Time Stops with You - Matthew Patrick

Chapter 13: Relapse

"This story is written in 3rd person"

   Matthew and Stephanie drove their separate ways from Lynn, Jazmine, and Alex. Once the three were home, Alex went to her room to write for the first time in a little while. Downstairs Lynn and Jazmine are on the sofa looking for a movie to watch. 

"Okay, fine. What about Twilight?" Lynn asked, scrolling through the recommended movies on Netflix. Jazmine gagged. "Absolutely not, I will not sit here and watch Twilight for the 3rd time this week!" She exclaimed. Lynn sighed in response.

"Why not something scary? Maybe Alex will join us." Lynn suggested. "She should get out of her head a little longer." They finished, Lynn went upstairs to see if Alex wanted to join. Jazmine searched for a horror movie and landed on It: Chapter 2.

Upstairs Lynn knocked on Alex's door. 

Knock' Knock'

"Alex, you want to watch a horror movie with Jaz and me?" They asked. Alex's response was delayed. "Uh..no I'm alright, I have the stuff to do," Alex stated, in a non-attentive answer. Alex's dragged response worried Lynn. 

"Are you okay?" Lynn asked in a low voice. 

Inside the room, Alex was typing away at her computer. She sat at the brown desk she originally got from Lynn's family.  "Yeah, I'm good. Could you make me some coffee, though?" She asked, her eyes not leaving the keyboard. A distant 'sure' was heard as footsteps walking away from the door followed. 

Alex typed vigorously as her thoughts and memories flew briskly from her mind to her fingertips and onto the vibrant screen. It was like her new experience gave her an overflowing amount of motivation to write, to tell her story, this could be the breakthrough in her writing career. Stopping anytime soon meant lost memories and moments of opportunity to recall everything.

Downstairs, Lynn's concern for Alex was passed to Jazmine. Lynn explained the hyper-focused sight of Alex, and her asking for coffee at 10 pm. Worry and empathy rushed through Jaz's face. "Alex doesn't drink coffee past 6:30, what was she doing?" Jazmine asked Lynn. "She was writing. Like, fast, and almost slamming the keyboard. Like it needed to be written down," Jaz's concern only grew more, there was only one thing Alex could be writing to intently. 

"Go make her coffee, I'm gonna talk to her," Jazmine replied. Lynn nodded and walked to the kitchen to start Alex's brew. Dark roast of course. Jaz started her way upstairs, turning left up the stairs ultimately stopping at Alex's door.

Knock'  Knock'

"Coffee? Already?" Alex called. "No hun, It's Jaz." Uh oh. Alex thought. Lynn rat me out, Jaz is in mother mode. "I'm a little busy," Alex replied, her fingers never stopped typing. The sound of the doorknob turning and the door opening was prominent to Alex's ears. "Dear, I'm worried-"

"Could you please just let me be! I'm not hurting myself." Alex struck. Jazmine stopped in her tracks, easily irritated, hyper-focused, and staying up? Alex was relapsing, only she was using writing to excuse it. What happens when there's nothing left to write? 

The sound of footsteps up the stairs draws Jaz from her half stance in the doorway of Alex's room. Lynn reaches the top of the stairs. "How'd it go?" they asked. Jaz's face said it all, the sorrow-filled frown tore Lynn inside. "We'll talk downstairs." She replied and walked downstairs, leaving Lynn to deliver Alex's coffee. They opened the door a little further.

"I said leave me be!" Alex snapped. Lynn stopped, took a deep breath, and walked into Alex's darkroom, lit with a single lamp by her laptop. "it's Lynn. I have your coffee." They stated and put the coffee on the floor next to her. "oh sorry. Thought you were Jaz. Thank you." She replied. Lynn nodded and walked to the door.

"Just let me know if you need anything else, dirtball." Lynn said playfully and left and closed the door behind her. She started downstairs to talk to Jazmine.