Danielle Dacres
MsDefeo
Creative writing
BROWN EYES
Matt wakes up to the signal a rooster makes
to tell you its time to get up. He turns in the bed as he always does only to find the partnering space empty. With a sigh, he gets out of the bed and walks to the windows where he pulls open the curtains. This allows the rays of sunlight to light up the room giving it a fake identity, with its wooden walls filled with family pictures betraying the fact that he lives in this house alone with his dog Rex.
He is a regular Texan cowboy who lives on a ranch. He did not get this ranch on his own; his parents once owned it and he grew up on this ranch. Coming from a big family one would think it's ironic that after 32 years he still lives alone. Mart's father, a 65 year old man with a twinkle in his eye, moved with his wife, to Florida where all the old people lived. Mart's older brother Jonathan sold his house once his daughter turned 18 and now he and his wife traveled the country in an RV which was their new home. Mart's first thought was that his brother was crazy, but after speaking with him on the phone Matt became filled with envy on hearing how happy Jonathan was. His younger sister, Emma was in the city getting her degree. Her last letter was about her getting engaged, while he was slaving away everyday on his ranch. It did not matter how much money he made, it could not fill this empty house.
"I guess what they say is true. A house is never a home unless you have someone to come back to," he whispered to himself while he looked out the window.
He once had that special someone, her name was Ebony; and they had met in college. He was a senior and she a sophomore. She was an African American woman with curly long hair. He remembers the first time he met her; it was by accident of course. He was talking to his best friend Nick, not looking where he was going when he walked into someone, books flying everywhere.
"Dude you should have been at Vince 's party, I met this banging chick she was shaped like a coca cola bottle, she had everything. She gave me her number and there's a plus, she has a twin. " said Nick
Matt shook his head and laughed to himself, Nick was the player of their school always bagging a different girl each night. People normally would look at them and wonder how were they friends, the over achiever and the player. While he was in his dorm studying, Nick was at some party or a girl's house. All of a sudden he was broken out of his thoughts because he had bumped into someone, and heard the sound of books hitting the ground. Following his instinct, he dropped to the floor and started to pick the books up. As he reached for the last book his hand was met with a mocha colored hand. He looked up and was met with brown eyes before he could drown in them, she whispered "sorry".
He kept looking at her, he was speechless, and he prided himself on the fact that he always had something intelligent to say. Soon he realized her mouth was moving.
"Do I have something on my face; I woke up late today and just put on some clothes not bothering to look in the mirror. OMG you must think I'm such a klutz and to make matters worst here I am babbling, I'm just going to stop talking now.”
He finally found his voice because he new he had to say something before she left. 'No I'm the one who should be sorry; I'm the one who wasn't looking where I was going instead listening to my friend as he while he spoke. " He looked around and couldn't find Nick "and it seems said friend left me hanging, plus when it comes to you babbling I find it cute."
The telltale signs of her emotions began to show on her face. Before she could answer another girl came up to them.
"Yo Ebony come on you 're goanna be late for psych class and you no how Professor Walsh is about lateness” she said, then turned to Matt "you can flirt with her later.”
"Sarah " Ebony admonished
"Its ok she is right I do want to flirt with you later, hopefully we see each other. There's not that much places for you to hide " he gave her a smile hoping it would dazzle her and watched as her friend pulled her away. She may not have given her name but her friend did. While they walked away he heard a little bit off their conversation.
"Are you coming to Big John's part tonight?” Sarah asked
"Hells yeah.... “Ebony answered and then he couldn’t here no more because of the distance put between them.
It was all he needed; he knew then that he would be seeing her sooner than later.
That night Matt had gone to the party and looked until he found Ebony. They
introduced themselves properly and by the end out the night he asked her out on a date.
