••storm••

22 7 30
                                    

My eyes are red when I wake up the next morning

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

My eyes are red when I wake up the next morning. I shake my head as I get up slowly. Sitting in bed, I slouch against the headboard. A feeling of helplessness overcomes me. As much as I try to keep my mind off of her, everything reminds me of Blaise.

My dorm, the one we had spent countless days in just talking about everything and anything, avoiding anything serious. Countless Never Have I Ever and Would You Rather questions float through my head. I can't forget a moment of it.

My feet feel heavy as I drag them against the cold wood of my dorm. It's Monday, today. I glance at the clock to my left. 10:23. Well, there goes any notion of getting to class.

Drowning in self-pity, I shuffle to the kitchen, making myself a bowl of cereal. The world feels squishy. As if, nothing really matters.

I swallow my cold cereal, it does nothing to solve the lump in my throat. My mouth feels dry as I spoon some milk into my throat.

The doorbell rings as I rinse the bowl in the sink. Placing the bowl into an open slot of the dishwasher, I wipe my hands on a nearby cloth.

Shuffling towards the door, I put my eye to the eyehole to see who it is. My shoulders slouch a little as I sigh at the sight of Eli and Aoife. I twist the knob and open the door.

They have bright smiles on them as they walk in. They make themselves at home as Aoife makes her way to the kitchen and Eli collapses on my light brown cloth couch.

"Well, you look like hell," Eli points out matter-of-factly. His grin turns sad as he sees my tired expression.

Aoife studies me.

My pajamas are too long as they pull around my ankles and my long-sleeve t-shirt is hidden by the giant fuzzy blanket covering my upper half. I tug it closer.

"Wanna tell us what happened?" Aoife asks, expectantly.

I shake my head. "I need to get to class," I lie, wanting them to disappear. I deserve a day to wallow in self-pity and mope.

Eli disagrees as he shakes his head. "If you're going to lie to us at least make it convincing," he says. He gets up taking a pack of chips from my cupboard, shifting himself onto my kitchen counter.

"Blaise and I broke up."

Aoife nods. "Figured."

I close my eyes. A wave of tiredness makes me cuddle into myself. I feel like telling them they aren't helping but I bite my tongue knowing that the person I'm pissed off at is myself.

Aoife gives me a pitying look before sharing a look with Eli.

The brown-eyes boy nods slowly. "So I was thinking mall? I mean, I've been wanting new shoes forever," he says.

Aoife nods. "Yeah, we should go."

I get what they're doing, distracting me. Maybe even trying to get me to let out my rage. I'm not up for it. "Yeah, you guys should go."

Crooked Destinies | An ONC2021 EntryWhere stories live. Discover now