Collecting Polaroids |Slowburn|

Chapter 37

Isla's POV

I didn't sleep. I didn't sleep at all last night. 

Elliot and I reached home at around 11 and he went straight up to bed since he drove nonstop for 2 hours. I regretted sleeping in the night before, but that wasn't the reason I was wide awake.

This was the first time I was alone, far from home on the night Marleen had died. I couldn't go visit her, tell her how much I missed her. How often I felt a longing to be with her when I did things. Things like drinking my morning coffee. Marleen was always my coffee partner. But now, there was someone else to take the empty place she had left. Elliot. 

He didn't just fill the empty space of being a coffee drinker, he seemed to fill the space in my heart. I always felt this feeling whenever I was with him. The same feeling I felt when my sister was born. Or when Marleen threw me a party because I failed my AP Calculus exam. A feeling of exhilaration that makes your heart race. The thought of him makes my heart flutter, and every time I think of him, I have to force down a smile. That feeling, I knew what it was. But I couldn't bring myself to admit it. 

I jumped as I heard a knock on my door. It was a quiet knock, but I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. So I turned and pulled the covers over my head, snuggling deeper into the blankets. It felt as if no matter how many layers I wore, nothing could bring me warmth. I could hear the pitter patter of the rain on the tiled roof as it poured over Paris. The first rain of the month. Perfect timing really. 

"Isla?" I heard Elliot's deep voice come through the door. 

I secretly loved his morning voice. Every morning he would come down the stairs, in a sleepy daze and blindly search for me. He usually found me in the kitchen, holding his precious cup of coffee. He used creamer and sugar, while I had it plain black most of the time. Sue me for being too lazy to add creamer to my own cup. I was willing to do it for someone else. 

I glanced at the clock that read 7:58 am. I was curious as to why Elliot was awake so late after he was dead tired from driving last night. Moments later, I heard his footsteps retreat down the stairs. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"Isla." 

"Isla."

"Beansprout!"

I sat up with a gasp, my eyes wide open. There was only one person who called me beansprout and that was Marleen. 

"Did you really fall asleep on me?" she demanded, a teasing look crossing her face as she stared down at me. She looked exactly the same, hair, natural makeup and everything.

"Wha-"

"What are you waiting for? Come on you old hag," she interrupted, yanking me up by my arm. 

"Let's go!"

We ran through tall grass that reached to my shoulder, slapping at my arms and legs as we crashed through them. I remembered this place. The park by our house where we used to meet up on Friday's after school. 

I almost crashed into Marleen as she came to a stop. 

"What the hell?" I muttered, staring down at the ground the fell away before us into a clear ravine. 

There was never a ravine or a cliff anywhere near the park. 

"What do you think we'll see today?" Marleen asked, tilting her head at me as she looked down at the steep drop.