They were together the rest off his school year and had made plans for the future. Everyday he would find a little note at his door; each always held words of love. He in return gave her a single rose. Ebony was the envied by all the college girls because of this, and Matt was envied because he had a beautiful girlfriend. They were the perfect couple everyone expected them to last. It seemed that expectation was coming true until she dropped the bomb.
The night before he was to graduate he found out she was pregnant. Not thinking straight he told her to get an abortion and was met with a slap to the face. She then turned and ran out of his dorm. He stood there shocked, he could not move, until things slowly came back to him. Matt ran out into the hallway looking for her only to find nothing but a faint smell of her freesia scented hair. He walked back to his room defeated. When they would talk about their future it was always them being married with children. He was always enthusiastic about the idea of Ebony being swollen with his child and when one of his dreams was coming true he told her to end it. He tried calling her but to no avail; he then left messages on her phone begging her for forgiveness. At his graduation the next day he looked for her but her face wasn't one of many in the crowd. She didn't even show up to the dinner at the restaurant with him and his parents. His parents sensing something was wrong asked him about it and he told them. He could remember the disappointment their eyes held. They loved Ebony so much, loved when she called them ‘Ma or Pa’, they felt as though she was one of their own.
After the dinner Matt decided to go to her dorm and check on her. He knocked on the door Sarah answered it telling him Ebony wasn't there. Before he could question her on this she pushed an envelope into his chest and slammed the door in his face. He didn't need to look on the envelope to know who it was from, and decided to wait until he was in his dorm to open it. He didn't even wait until the door was closed before tore open the envelope and began to read.
Dear Mathew,
We’ve been through a lot and it saddens me that our love has to end this way. That is if you ever loved me in the first place. This letter is my goodbye to you and what we could have been. I loved you and you threw that back in my face with your proposal of an abortion. Well don't worry, I decided to do it and I will hate myself everyday that I live. The sad thing though is that I still love you and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop. I try to tell myself to hate you, for doing this to us, but in truth I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed our love couldn’t survive this. I decided to transfer to another college please do not try to find me.
With all my love, Ebony
Matt had dropped to his bed tears falling from his eyes. As his tears fell drop by drop onto the letter it mixed with Ebony's already dried tears causing the words to become more of a blur.
Matt was bought back from his memories by the sound of a car coming to a stop infront of his home. He had giving his workers a day off today; curious he walked to the front of the house. He looked through the window and was welcomed to the sight of a white balding man, with a suit on. The man wasn't the only one there was a little African American girl. He walked outside to greet them and stopped short once he got a better look of the girl. The girl reminds him so much of Ebony, those brown eyes, but hurriedly brushed it off thinking maybe his loneliness was catching up to him. By the girls actions he guessed the man told her to stay in his car.
"Hello how may I help you?" he asked with a welcoming smile
"Are you Mr. Matthew Davis?" the man asked using Matthews full name, Matt -nodded.
"My name is Lucas Dwyer, I was Ebony Blackwood's lawyer," just the sound ^f her name coming from someone else's lips made him almost stop to reminisce some more.
"How is she, I haven't seen her for 10 years." Matt responded.
"I'm sorry sir to be the one to tell you this but Ms Blackwood died about a month
ago, she was diagnosed with a new type of cancer."
Matt didn't here anything after the word "died". The world became mute, Lucas'
mouth continued to move but he could not hear anything. He dropped to his knees crying, the first time he cried was when Ebony had left him, but this was different she had left this world. He heard footsteps headed towards him and was soon embraced by a small body.
"Ariel I told you to stay in the car" Lucas said but was ignored.
Matt pulled out of the embrace to have a better look at the girl who held him. Even with the tears falling from his eyes blurring his vision, he knew in his heart who this girl was, her brown eyes shined with her tears.
She pushed a picture in his hand; it was a picture of him and Ebony. "Mommy always wanted me to know who you were; she wanted to tell you that she forgives you Matt pulled her back into a crushing embrace and she held as tight as her little body could. They both cried for what may have been but thanked god that they had each other.
