Roxy's Short Stories

Forever & Always [2014]

A/N: Hi guys! This story is inspired by the song 'Forever & Always' by Parachute which is linked at the side and I've borrowed some of the lyrics to pay respects to where the story came from. I actually started writing this way back in 2012, but in the last couple of weeks, I've finished it off and then gone back and fixed up what fetus-me had written.

Please comment and vote, but most of all I hope you like it! x

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Forever & Always

        The wall clock reads seven o'clock, each second tauntingly ticking by, the sound resonating through the dining room. My fingers thud against the tabletop, one at a time, each finger contacting the table slowly and deliberately. I hold my phone to my ear, but the call won’t connect. 

        Seven thirty. The clock continues to tick, the sound echoing in my ears, alerting me to each second passing. My fingers are now thudding on the table, drumming impatiently against the rich wooden surface.I pick my phone up and call again. No luck. 

        Eight o'clock comes and goes. The clock continues to sound steadily. My feet join my fingers in a disjoint rhythm, every kick thudding against the leg of the chair, jilting it each time. I try my phone again. It still won’t go through.

        The clock hits nine. My mind has begun to simply brush aside the incessant ticking of the clock, though my eyes catch the new hour. I can’t wait like this any longer. My feet slam on the ground and the chair screeches as I push it forcefully out behind me to free the ground for me to storm to the landline. Slipping the grey receiver into one hand, I jab at the digits of his phone number with the other. The call doesn’t even begin to ring before it beeps of failure to connect. I hurl it at the ground a frustrated scream tears through my throat, reverberating through the otherwise silent house.

        Where is he? He was supposed to be here at seven. That was three hours ago. He would've called. I know him. He wouldn't be this late without calling. He's never been this late. He’s never even been five minutes late on any our previous anniversaries.

        Slamming the landline back in its cradle, I storm across the hall to the living room and check the large window there, looking out to the entrance of the house. My driveway is illuminated by dim streetlights, but the strip of pavement where his car should be is still empty. 

        My first thought returns to the front of my mind. Where is he? 

        A defeated sigh escapes through my nose and I let my head fall against the cool glass of the window, the cold against my forehead retracting my remaining anger and replacing it with worry. A lone tear makes its way down my cheek as the thought finally occurs to me. What if something's happened to him? What if something’s wrong?

        With uncanny timing, I hear the distant but familiar twinkling sound of my phone ringing. With incredible speed, I leap across the room to scoop my mobile up off the dining table and I stab at the green answer button with my finger, pressing the phone up against my ear in the same, fluid motion. 

        “Hello? Will, I swear if you ever scare me like this again, you won't know the comfort of a bed for a long, long time. It’s been two hours, where the hell are you,” I demand, my words coming out in rapid fire as my anger speedily returns to me.

         “Excuse me?” an unfamiliar voice asks timidly from the phone, confused and shying from my ferocity. “Excuse me, is this Elodie Parker?” I bring my phone down away from my ear to check the caller ID, an act I had skipped in my haste to pick it up, assuming it would be Will. It’s not Will, but all the phone will tell me is that the call is from ‘Unknown’.