The Cole Album || #wattys2019

80.

Nick:

I removed my wallet to show my identity card. My eyes fell on Annalise's picture next to my parents'.

I removed the picture and looked for the wastebasket.

"May I help you?" the flight attendent asked.

"I need a wastebasket," I said.

"That way Sir," she said pointing at one by the left of the gate.

"Thanks," I said rushing over to the wastebasket caressing the picture softly before looking away and trying to throw it.

"Shit I can't get myself to do this," I whispered to myself drinking a sip of water from my bag and putting the picture back in my wallet but in a place that didn't face me.

"Hey! Liar!" someone shouted. I looked back to see at a lady walking on as the guy kept shouting.

The security hurled him over. The lady just casually walked by.

I put my headphones on and kept walking with my hands in my pockets over my wallet.

I closed my eyes and boarded the plane. The seat next to me was empty.

I licked my lips that had cracked because of the wind and cold.

The lady who was being shouted at, presumably by her boyfriend, sat next to me.

I looked at her as she put on her eye patch.

"Do I have liar etched on my face that makes you stare at me with this peculiarity?" she said.

"I... Sorry... I didn't mean to bother you," I said looking away.

She removed her eye mask looking at me.

"Never seen a handsome yet mannered boy like you before," she said.

"Uh... Thanks?" I asked at her. She smiled.

"Caroline Ludley... You are?" she asked.

"It would be better if we just kept quiet considering the brawl when you entered," I said looking out of the window.

"Well... The guy out there... He is a bastard... I never cared for him, neither did he," she said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Intuition... Haven't you ever felt that the person you are all in for is all in for you?" I asked.

"I indeed have. And I was wrong," I said looking at her.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I'm sorry but I think i know my life and the person better than you," I said trying to shut the tears down.

"As you wish... People make mistakes and they apologise. The key is three fs... First Forgive. Second forget. Third ask them to Fuck off," she said.

I couldn help but chuckle.

"Genovese... Nick Genovese," I said.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

"Nice to meet you too," I said.

The flight landed soon enough as I walked down.

"Hey.. Hey..." Caroline said as she got off on the same airport as me.

"Don't tell me that you live so close by," she said.

"I don't think we will be meeting again," I said.

"Whatever... Also, take care of your phone when you are in a plane," she said as she pulled her luggage away with a smile on her face. I checked my phone. She hadn't opened my confidential files or used it anyway.

Clara had called me. I opened her contact and called back.

"Hey... You reached?" she asked.

"I indeed did," I replied.

"I'm here if you need me," she said.

"That's what she said," I said as I hung up and closing my eyes and wiped my tears.

I looked at the contact list waiting on Clara's. I had tagged it as sister.

I backspaced it all and left it blank. My eyes rested on the next person.

Caroline Ludley. She had added her phone number with the tag as 'friend'.

I don't know why but she surprised me. I put my phone back in my pocket and called a cab back home.

I cleaned the house of her things and packed them in her house with the spare key she left with me.

"Leave me now Annie," I said after closing the door.

And maybe her from my life.

Adam:

I didn't feel like doing anything. Clara won't open the door for me any more. Emmet didn't look at me the same way. I couldn't bring myself to contact Christina or Neva.

I walked by Anna's door and heard intense coughing and someone falling down.

"You alright?" I knocked and found the door open. I got in to find Anna slumped on the floor.

"Anna?" I called her crouching next to her. She had left the balcony window open and the thermostat was switched off. It was cold. Too cold.

"What are you doing here? Go away? Let me rot," she said pushing me feebly.

I got up and closed the windows and the balcony. I turned the thermostat up to get it to a hotter temperature faster.

"What are you doing?" she asked getting up and tripping.

"Saving your goddamned ass," I said putting her on the bed and covering her. I turned the thermostat down as she fell asleep.

I got up and left the room. I got back in mine. I wanted her so bad. The way her lips looked. She was beautiful. I was insane. She was insanely beautiful.

I closed my eyes having a full meltdown after understanding what Anna now wanted to do. All because of me. I went in the shower and switched it on. To full heat and to full cold.

My nerves calmed down as I got out. I changed and sat on the bed closing my eyes hoping that this nightmare would end sooner. That time will be reversed and that the history will be a past.

The memory would be wiped and it would be calm.

That the sin would be forgotten.

Nick would be back. I would be with Mikalya even though i hated every moment of it. That Clara would be alright. That she won't leave me. All an assumption. A wish.

That no one will remember that I loved Annalise or that she loved me.