All in One | Short Stories

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Matthew's phone rings at exactly 6 am, interrupting the little sleep he finally got after his game with Sarah which ended with a draw.

He groans tiredly before opening his eyes. The phone keeps ringing beside him and he picks it up and stops the ringing.

Letting out a tired yawn, he gets up from his bed and enters the bathroom.

In about 20 minutes, he steps out in a dry white towel around his waist and immediately someone barges in.

"Can't you knock?" he raises a brow as Sarah closes the door behind her.

"Since when did that one start? Besides there's nothing new to see." she teases with a smirk on her face and he shakes his head then walks over to his wardrobe.

"Mr. & Mrs. Adams wants to see you." she informs him using his parents' last name as she slumps on his bed.

She had slept over since it was already too late to go back to her lonely apartment which she shared with Tom.

Her parents got a divorce once she became a sophomore in college. No one wanted to keep her and that was when she met Tom who had always been there for her.

"What now?" he mutters as he opens his wardrobe to get something to throw on.

"Did you think about what I said last night?" Sarah asks.

"Was I supposed to think about anything?" he asks as he brings out a blue top and a black short.

"Matty." she calls, calmly.

"Sarah, please. Let's not talk about this now." he begs her before raising his brows and nodding his head - a gesture for her to look away.

She gets the message and turns to look at the other side.
"You should really let it go. You can't blame yourself forever." she continues.

"Yes, I can. And do you know why? It's because she's gone forever. She'll never come back. Her parents will never get to see her laugh or smile or throw tantrums and this is all because of me. Because I couldn't control myself." he states as he wears his clothes.

The topic was clearly making him angry, bringing up emotions he has been battling to keep at bay for years but Sarah wouldn't let it go.

"It's not your fault she picked up a rope and committed suicide, Matty."

"Stop trying to make me feel good about this 'cos I never will. If I hadn't been a jerk with sexual needs, if I had not dated her just to dump her, she wouldn't have killed herself."

"Matty-"

"I've heard enough of this, Sar. You and I both know the truth and that is, Vivian died because of me." he says and before she could utter another word, he was out of the room.

She sighs deeply and throws her head back to hold in a tear that was about to fall. It slips out of her hold and she wipes it away before getting up to leave the room.

She wished he would stop beating himself up.

***

"Morning Dad. Morning mom. You wanted to see me." Matthew says as he reached the sitting room.

"Yes. Sit down." his father demands and he doesn't argue with him.

He sits on the couch opposite the armchairs his parents were sitting on and hoped with all his heart that it wasn't about the same marriage issue.

"Your mom and I were discussing and-"

"Dad, if it's about marriage again, I really think-"

"Let me finish, you this boy." his father cuts in and he quiets down immediately.