Metal Chains {Dylan O'Brien}

Chapter 17

The next few weeks were uneventful. On the fourth week after the night of the rain, it was seven in the morning when my phone buzzed violently against my face, waking me up out of my sleep. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and answered my phone. "Hello?" I croaked, in a slow, sleepy accent. "Katy? Oh my god, are you still sleeping? I'm sorry." Dylan's voice rang through the phone. I almost laughed. "Of course I was still sleeping Dylan; its like seven in the morning!" I sighed a little but pushed myself into a sitting position anyway.

"Well... I'm awake now. What's up? How's Atlanta?"

Dylan was called back for a second audition. The producers and director had finally narrowed it down to 10 guys for the role of Stiles and Dylan was one of those guys. "It's great. I have more time to explore and it's really amazing here. I couldn't sleep last night though." he told me. "Why not?" I frowned a little.

"Because I miss you."

"I miss you too."

He'd been gone for nearly a week now and I was beginning to wish I could talk to him face to face instead of over the phone. I don't know how we'll do if he has to move there permanently; I'm almost hoping that he won't have to. Don't get me wrong, I totally want him to get this role because it's perfect for him, but I also want to be with him. These past three months have been so amazing and I want them to continue for a long time.

"You'll be back tomorrow though, right?"

"Yeah, only one more day. When I get back... Katy, we're going to go somewhere. Just you and me, okay?"

I closed my eyes, took in the sound of his voice and then I smiled a little and answered, "Okay."  I could almost hear the smile on his face when he responded with, "Okay." and then he paused. "I just needed to hear your voice. I'll let you go back to sleep now." His voice was unusually soft as he spoke. "Alright... Dyl, are you okay?" I asked him, frowning deeply. "Yeah..." he said, but it wasn't convincing. "I'll talk to you later." Then he hung up.

After a long moment of staring at the phone in complete shock, I finally sat it down and laid my head on my pillow. I wonder what that was about. I wanted to call him back and demand him to tell me what was going on and why he was acting so strange, but I didn't. Maybe I'll talk to him later on, but right now, I should probably just get some sleep. Maybe he just needs some space.

The next time I woke up, it was because I had this strange pain shooting through my head. I stumbled into the bathroom, blinking rapidly against the blinding light, and then downed two aspirin. I took my hair out of its ponytail and exchanged it for a messy bun which seemed a little more comfortable. I still felt like sleeping even though I had slept for most of my day. If my brothers didn't check on me, they were probably still asleep too. I peeked at the clock on the bathroom wall and saw that it read three thirty-six.

I crawled back into my bed and checked my phone. Nothing from Dylan. I must have debated with myself for like five minutes before I was pressing the phone to my ear and listening to the ringing. In the middle of the third ring, he answered. "Hello?" His voice was deep and raspy. Again, something unusual. "Hey." is all I said. "Hey." he responded in that same raspy, sick sounding tone. "Are you getting sick?" I asked only to fill the silence between us. "No, why?" he answered, sounding more alert. I bit my lip and tried to hold back my tears. "Your voice... sounds different." I explained.

"Oh." Another pause. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I responded. But I wasn't really.

I couldn't help but feel like there was something he was hiding from me. I know I'm probably being very dramatic but it really hurt my feelings. "Dylan, can't you just come home now?" I asked softly, sounding more like a sleepy six year old than a nineteen year old girl. "I actually could I guess, but I'm not sure if there's any earlier flights." he answered. I bit my lip and sighed.