Love You Forever (2013 Wattys Finalist)

Chapter 8 - Alone Part II

Robert jerked awake in his darkened bedroom, breathing heavily, his body feeling the effects of the dream he'd just had. He automatically reached out for her and felt the cold, empty space next to him. She's gone, he thought, and the ache in his chest turned into the crushing pain again as he was overwhelmed with despair. He rolled over trying not to feel her on him, desperately trying not to remember the dream. He pulled the blankets over his head, taking deep breaths against the pain. After a while, it lessened back into the dull ache and he went somewhere else.

The next thing he knew, his alarm went off and he slapped it hard with his hand to shut it up. He laid on his back, putting the crook of his arm over his eyes. What he felt like doing in that moment was throw the clock as hard as he could against the wall and pull the covers back over his head, but he knew he couldn't. His dad would surely throw him out of the house if he did. He made himself sit up, resting his head in his hands. God, he hated his life. He forced himself to get out of bed and take a shower.

When he was back in his bedroom, he started going through his drawers trying to find the clothes he used to wear to work, the ones that already had paint all over them. He knew when he'd brought back all his belongings from his old flat, she'd taken everything out of the bin bags, washed it and put it all away for him. Of course, she'd mixed everything together and now he couldn't find what he fucking needed when he fucking needed it.

As he kept searching, he got angrier, shoving the drawers in harder each time he failed to find what he was looking for, knocking over the things that were sitting on top. Why did he keep all that fucking shit on there anyway, he seethed, resisting the urge to sweep his arm across the top of his chest of drawers. He knew if he did, he was angry enough he just might start breaking things. Not a good way to start his first day back to work.

Finally, he gave up trying to find anything by rifling through the drawers and started throwing clothes on the floor, trying to locate the t-shirt he wanted. He stopped suddenly when he realized he was holding an intricately woven dark brown and pale grey bracelet with a button on one end and a loop on the other. He staggered backwards until his legs hit the bed and he fell on it, slumping as he looked at the bracelet, suddenly feeling desolate.

He rubbed the bumpy texture with his thumb while he heard her voice in his head, saying, 'A girl might make jewelry using her hair, and give it to the boy she loved so he could have a part of her with him no matter where he was'. He'd never noticed before that it didn't feel silky like her hair. He swallowed against the pain in his throat as his chest ached.

---Then---

The whole family was together in the sitting room chatting, when Georgie suddenly said, "Robert! We forgot about your bracelet!"

"You're right!" He was surprised he'd forgotten about it too. He ran upstairs to go get the jeans he'd worn home while Georgie asked his mum if she had a small pair of scissors. When she had the jeans, she carefully cut away the stitches that were holding the bracelet in place, hidden between his pocket and the denim while she sat next to his mum on the couch.

"Mrs. Bennett, you wouldn't believe the wonderful thing Robert did for me!" she said as she snipped the stitches. "He was keeping track of the days because we didn't have a calendar and he knew when Christmas was coming. I had no idea when it was, because he kept it a secret. He planned a whole Christmas celebration, and surprised me with it. It was so special! You have no idea! He gave me a song that he wrote just for me, and a box of chocolates, because he knew how much I loved chocolate and I hadn't had any in years. And I gave him this." She pulled out the now freed bracelet from inside the jeans and handed to his mum. Everyone leaned forward so they could see it better.