Other Side of the World

After an apologetic Mrs. Walker took a snoring, drooling Haley from Liam’s arms and proceeded to bring her upstairs, Liam turned to Nathan with a cocky smirk across his face.

“17 years of living in this neighborhood, I have never seen you around before,” Liam began. Nathan responded by rolling his eyes and grabbing the edge of the door, intending to slam the door shut and never to see that cocky grin of his for the rest of his stay. He knew that kind of expression. He had seen it countless of times in high school. He figured, whatever the hell Haley thought and did that night, she could tell him herself. He trusted her.

But there was just something in that smirk of the bastard standing in front of him, carrying Haley in his arms. He didn’t even know why he was so angry. Maybe he was angry at himself. He didn’t know. But his fist was itching to throw a punch at something or someone.

“I didn’t do anything to her, by the way,” he said. “Except for maybe…” he trailed off, shaking his head. Nathan knew that the guy was just trying to irk him, trying to pick a fight, trying to know who the hell he was. And he knew he should just ignore him but he couldn’t. Curiosity won that round.

Nathan crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You look like the average bastard,” Nathan said. “And Haley is not the kind of person who associates with the likes of you. So you see, I don’t really have anything to worry about. Thank you for sending her home. So if you’ve got nothing else to say, run along now,” he said, motioning him away.

Liam stared at Nathan for a couple of seconds before the same feeling pulled him away from taunting what he could only assume was Haley’s boyfriend. He was beginning to hate that feeling. If Liam told him now, what would that do to Haley? She would be a walking zombie around school, probably. Conflicted, he backed away. But his tongue couldn’t help it.

“You’ll never know. A girl with a heartbreak because her boyfriend is too half-arsed to call her or pick up the phone? And she was drunk?” Liam said with a fake disbelieving tone, his eyes wide as he shook his head. “I say, things can get pretty wild—”

Nathan slammed the door.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Haley felt numb that morning as her fingers caressed the fabric encasing her pillow. The silence of the room made her think that somehow everything stopped moving for a moment and the fuzzy memories of last night were all a bad dream. She knew they weren’t. But she liked to believe for a moment there…

She closed her eyes tightly shut as she felt a throbbing pain surfacing, engulfing her head. It was as if someone tried to squeeze her brain out through her ears. She sighed heavily and turned to her side, away from the mirror, away from the sunlight that was seeping through the blinds and she tugged her comforter over her head and curled up into a ball.

Her lips and throat felt dry, she realized as she let out another sigh of despair. She wanted to cry and weep but for some reason, she felt too exhausted to do so. Since when did she become such a pile of mess? Her fingers shot up to her temple, rubbing it roughly.

Oh mom, dad, she thought, was this how it started for the both of you? Did alcohol played a significant role too in your decisions to cheat? To lie to me? Was this how you guys easily made the decision to split up and never tell me about it?

She had become the type of person she currently hated the most. Liars, cheaters. She was hypocritical.

Someone knocked the door lightly and it swung open. What time was it?

“Haley, breakfast’s ready.”

She fought the urge to bang her head against the wall. No, no. It couldn’t be. Was this how God punishing her? What the hell did she do to the world to deserve such a treatment?