A Time Traveling Fairytale

Chapter 53 | Hate Is Born When Love Has Failed

Elena's P.O.V.

I need a meaning. A fire to keep me alive.

My grip on life is weak and slippery, and I don't know how much longer I can go on. I'm living on borrowed time.

Who knew the world could be so cruel? So murderous?

I feel so empty, but how can I be hollow when I am crying so many emotions? Nothing feels right. I can't think straight or eat or just function.

Whatever I push down, comes up. Whether it be food or feelings, I can't control anything.

I'm choking and drowning in this thick atmosphere that is filled with nothing but a dark grief and emptiness. It's hollow, but how?

How can I drown in such sorrow? An empty hole brimming with living nightmares that haunt me every time I wake up.

Is this how I'm supposed to live the rest of my dead life? Living like a ghost?

Suddenly, the front door was slammed open and shut closed, breaking the fragile, yet, heavy silence in this soulless house.

Out of all the days and moments in this world, this was not the time.

"Hey, sweetheart," a voice spoke — a sound that should lit a child with happiness. It echoed in this hole, mirroring the emptiness in their words.

The sweet and calm tone summoned another wave of woe, causing me to sink deeper into the dark depression. It almost cut off the little oxygen that was left in the room, sucking the life out of the plants.

I lifted my head from my hands and met the eyes of those who killed my childhood.

'Mom and dad' are what most people would call them, but they are far from it. If there is one thing— one thing that they are not, it's a parent.

The man with brown and gray hair sighed, walking over to me to pat my shoulder. Silently, I flinched and pulled myself out of his empty comfort.

"We heard about. . . Hazel," he spoke gently, trying to comfort me with a small smile that was not even half genuine.

The mentioning of her name was like a stab. Another bleeding wound that tore me apart.

"We're both very sorry for your loss, honey," the woman continued, giving me a look of sympathy to cover her green, toxic eyes.

"It must have been very tough for you to lose such incredible friend," the man finished the robotic words that seemed to have been rehearsed with his wife; almost as if it was a presentation.

As if it was all just some work.

He tried to pat my shoulder again, but I leaned away from him, which made him awkwardly retread his hand.

"It is." Was all I could say through the different emotions that crossed each other's paths.

I couldn't look them in the eye when I spoke. The last thing I needed to feel was betrayed.

Betrayed by the two people who were never there for me. Betrayed by how they never showed up to any of the important events in my life. Betrayed by how they could just forget that I existed, by how they could ignore me so easily.

Betrayed by how they took my faith in them, abused and twisted it. Betrayed by how they just tore me apart and made me feel so. . . shattered.

They are the ones who betrayed the love I once had for them. A love that only exists as a myth. A love that they never, in their entire life, returned.