Professor's Favorite Student

17

Elizabeth frowned in her spot and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe. What did he mean with 'dead, because of him'? How many other things were there she didn't know?

"It's better if you go, you should stay away from me," his voice cracked as he was trying his best to hold back his tears, rubbing his sister's face in the picture with his fingertip.

But for a fact, Elizabeth knew that whatever had happened, she wasn't about to leave. Not until his eyes wouldn't be drown in pain, at least.

She touched his cheek lightly and that's when the first tear escaped from his green eye, falling right in her hand.

"I'm not leaving Daniel Ambrose," she said while giving him a weak smile, feeling tears blurring her eyes too. "You know you can talk with me, right? I promise I won't judge."

Some other tears fell down his cheeks as, surprisingly for her, he laid down on the sofa, resting his head on her lap, his eyes closed as he was keeping the frame tight in his chest, like someone would take it from him.

Instinctively, she ran her hand through his thick hair that were a little longer since the last day she had seen him, and he immediately felt a little better, even though nothing could stop his sobs now that he was opening up to someone after such a long time.

"It was exactly ten years ago," Daniel started explaining with a trembling voice that was breaking her heart. "We were going to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents, me, Emily and our parents. We were... the happiest family there could be, I had everything I wanted." She tried to hold back her tears, trying to remain strong for him. She knew he needed her. After wiping some tears off his face, he continued. "I was driving and it was snowing. Our grandparents lived in a small town in a hill and the roads were a little narrow. We were talking and laughing with some stupid joke my father had made and out of nowhere, some kids jumped in front of my car and I..." and then he stopped, covering his eyes with his free hand as he started sobbing even more, his chest going up and down, trembling in search for air. Liz started sobbing too, his pain penetrating her chest like a silver knife. She knew this story, she knew it quite well.

"Your novel..." she was able to say between tears, the storyline all clear in her head. It was the first book of him she had read, she remembered well she had cried in the middle of the night even though she had no idea he was the main character himself. He opened his eyes surprised, before remembering she had read all his books, and that one was her favorite. After probably minutes of them both crying silently, she got a held of herself first, wiped her tears and caressed his hair softly. "It's okay, you can stop if you want. I'm so sorry."

But he shook his head, trying to stop some other tears. "No, I want to get this all out," he said and she tried to smile, to show him everything was okay, even though it wasn't. "I- I tried to avoid the kids so I wouldn't hurt them and- and the car got out of the road. I lost balance because of the snow and the car got crashed in a tree and... the ambulance came, but she ended up dead in the hospital."

"Daniel," she whispered, not sure what to say, tears burning her throat like the heaviest liquor seeing him in that condition, hearing what he had been through. She just knew, if she was in his place, she wouldn't make it.

"It was the worst night of my life Elizabeth. I killed her," Daniel said between sobs but she rushed to deny it.

"Daniel, no, please. It was an accident, you saved those little kids' lives."

He chuckled desperately. "And I took my own sister's. She would've been twenty-two now, we would've been celebrating together. She loved Christmas."

Liz bit her bottom lip to stop crying as she caressed his forehead and then took his hand on hers. "I'm sure she wants you to stop blaming yourself and be happy."

"There's nothing that can save my soul now Elizabeth, but thanks for being here," he said before closing his eyes, his face almost dried from all the tears now. "Can you... do that thing with my hair, please?" He whispered softly, warming her heart again.

She started caressing his hair softly and out of nowhere, not realizing herself what she was doing, she ended up kissing his forehead and without opening his eyes, he smiled weakly, before falling into a deep sleep, knowing that he was probably going to dream about his little Emily, just like every other death anniversary of hers.