Chasing Freedom {Book 3: Chasing Butterflies}

Chapter 24: Waste of Space

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay once again! First and foremost, welcome to the new year! I meant to have a chapter posted before the start of 2017, but the holidays, work, and closing on a house took up a lot of my time. I hope that I will be able to get another chapter up soon. The husband and I are moving into the new home here in about two weeks, which means I have to pack, so fingers crossed that I can get some writing time in!

Anyways, hope you all enjoy this chapter. Wrote it on a whim, mostly. And because I feel like this may be important later. :P

******************************************************************

"I knock the ice from my bones, try not to feel the cold. Caught in the thought of that time when everything was fine, everything was mine." ~ All The King's Horses, Karmina

          A few days had passed since Audrey had that worrying conversation with Artemis. Not much had changed in those few days. The nursery had finally been finished, so at least when Scorpius finally was ready to come there was one less thing to worry about. At this point, as bad as it sounded, her son's arrival was the least of Audrey's worries at the moment.

            She was honestly worried about her friend. Audrey had always known Artemis was a bit of a gloomy individual, but the day he had admitted his own existence troubled him, he seemed even more pessimistic than usual. Everyone dealt with death and stress differently, and perhaps he was just finally showing signs of his grieving process. Her friend had shut himself in his room, and hadn't really been out for an extended period of time. It was bothering Audrey immensely, but no one else seemed to be troubled by it. She was sitting at breakfast with Artemis' parents and younger brothers, as well as Narcissa who had decided to move in as well to be closer to Audrey and the baby. No one was speaking, except for the young twins who were babbling back and forth to each other. Audrey couldn't take it anymore.

            "Has anyone checked on Artemis?" she asked, setting down her fork as she glanced at all the adults in the room. "He's been in his room for, as far as I know, a few days now. Doesn't that concern you?"

            Artemis' mother, Angeline, and Narcissa exchanged glances before Angeline spoke. "I'm sure he's fine," she said quietly. "He goes through periods of time where he just wishes to be alone. I suspect this may be one of those times. He had breakfast brought up to him earlier this morning."

            Audrey glanced at her now empty plate, and pushed it towards the center of the large table. "Well, I'm going to check on him," she decided. Without another word, she stood and removed herself from the room, making her way back towards Artemis' room.

            Sure enough, upon reaching his room, Audrey found the door shut and the silence coming from the room was deafening. Audrey took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door. No one answered, so she knocked again, slightly louder. When Artemis didn't answer again, Audrey decided it was best she just enter his room, with or without permission. She needed to know he was okay, and she wasn't going to walk away without knowing that. The girl opened the door hesitantly, not sure what she was going to see.

            Artemis' room was dark, the only light coming in from between the curtains on the large windows on the far wall, despite the elaborate chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls were dark gray and paneled, with three long, narrow mirrors hanging over the headboard of his bed. On the wall, opposite of his bed, was a small sitting area with a tall bookshelf next to a closed door Audrey could only assume led to a closet or bathroom.  A dresser the same golden color of the nightstands and bedspread was against the wall next to the door, a tray with empty breakfast plates sitting upon it.