Desolate Me

Breathe No More

Bren stayed a while longer to help me get all my stuff situated. He left shortly after getting a text from Gwen. I went back to bed after that, all my energy spent.

“Ok, so…The Hangover or The Road to Perdition?”

“You pick.” I yawned. “You’re the one who’s going to be watching it.”

My ghost rolled his eyes. “Why do I even try?”

The doorbell rang and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

“Who could that be?”

“I can tell you who it isn’t. I’ll be right back.”

Before he could come back to tell me who it was, I was passed out again.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I didn’t dream this time. Or if I did, I didn’t remember. When I woke up it was dark, both outside and in my room. I glanced at the clock and read it was three in the morning.

“Oh just…awesome.”

I flicked on the light and nearly fell out of the bed. Darken was asleep next to me. I poked him in the shoulder gently and then as soon as I knew he was real, I really poked him.

“Hey!” He woke up, his eyes automatically looking at me. “What are you doing here?”

He rolled to his back and yawned, looking very much like a bear who’d just been woken up in winter. His black hair was disheveled and it made me wonder if he was the one at the door earlier. He obviously wasn’t as upset about the current situation as I was. Then again he was the one sleeping on my bed.

“I came to check on you.”

“Then why didn’t you leave after? And why are you in my bed?”

He smiled. “Does that bother you?”

“Just a little, yeah. Get up, get out, and I’ll be downstairs in a second.”

“As you wish.”

He sat up which brought him infinitely closer to me then he should be. Just like the one time in the hallway when we’d been this close, I didn’t move. We sort of stared at each other for a long time, both of us not moving an inch.

Until he leaned a little closer. My head jerked back on impulse.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“You have a lash.” He brushed his fingers over my cheek and then pulled away, warmth sinking back in where he used to be. “I’ll wait for you downstairs like you asked.”

I watched him leave, not daring to take my eyes off him until the door was closed. Holy crap! What was that?

I let out a breath and got up.

“I need a cold shower.”

“Might want to make it a warm one. My brother can work with a cold.”

I ignored my ghost and headed to the bathroom, taking a nice long cold/warm shower. When I got out, and I was sure everything was back in control, I went downstairs.

Darken was stretched across my couch watching TV.

“You smell better.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be asleep in your own bed?”

He clicked off the TV and stood up. The look on his face told me he hadn’t missed what I was doing upstairs.

“Have you talked to him since the debacle at the school?”