Striking Eyes, Cut Through Me like a Diamond
"Do you want something to eat?" Naomi asked her son, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It was the first time she had seen him in five years, and she had scarcely seen him in the eight years before he went missing.
"I've eaten enough, thank you," he said. It did look like he had eaten. When he was younger he always was very lean with dull eyes that made him look slightly malnourished. It wasn't something someone would easily notice, but a mother knows.
It was probably from his diet, he ate well enough but he was very picky. Aelius always pushed the importance of a good diet onto everyone around him, but when it came to his own he would only eat very specific things. Apples, red meat, berries, and melons is what his diet mostly consisted of. His vegetable of choice when forced to have some was corn, and he ate a few potato products as well. He would rarely drink anything other than white milk or fruit juice, and the few times he drank water he gagged as if he were allergic. A very specific pallete.
Now he looked completely healthy, one might even say too healthy. His hair looked like strands of gold and his eyes were cyrstal clear, a bright blue that looked like diamonds when the light reflected off of them. His skin had darkened into a bronze and his hair, which he normally straightened, had reshaped to it's natural loose curls.
Claudia had left the room, dragged away by Chris to have a very private conversation. It was probably going to be a very angry one too. Aelius and Claudia had dissappeared five years previously, leaving behind their mother and Claudia's boyfriend to desperately look for them. The sanctuary they had been staying at assisted in the search, but had then been preoccupied by multiple attacks by mysterious entities.
Frustrated, Naomi sat her glass on the table a little too hard, and the noise it made echoed around the uncomfortably quiet room. "Where have you been?" she asked.
"It's a long story, one you wouldn't understand."
"Try me," she said, crossing her arms.
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"What even happened?" Chris said, "You can't dissappear for five years and then show up and act like everything is normal!"
"I- I just couldn't okay. I didn't have the courage to tell you, to explain things," Claudia replied.
"Explain what? You left. On purpose. At least that's what it looks like to me. Am I wrong? Tell me if something happened."
Claudia looked down, frowning to herself. She left specifically because she wanted to avoid this conversation, the one that would shatter how their lives were completely. "I hoped I wouldn't have to see you ever again," she said quietly.
"What?" he breathed, eyes glistening as tears formed. Such harsh words. She had never spoken to him like that before. Everyone else, yes, but not him. Never him, she had said. "Did you leave because of me?"
"No, but-"
"You should have told me, you could have told me anything. I would have understood."
"You wouldn't have."
"Every day, for five years, I have looked for you. My life ended when you left, I dropped out of college. I lost contact with all my friends. Naomi and I only had each other. I layed in bed in the rare moments when we slept in motels, and just wished to see you again. I dreamt only of you. I became something completely different than I was before, for you!" His voice shook with each word, and tears began to fall as he failed to hold them back.
On instict Claudia reached out, cupping her face with her hand, and wiped the tears away. Chris looked at her fully for the firs time since finding her. Her hair was shorter, now only slightly below her chin, and it had grown out to her natural brown instead of the dyed blonde it was before. It was more lustrous too, she appeared to have gotten healthier in the time she was gone.
Her eyes were brighter, sharper than before. Her blue eye was crystal-like and the one that used to appear light brown was now a shining gold. Her skin was smoother, with the freckles that were scattered over it more pronounced.
But her touch was colder, her fingers were hard and felt akin to touching a ceramic pot. There was something off with her, but he was lost in her eyes before he could realize what it was.