Love Yourself

Chapter 11

I rolled over sleepily the next morning, surprised when my tired body hit something solid. I slowly opened my eyes as I tried to remember where I was. My bed was so comfortable that for a second I thought I was back at home before the memories of the limbo came flooding back.

My eyes opened to two bright blue orbs staring back at me. I sat up, clutching the covers to my scantily clad body as I screamed. Oliver laughed, sitting up and pushing a few messy strands of blonde hair away from his face.

"Good morning Anna pie!"

"How did you get in here?" I shrieked.

"Calm down," he giggled. "I picked the lock."

"Why the hell would you do that?" My voice came out angrier than I had planned.

His happy expression slid off his face and he jumped up, muttering an apology as he stumbled backwards.

I sighed and patted the warm spot on the bed he had abandoned, "You don't have to leave."

"No I'm sorry," he blushed. "You want privacy, I get it. Sorry."

"Oli come back." He was halfway out the door by now, still stuttering apologetically. "Please."

"All right," he slipped back in and closed the door behind him. This time he stood by the side of the bed and watched me warily. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

"It's fine." I made sure the covers were up to my chin as he stared at me. I didn't need him seeing my fat, ugly body. "I just wasn't expecting to see you in here when I woke up."

"I missed you," he shrugged before gingerly taking a seat on the edge of the mattress. "I was getting lonely."

"You missed me?" I whispered in disbelief. Once again Oli had hit the nail on the head. I had never had anyone tell me this before.

"Yeah," he smiled slightly. "We barely got to hang out yesterday."

"Why do you care so much?" I was dying to know if he was just being nice because it was his job.

Oli shrugged and began playing with a string hanging off the edge of the duvet, "I don't know. There's something special about you."

"Are you dead?" I blurted out. This was too weird. The first person I had ever liked on my own terms and he wasn't even real. "Or are you old?"

It took him a few minutes to answer. Finally he mumbled, "Dead."

This was a question that had been bugging me since Alex admitted his death, "How do you know?"

Oli pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through it for a few seconds, before handing it over to me. On the screen was a text message that read 'I regret to inform you that your earth self has passed on.'