His Eyes – Krista Guillen

As I fell I could only hear my screams. The birds that I heard when we first came, the crickets singing their melody all drowned out by the deafening sound leaving my lips. Though the fall should’ve lasted a few seconds I experienced it as minutes, hours, days. Questioning my judgment, questioning his intentions, questioning my future. My mind blank, my body frigid, my eyes staring at him. I met him a couple of months ago. My mom and I used to drift a lot. We’ve always had little money but that never stopped us. We were travelers, we almost resembled ghosts. We haunted towns with our presence but always disappeared as abruptly as we arrived. Leaving people wondering if we were ever there at all, sometimes I asked myself the same question. The past got a little cloudy. But not my memory of him, he was something else. The way he was unknowingly charming drew me in. The way his eyes showed his emotions when he talked. His smile, soothing, and the way he used to hold me made me feel at home. The home I never truly had. The person I stared at resembled nothing like the man I loved. Not a single trait could be recognized as familiar. The eyes that once showed something that could have been love were full of malice, they looked wicked like he was possessed. The smile was replaced by a smirk, I felt a chill as I stared at him. I stared at him, as I fell. I must have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I was blinded by emotions or his words, and we drove to the city’s forest, an isolated magical place, full of flying birds and singing crickets. The trees enveloping us as we walked, almost as if covering for something. It got dark by the time we reached the cliff. He stood close to me as I admired a beautiful, abrupt view. I turned around and smiled at him, it was chilly, I was hugging my midsection. I felt his hands wander to my waist, oh how I loved his touch. Until it betrayed me. I fell. My brown hair was lifted off my shoulders, I couldn’t breathe, the air was stuck in my lungs or in my throat, I couldn’t tell. My heart was pounding, or maybe it was my head, I didn’t care. I was hoping for a miracle, that once I hit the floor something would be there to catch me. Maybe if I could wave my hands I could defy gravity. I didn’t want to die. I was pushed. The only thing I could look at was his face. No remorse was what I saw, he stood there patiently waiting for me to disappear. He was a twisted human being. How did I not see it before? Maybe I just had to see him from this angle. The trees were leaning out of the cliff witnessing my death. I was murdered. I finally hit the ground, the breath that was once stuck in my throat was finally released. The overpowering smell of iron invaded my nose, the indescribable metallic scent surrounding us. A warm, thick puddle of liquid was leaving my body, what was that smell? Maybe it was blood, or it could have been the smell of death. It really only took me 8.4 seconds to hit the ground. My hair was scattered limp around my face, my body positioned at an unnatural angle, but my eyes were still looking into his.

Krista is a 16-year-old high school Guatemalan student. She enjoys writing and painting to be able to express herself in a creative way. She decided to challenge herself to write a thriller, something she enjoys; reading a lot.