Self Reflection

The site of the hot pink walls of Skylar's bedroom made her sick to her stomach. She rubbed her head, trying hard to think. She didn't remember going to bed last night, in fact, she didn't even remember coming home last night.

Sensing another presence in the room, Skylar sat up, scanning her bedroom. In the far corner of the room, near her closet, sat Matt. His legs laid extended in front of him, crossed, and his hands laid crossed in his lap. His head was tilted slightly back and to the side, his blond hair slightly disheveled. By the sound of his breathing, deep and peaceful, Skylar could tell he was asleep. He looked almost like an angel, not like his usual cocky, devilish self.

He wasn't in his usual attire she usually saw him in, or at least the clothes she thought was his everyday wear. He had on a pair of loose sweatpants, she had never seen any guy wear sweat pants before, and a semi-loose white button up shirt. She could see the outline of every muscle in his chest and stomach through the shirt.

Skylar shook her head, he's a boy she hardly knew, a boy who turned her into an animal, plus she's with Ryan. So, why did she feel emotionally drawn to this boy? Why did she want to be in contact with him, no matter how large or small the contact was?

She crawled out of bed, still shaking her head slightly, and picked up two plush blankets. Skylar walked over to where Matt sat sleeping and knelt down next to him. First, she laid the blue plush blanket on him, making sure it fell over his shoulders and legs. Then, she laid her head on his lap and pulled the green blanket over herself. The carpet scratched at her bare skin, which she realized was a lot. She peaked under the blanket to find herself wearing a tight white pajama top and pink fluffy shorts with white polka dots. She knew she didn't change into that outfit, or had she?

His body shifted under her head slightly, her heart dropped knowing he was awake. Matt groaned, rolling his head around, his hand lifted to his neck, he groaned some more, then dropped his hand. It landed on the side of Skylar's waist, warmth spread through her body, burning in that one spot where he touched her. He looked down, his eyes lit up, as if realizing she was there, "Good morning." He said tiredly. Skylar found this to be the sexiest voice in the world.

She rolled over so that she was staring up at him. Her hair spread around her in curly, blonde waves. The hand, which had been on her side, was now in both of her hands. She played with his fingers, happy he didn't rip it away. Skylar didn't want to talk, she didn't want to get up, she wanted to live in this moment forever.

The early morning sun, peaked through her partially covered window, and shone on his face with a pinkish yellow light. Everything around them seemed to melt away leaving only the two of them to swim in the colorful pool of warmth.

"How are you feeling?" The fingers of his free hand twirled around a strand of her hair, while the other hand mingled with hers.

She looked up at him, meeting his green eyes, "Is it true?" She swallowed, "Last night, was it real?"

He stared down at her, not answering her question. She knew the answer. Skylar dropped his hand and covered her face with her hands. Matt picked her up, sliding her into his lap, and stroked her back. She gripped at his shoulders and buried her face into his neck, letting the tears fall freely and soak into his shirt. He didn't seem to mind.

"I will do everything in my power to protect you." He said after a couple minutes. His voice rumbled through his chest and into hers. Skylar closed her eyes and let her body fall into his. She let herself absorb his warmth and comfort. "I changed my fate, when I realized what was going to happen. We may not be able to change what the Fates decide, but we sure as hell can try."

"Please," Skylar said, her voice was muffled by his shoulder, she pushed herself away and looked at him in the eyes, "I don't want to think about it. I just want to live in this moment." She touched his cheek with the palm of her hand. His eyes flitted to the hand on his face and looked back at her. She lifted her other hand to his face.

A single tear ran down her cheek. Matt lifted his hand to her face and wiped it away. "No more tears." He said, swiping a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. His hand flowed to the back of her neck, as it did he pulled her towards him and their lips collided. At first, the kisses were firm almost hesitant with surprise from both parties. Then, they became loose and flowed freely.

Skylar groaned, slightly uncomfortable, and slowly pulled away. Matt opened his eyes, a flash of disappointment entered then escaped almost immediately. "Why'd you do that?" She whispered.

He pushed his forehead against hers, his breath was warm on her lips, "I didn't do anything." Skylar looked at him quizzically, it was hard to meet his eyes this close, especially since his eyes were closed. "Did you know, a dream is a reflection of your most deepest desire?" His words hit her, then bounced off. Her mind didn't seem to notice them. She pulled away, turned so she faced completely towards him, and hooked her legs together behind his back. His eyes flew open, "What are you doing?"

She grinned, "I want to be in a more comfortable position because my plan for today is to kiss you for hours." Matt grinned at her, a flash of wild excitement entered his eyes before an unknown force pushed them together. The kisses started soft and grew fierce. Matt stood up, his hands gripping her upper thighs, he leaned back to keep her up. Then, her back smacked the wall hard, Skylar drew in a deep breath, Matt's mouth traveled to her jaw and throat, gently nipping at her skin.

After taking a few deep breaths, Skylar grabbed Matt's chin in her hand and tipped it up to her mouth. He slid her down the wall, letting her stand, his fingers tangling in the roots of her hair. Skylar's hands travelled down the front of his chest and stomach to the base of his shirt. Without hesitating she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and attempted to lift it over his head.

He stopped kissing her, letting her examined the shirt, "Buttons, Skylar, they're buttons." They both laughed before kissing again. They walked to the middle of the bedroom, the backs of Skylar's knees hit the bed and they fell on top of one another onto the mattress. Skylar's hands went to the bottom of Matt's shirt again and made its way up, unbuttoning all the buttons. His bare chest was warm against her bare arms. Her hands clawed at his back, making him groan. His mouth flowed down to the base of her collar bone.

