A Nightmare's Fate

Feeling Hollow

Chapter Fifty-three: Feeling Hollow

When I arrive home, I’m greeted by exhaustion. Sitting in the hospital room for almost the entire day, staying awake since nine this morning and now being almost one O’clock, makes me want to yawn every five minutes. When I finally dive into bed, I snuggle into the blankets and can’t help but think of all the memories I’ve had with Errik. Ever since we met, so many fantastic memories have been made and so many to smile at. So many to cry to, I think.

I miss him. I miss his smile, the smell of his cologne he wears, the sparkle in his eyes, his laugh, his gentle touch, his accent; I miss everything about him. It’s as if he’s been gone for too long. He has, I think. He’s been gone for over three months and when you finally got to see him, he can’t even speak or open his eyes.

I just lie here in bed and think about everything that has happened. Even the memories with Kenton; I recall his glorious smile and just about every single part of him I see in the back of my mind. It’s a shame that he lied to me about everything. Well . . . maybe not everything. Maybe he did it for safety? Maybe he only lied to save you? No. It couldn’t be for that reason. He had to tell the truth at some point, right? Maybe he wasn’t there correctly? Maybe his head wasn’t screwed on tight?

It makes me . . . angry to feel such an emotion; to know that Kenton wasn’t really truthful. Why did he have to do it? Why was he so secretive? Why did he have Errik know about me in secret? Why did everything happen, happen?

By the time my questions end, I just feel numb. I feel like I can’t keep asking more but they keep going. The queries never end and they’re on repeat. Even though the amount of questions stopped, they just keep echoing over and over again until my brain doesn’t want to take it anymore.

I quickly get out of bed and once I realize I’m standing on my feet, I feel so tired; so drained like every part of energy I had in me is gone; just dissipated into thin air. I gaze out the window and see the sun beginning to shine through the glass and through the curtains. I shield my eyes from the light because I’m used to the dark and I open my eyes a little wider so I’m able to adjust.

I walk into the living room and connecting kitchen and see Jessie making some pancakes as she bends down to feed Inkspot. “What are you doing here?” I ask, not knowing how she got in.

“I needed to talk to you, and I didn’t want to wake you up so I got through earlier this morning by the key in Errik’s stash and I realized I was hungry. So now I’m making pancakes.” By how many she made, I say that she only started maybe about ten—fifteen minutes ago. She then puts whatever she made on two separate plates, pours syrup on them, some butter, and gets forks as she picks them up and carefully brings them into the living room. Setting them down on the coffee table, she takes the first bite and I go afterwards.

“Oh yeah,” I begin. “I forgot to ask you . . . how was your weekend with the parents?” I had forgotten she left and got back about a day or so ago, since it is Wednesday.

“It went pretty good, I’ll admit. They were pretty happy to see me and sad to see me go. I was able to meet everyone and they were all pretty friendly.”

I snort, but hide it with some coughing. Not always will the “potential” in-laws be great to see the girlfriend or boyfriend, depending on who is meeting who. Usually fathers will be overprotective and they’ll ask their daughter if anything happened, anything that he doesn’t want to happen. Mothers can be very happy to see the person, depending on if they are overprotective or not. Lauren wasn’t that type when she met Kenton. She was very excited I had another friend. My father on the other hand, he gave him “the talk” and set some ground rules. It was pretty embarrassing at first, but when everyone got used to Kenton being around; it seemed pretty natural later on.