Brown hair, blue eyes. He was perfect for me, that was the general consensus and with enough people saying it to me, I eventually began to actually believe in it.
Kevin, that was his name and he went through a lot growing up, so maybe that's why he was so awkward, maybe that's why he actually listened to the one voice he should have ignored.
We had been dating for a little while now, apart from a few strange instances he was generally fun to be around.
I was not saying he was without his flaws, but who wasn't.
After his parents died he was taking care of his little sister Celia, he seemed to care about his little sister, more than he did me, which was fair and normal.
but I should have seen it then.
That he cared a little too much, that it seemed a little too strange, almost as if everything but her was invisible sometimes.
But even with all that, he was moderate. He would still spend time with me while still making top 10 of our class.
He had too many responsibilities, it was weighing on him heavily, I could see it in his sunken eyes, his pale unsteadied hands, his wrists full of small white scratches and the tips of his fingernails covered in pale white dust.
He turned and smiled at me, it was faked but also genuine, his smile only fully extending on the left side of his face.
He looked sad.
So, I decided to walk home with him.
We left the classroom after the familiar chime came.
Trekking through the snow, I almost thought it was peaceful. The silver crystals falling down, basking in the resplendent sunlight and enhancing it, being embraced both both ice and fire. My feet landing one after and another and making soft creaking noises against the packed snow.
I took in a single deep breath, yet my boyfriend took five breaths. Pacing faster then before the creaking by his feet almost became like shattering glass, his bare hands shook from something other than the cold.
That disposition, I had seen it a hundred no, a thousand times before.
That was his obsession, his issue, he always wanted to check if his sister was safe, it was probably some trauma formed. So I didn't actually hold it against him, in his position I would also be a bit schizophrenic about that too.
But I guess I can't really say that, being an only child after all.
We approached his house, a white home in a field of snow, it was made like the rest of ours, but seemed far too empty, because in comparison to the rest of ours, it really was.
As he took one step up the granite stairs leading to the iron-inlaid wooden door, a beat of terror ran through my body.
Kevin's apprehension and horror reached a level where it truly permeated the air, for I felt it too.
He took another step, my knees buckled and my eyes shrank back, almost falling over into the soft cold ground.
He placed his pale frigid hand on the cold brass handle and inserted a bronze key, the metal clicked in place as the key was inserted into the primers, when they were all set he took a deep solid breath and relief flooded my face.
He twisted the bronze key and a clicked sound could be heard and the iron-inland wooden door creaked open with a resounding noise.
As he stood in front of the door, I swore that I could see his shoulders slightly shaking before standing firmer than ever. I tried to look into the door, it was a pitch black abyss. I tried to get a better look but his bigger frame blocked me.
His right fist clenched, becoming paler. Upon taking a deep breath he turned to me and spoke calmly, "It's okay, Cass. Everything is normal."
My eyes shook, yes it must be so.
My heart calmed down, alleviating itself.
I picked up my left leg, twisting my waist and turning around.
I was walking back, each foot crushing the snow like styrofoam.
I felt him, he was staring.
So I snapped around and stared back.
I regret not doing anything then.
His eyes looked deep at me, analyzing me. It wasn't a look I was familiar with, on Kevin or anyone else I had ever met, it was the first time I had seen eyes like that.
I didn't know it then but now I know, those were eyes you never wished to see on a fellow human being.
I smiled out of shock and confusion and turned back around.
I heard the sound of a door closing, it made me come to a terrifying realization,
That I'd had never actually ever seen his sister.
My gaze became transfixed on the iron-inlaid wooden door, silence. No welcome home, just silence. Like no one actually lived in that hollow home at all.
I felt curious and afraid.
Why had Kevin always insisted on checking up on his sister at the exact same time, and why did he have to do it for hours on end?
Why was the inside of their home always dark even when someone was supposedly living in there?
That iron-inlaid wooden door seemed distant but now also closer than ever.
The brass handle was calling out to me, I could see its bronze-colored grin, mocking me.
The iron in the door warped into devilish smiles as even the snowflakes danced at my ineptitude, my uselessness, and at my-
"Bitch behavior?" A voice interjected
Everything went back to normal, the faces were gone and I was kneeling in the snow and above me was the origin of that mocking comment.
Her long snow white hair cascaded downwards as she looked down at me with the same devilish smile I had seen on that door handle.
Her crimson eyes seemed to relish in my fear.
"You really are a rich broad, you know that Cassie. I like to make a lot of jokes about how the more money are girl has the dumber they become, and so therefore I am broke. But your man was right about one thing Cass, everything is as normal as it has always been." Jeane Fahrenheit spoke to me.
I just stared back at her, in silence.
I never really knew Jeane, I knew she was in my class but I've never really ever spoke to her. So the feeling I felt in my heart towards her wasn't anger, but confusion.
She then dropped her mocking smile to show me a more composed facial expression and then sighed heavily.
"As much as I don't give a shit about you Cassandra, you still manage to piss me the fack off." Fahrenheit said to me exasperatedly.
She then shook her head, her snow white hair following with her and walked past me into the snow.
I got up and walked the other way, still in a sort of a shock from the interaction.
We lived in a small town in the taiga wilderness, my mind was still shocked from Jeane's words to me so I didn't notice it then.
Kevin's house was located on the edge of our town, the direction Jeane was walking in, she had no need to go in.
Unless it was to that house.
I eventually went back to my house, I was welcomed by my ivory gates. My hand went to touch the keypad on that gate, putting in the numbers, 9-8-8
The miniscule glass bauble on the keypad flashed green with a resounding beep.
The gates opened themselves to my estate, my parents weren't home as per usual.
I walked up to the main silver-inlaid mahogany door and put my thumbprint on the handle. With a click the lock opened and I entered my white maple estate.
Marble chiseled sculptures, expensive-looking paintings, everyone who ever entered this place felt envious of me.
But I'm not rich.
I don't even have a dollar to my name.
Nothing here is mine.
And the worst part? It wasn't even that expensive.
The marble chiseled statues, made by machinery.
The paintings, a bunch of worthless replicas.
The fancy door handle, probably costs 5,000$ maximum.
That's why I don't consider myself rich, although when I try to express this to others I only get looks of disdain, seemingly being angry with having what they themselves desire.
It has happened to me without exception, people get to know me because I'm rich and leave me when they realize there is nothing I can provide them apart from my care and consideration.
They realize that I have no redeeming qualities, even my parents realized this when they left me in this place to roll the dice for another child.
Even the lights stare with sneering disdain.
I have no responsibilities, it makes me absolutely free to do absolutely nothing for an unlimited amount of time.
I walked into my spacious room and laid down on my white gilded bed, placing my hands behind my back and looking at a crystal chandelier on the ceiling.
I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep with the familiar grins around me.