When All is Null and Void

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A boy. A boy. The thought pulsed through Danielle's pounding skull when she woke on the front porch swing. She had no recollection of coming home, but neither did she have a memory of drinking at all, let alone enough to forget. Through the haze in her mind, Danielle attempted to figure out where her car was. Why had Caitlyn not made sure Danielle made it inside?

The drizzling rain pounded on the street like an anvil. Danielle squinted as she pulled herself up. The front door was unlocked. Her feet shuffled against the hardwood. Starbuck trundled down the stairs. His little, panting breaths woke her up, and she yawned.

To clear her mind more, Danielle decided to go on a run. Starbuck went with her, and with every step the pounding in her skull waned, but the thought of a boy—some boy—continued to pound away. Slowly, Danielle came to a walk. The boy had been in her nightmare. In that dark cave. She'd always been alone before.

Skin prickling from the morning chill, a lance of pain tore through her head. What happenedlast night? Danielle meandered home, her thoughts stuttering as she sifted through the previous evening.

Back at home, under the steamy hot spew of her shower, Danielle listened to her music. Her hands stopped shaking, heart stopped pounding. That is, until she saw her phone's notification cache a few minutes later. An unknown 541 number sat at the top.

Hey, this is Caleb from last night. Wanna get coffee?

Caleb. The name struck like a gong in her chest. Before she thought of the implications of getting involved with someone she didn't know, Danielle replied.