, hoping she'd say yes and thankfully, she handed me the paper carefully.

My eyes briefly scanned the word written in bold at top, and then at the smeared red sauce from the pasta I ate that day as I printed it out.

And then my eyes fell on a small crease in the middle of the page where the ink was smudged just a bit, barely visible unless you looked very carefully.

"Is that…?" I asked, trailing off in the end and looked at her proud face.

"It is." She confirmed when I smiled so wide I thought my face would break.

"She liked it, didn't she?" I asked quietly and looked back at the proud girl.

"Absolutely loved it. Even shed a tear." She said, pride lacing her tone when I looked at her with a small smile.

"Don't let it get to your head." I told her and saw her nod.

"I won't." She confirmed, and I knew she wouldn't.

Because I didn't.