The Right One

Thirty two

"Come on, let's go in," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her inside. Thankfully, she didn't resist as she followed him quietly.

On getting inside, it was like the house was attuned to the emotions of the people that'd entered because the house seemed quieter than usual, or maybe it was just the events of the past few days getting to Raymond and messing up his head.

Regarding the girl standing just barely into the house staring at nothing, he grew even more worried.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He prompted.

She shook her head.

"Do you want to eat then? What would you like--"

"I'm not hungry."

"Hope . . . "

"I just want to rest."

"Hop--"

"Please."

Maybe it was the word, or the brokenness behind them that tugged at his heart, he relented.

"Okay." Huffing out a frustrated breath, he nodded and started making his way to his room. The minute they stepped in, she walked over to the bed and lied down, turning her back to him.

Confused and at a loss of what to do, Raymond stood there helplessly, wishing he knew the right thing to do or the right words to say to ease her pain.

"Please, do try to get actual sleep. Everything would be fine, okay?"

There was no response. She obviously wasn't asleep yet so Raymond knew that was his cue to leave. He did exactly that, slumping against the door immediately it closed after him.

For the second time in his life, someone he cared about was suffering and again he was unable to do anything about it.

•   ~   •
Raymond wasn't aware of how much time had passed, but it was dark when his eyes suddenly popped open. He wasn't even sure when exactly he'd fallen asleep.

His back protested as he stood from the uncomfortable position he'd been perched in against the door for God knows how long.

Hope.

Would she still be asleep? He debated checking in on her or leaving her for the rest of the night before his desire to at the very least see her won and he found himself opening the door, trying as much as possible to be stealthy so he didn't wake her up.

The room was blanketed in utter darkness and he assumed she was still asleep. He didn't want to turn on the lights in fear of waking her so he turned around, ready to tiptoe out the same way he'd gone in.

"Raymond?"

Raymond jolted at the quiet voice that'd called out his name. He instantly reached for the light switch and flipped it to reveal Hope still curled up on the bed, her head resting on both of her hands in almost the same position that he'd left her in. Only this time, she was facing his direction and staring right at him.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't sleep."

"At all?" He asked incredulously and she nodded. He instantly felt guilty that he'd fallen asleep when she'd probably been hurting all by herself. He moved closer to her to examine her face and it didn't look like she'd been crying. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried at that realization.

"I'm sorry. I didn't . . . " What exactly was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to comfort someone who'd received the kind of shock that she had? "Do you still want to be alone?"