Sincerely, Red

Chapter Twenty Three

David smiled softly, ruffled my hair and looked back down again. I don't know what it was exactly but something told me that he would always be on my side, whether I did right or wrong. I didn't doubt that he'd tell me to make the right decisions, but his support would never be threatened by anything. He was just David and he hadn't really changed that much. He was still a good person and that meant that he'd broken the world and beat it at its own game, because the world was always trying to break us.

Claire, on the other hand, looked like she was about to start crying. She had lost the sharp edge she'd always carried and I guess it was that which was letting her open up. Her personal barrier against everyone had left her feeling alone and isolated. After a while, I'm pretty sure she'd convinced herself that she really was those things. That had driven her to become an angry and cold person. I suppose feelings have a funny way of working and hers were no different.

"Don't apologise," she said, letting out a sob. "I should be the one apologising. I'm so sorry for not knowing what was going on. I had suspicions and I just... I just let them remain suspicions. I never actually went to look for answers and maybe we could've-"

"Claire," David said gently, touching her shoulder. "It's okay. We're not going to get anything out of self pity and blame. We're just going to drive ourselves to insanity and that's the last thing anybody needs."

She nodded and wiped her eyes, which were red from previous rounds of crying. "If other people can do this, so can I," she muttered. Then she corrected herself. "I meant us. We're going to do this together."

David's mouth twitched at the sides, as she let out a watery smile and interlocked her fingers with mine and then his. I liked how her hands were warm and that she wasn't talking about how she needed a manicure. I also liked how David's hand was bigger so her hand was lost in his, whilst the sunlight this time pierced the window and wrapped itself around us.

It was perfectly imperfect, if you could describe it like that at all.

We didn't go back home.

Instead, Claire booked two rooms in a hotel just ten minutes away from where Lucas lived. It wasn't an incredibly modern building but it wasn't really all that old either. The outside consisted entirely of red bricks and someone had cut out silver letters to form The Safe Haven, which was the name of the hotel.

It seemed oddly fitting, especially when I found that the inside reminded me of home. It wasn't home as in Claire's custom made kitchen and living room or even David's worn out sofa and picture frames. It was the fact that there was a blend of personalities, like I'd felt with both of my parents. Whereas some people were lively and animated, others were relaxed and more reserved. The entire first floor of the hotel was filled with these types of people, as they checked in and out and we waited in line. It reminded me of Claire's and David's differences and the way they made what I thought of as home.

When we eventually got to the front desk, a man handed Claire and then David an electronic key each. They were supposed to get us into our rooms, one of which I would be sharing with Claire. I found it odd that a small card gave us access to everything else. That was probably only because I'd never actually had a need to go to a hotel before and this was the first time I'd stepped into one.

"Is it okay?" Claire asked, as we boarded the lift. "I didn't want you to go straight back to the house after waking up. A change of setting was meant to be a good thing and David thought so too, but if you'd rather go somewhere else I can change the plans and-"

"It's okay," I answered, putting a stop to her rambling. "I like it and the fact that it's close to where Lucas is. Do you think we'll be able to see him today or is he in hospital?"