Rich lies & poor truths

Chapter 15 - P3

It feels as if there is no light in me left.   As if I’m stuck in a dark dimension, where my legs and arms are tied up and I’m absolutely useless. My own body and soul are being tortured and there’s nothing that I can do about it.  My breath is caught in a huge storm and my lungs are begging for air but everything in my body is frozen.  Except the tears falling down my warm cheek. I violently wipe my face, hating that I have to cry.  Hating that my heart is broken and it feels like s**t.

“Why are you crying?”  Chase asks, still with a playful expression on his face.  It feels as if a big chunk of pain is clutching my throat.

“Chase. ” I shake my head and let my tears fall continuously without trying to stop it, “Can I trust you?”

Chase’s face immediately changes and he crouches in front of me.

“What’s going on Riley?” he bites his lips, “You’ve been acting all differently lately.”  And his words make me cry even more.

“Is it your dad?” he continues and I nod.

“You know you can tell me anything.”  He says and I want to smile at his careness. He was always one with a soft heart but since the beginning of this year, he has become hard and careless.  Except for now.  I sniff, trying to make myself stop crying.

“What do you know about your brother?”

“What?” he looks surprised at my question.

“I want to know what you know about your brother?”

“Well, he’s my brother so a lot, I guess.” he says and stands. He walks around in his room and throws his hands forward and backwards.

“What do you know about his job?” I ask, now tearless.  I feel heavy weight being lifted from my heart and soul.

“He’s a CEO of a lot of companies.” Chase shrugs.

“Like what companies?”

“I don’t know? Business, some magazines, all I can think of.”

I frown.  Or he really doesn’t know, or he is hiding things.

“Why?”  he asks with a big frown on his face.

“I thought that if my dad isn’t coming back, I’ll need a job.”  I lie but suddenly realise that if my dad isn’t coming back then I’ll somehow have to make money to continue living.

“Riley you know we will help you.” Chase says miserably and can see him feeling sorry for me.

I sigh.

“What were you watching there?” he asks and points at his laptop.  The awful feeling fills my stomach again and I want to throw up.

“Nothing.” I say and I take out the CD from his laptop and throw it in my bag. 

He chuckles, “That wasn’t nothing.”

“I don’t know , okay, I don’t know.” I say, not wanting that what I’m thinking to be true.   My brain rambles towards the CD that’s in my file. I eagerly want to watch it but I also don’t want to.  But I know the video that I found can’t be the same in mine.  Or so I hope.