A creak entered her ears, "Skylar?" She sat up quickly, pushing the boy off of her before the door opened all the way. "Skylar, what's all the noise?"

Skylar looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway. Her blond hair was straightened and she wore gorgeous make up and dark formal attire. She must've been heading to work. "Uh, we were just..."

"We?"

Skylar looked down, to find Matt missing. She stood up and looked around. She realized she still had a pair of eyes looking at her, she turned to her mom and flashed her a big cheesy smile. "I mean, I just woke up, I fell out of bed."

Her mother crossed her arms and looked at her daughter with wary eyes. "You were asleep until five in the afternoon?"

Skylar felt her bottom jaw drop to the ground. "No, it's not..." She rushed to where her phone was plugged in and checked the time. Her mother was correct. She looked at her mom in disbelief. That meant her mother had just gotten home for work.

"We'll that's one day you won't get back." She said turning to leave, "Come and eat, we're having Chinese."

"Yeah, one less day." Skylar said to herself, she fell onto her knees and looked under her bed. She looked in her closet and out the window, but found nothing. She scratched her head confused. Her head hurt, she couldn't understand how Matt had disappeared into thin air. His shirt didn't even lay on the ground anymore. Every essence that he was even there was gone. She gave up her search and followed after her mother.

~~~

Skylar munched on her broccoli, satisfied with it's watery taste. She looked from her mother, to her father, then back down at her plate. As usual, silence was received at the dinner table. Not even the considerate 'How was your day?' was exchanged, only silence. It had been like this ever since Christopher died. As if her entire family was trying to push away the other members, isolating themselves from love and pain.

A buzz in Skylar's lap took her attention. "How you doing?" It said. She didn't recognize the phone number.

"Who is this?" She typed to the unknown number.

"Who do you think, Princess?"

"Matt?"

"Ding, ding, ding! You are correct!"

"Where the hell did you go?" Her brows furrowed.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't want to have your mommy to find us having a moment."

":)"

"Maybe we can continue what we started later tonight."

Skylar drank her quickly, "Tonight, :)"

She was vaguely thinking in the back of her head how weird it was her father wasn't yelling at her to put her phone down. In fact, she couldn't even hear their forks hitting their plates or their chairs cracking under their weight. She picked up her own fork and dropped it, no sound. She looked up to find her father red faced in her direction, screaming at her, but she could hear nothing. Her mother looked to be screaming at her father, for yelling at her, and would occasionally say something in Skylar's direction.

Skylar froze, everything around her seemed to move in slow motion. A woman with fiery red hair walked up behind her father, grabbed his forehead and chin, and quickly twisted his head. He collapsed to the ground silently.

"Dad!" She tried to scream, her throat burned from the attempt and tears ran down her cheeks. Any source of hatred she had ever contained towards him vanished, leaving her filled with regret.

Her mother turned in terror, trying to run from the red headed women, but she already had a strong grip on shirt collar. Skylar made a move towards the woman, but every muscle in her body seemed to be frozen, she couldn't move, all she could do was watch. The woman slowly turned to face Skylar. Her lips were a dark blue color and her eyes glowed red. Her skin was a frightening ghostly pale. She grinned at Skylar before turning back to her mother and biting into her neck with a pair of razor sharp fangs.

"No!" Skylar's throat burned and her eyes stung with tears. She used all her effort to run to her mother, but couldn't move. The woman dropped her mother to the ground, where she laid writhing and bleeding. The woman turned to Skylar took a step towards her then froze. The woman looked down with her red eyes, Skylar followed her gaze, and saw a wooden stake sticking through her chest. The woman collapsed onto the ground dead, Skylar fell onto the ground by her mother's side.

Matt wrapped his arms around her, trying to soothe her. "Skylar." He kissed her head and swayed the both of them side to side.

She ripped herself out of his grasp and attended to her mother. "Mommy!" She cried. She looked into her mother's eyes, her body moved like she was having a seizure. Her blond hair was dyed red from the blood. "Mom." Skylar felt helpless, she was watching her mother die, and she couldn't do anything to help her. Unless.

Skylar lifted her wrist to her mouth and tore her skin. Blood welled up and dripped down her mom. She moved to have her mother drink, but Matt grabbed her, restrained her. "No, Sky, no!"

"I can save her!" She screamed, "I can save her!"

"Our blood can't heal, it can only turn. She's too old to turn, she'll suffer more than she already is."

Skylar pulled away from him, grabbing her mother's hand and crying into her mother. Matt didn't touch her, he left her alone. The woman looked up at her daughter and placed a cool hand to her cheek. Skylar watched as her mother's eyes darkened and he hand fell from her cheek. The faint sound of her heartbeat died away, leaving Skylar in silence. "I didn't hear her come in."

"It's not your fault, Sky." He reached around Skylar and closed her mother's eyelids.

"But it is," she turned to face him, tears poured down her face, "I should've protected them. I should've been able to keep them alive. Look at them now, my father had his neck snapped and my mom..." She looked back at her mother, the pained feeling entered her core, but with more emphasis.

She cried out and curled into a ball on the floor. Matt picked her up off the ground and cradled her. She gripped at his arm, digging her fingers into his skin. She saw blood well up, but she didn't stop, she couldn't stop, the pain overwhelmed her.

"I've lost everything." She cried, "My mom, my dad, and Christopher." She loosened her grip on his arm slightly. Warm, dark blood dripped onto her creme colored carpet. "My family is dead. I have nobody left."

Matt pulled her into his body tighter, "You have me." He kissed the top of her head and held her until her breathing softened and she fell asleep. Even while she slept, fresh tears streamed down her face.