A Match into Texas (Mike Fuentes Fanfic)

23

I replied to Jaime immediately. 

'Tell Lyd to go to the hotel near the campus, try room 18. I'll meet her there, if I can. I'm in Fort Worth right now, I've been traveling around, I'll start driving now.'

I couldn't think. She had to be alright. She couldn't be falling apart. She was stronger than I was, I was the one who was supposed to be broken. I was. But I knew that I had to be alright, so I pretended that I was. I took back the girl who fucked me over a thousand times, as a distraction from the fact that the only person I wanted was the one I couldn't have. 

Even if she was just my friend, I needed her in my life. I could see that now; just being able to care for her and see her to happiness would be enough. Her being sad hurt me too. And lately I had had a feeling in my gut that something was wrong. 

I grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair I had been sitting in- at a small table in a small cafe about an hour south of Fort Worth. I threw a twenty on the table and ran out the door, the bell ringing crazily and the door slammed closed behind me. Seconds later my bike was flying out of the parking lot and down the dusty road. 

It took hours to get back to Corpus Christi.

*Mike's Flashback*

I'm at her hotel room. It is as messy as it always  had been. I breathe in and the scent of pine needles and fresh air tickles my nose, faint, but distinctive. Her scent. 

I turn and scan the room for signs that she has been here. The lights are off, but a sliver of light comes from around the bathroom and I open the door. She's not here. Her makeup is strewn all over the floor and her makeup back is sitting on the toilet seat, emptied and inside out. I look at the items; mascara with little black blotches on the bottle, eyeliner, tweezers, deodorant, bandaids. Her anti-depressants were missing. I had never said anything but I noticed that she brought that little bag everywhere, including the pills.

But the pills weren't there, neither was she.

Where was she?

I walked to the bed and looked under. Maybe she is hiding? Nope, nothing there. No monsters. A breeze twists around my ankles and I notice the sliding door to the porch is open. I slide it open and there she is, sitting on the railing, looking out on the city stretched out in front of her. She is looking at me.

'Why did you check under the bed, Mike?' Her eyes aren't smiling, although her lips are trying to convince me that she is okay. Her hands are holding the railing, white knuckles stark against the tattoos that laced her arms. Her feet are dangling over the empty air and I notice that she is not wearing shoes. 

'I wanted to check for monsters.' She smiles and as her eyes crinkle a tear escapes and makes its melancholy way down her cheek and falls to the railing. She reaches for something in her lap and grasps the bottle of anti-depressants, empty, with the top crookedly screwed back on. She raises the bottle and holds it against the sunlight, admiring the orange of the plastic. Her face changes and she turns her back towards me, facing out. She throws the bottle with all her strength and is thrown off balance. I grab her waist and she steadies. 

She is not crying. She relaxes.

'Oh Mike. There are not monsters under my bed. They're in my mind. Don't bother checking, I already know they're there.' She feels weak, fragile. Her hands are no longer holding onto the railing and I realize that the pills that were in the bottle are now in her stomach. 

'Alex are you going to leave me here alone?' She slumped against my shoulder and sighed quietly.

'I don't really know, Mike. Am I?'

'No.'