“Best friends never break up, Chad. I promise.” That’s what she had said. It seemed like such a distant memory but it stung with the same pain as always. She had left. Left him to turn to dust waiting for her to came back.
“You will always be my best friend, Chad.” Again a memory of her bit into his thoughts. She always seemed to intrude when he least needed it.
“I know Brendin and I have had some rough patches, but you and I will be together forever. Always. Just like Mom says. Joined at the hip, right?” He remembered they had laughed then. But he didn’t remember what her laughter had sounded like. There had been too much sadness, too much heartbreak since then. Sometimes when this memory occupied his thoughts he wondered what it would be like to hear her laugh again. Sometimes he fancied it would sound like bells or music of the sweetest kind. But now he replaced it with a dry echo of her grandness.
He missed her so much, but he had resigned himself to his fate. He would never see her again. Just like he would never see Alexis again. The only difference between the two loves of his life was one still walked this earth. The other abided in the Otherworld. Where no mortal could venture and return alive.
Oh! How the sadness stabbed at his heart. How had he lost both at the same time? How had he let Alexis’ heart stop beating and let the other go her own way, leaving him behind? No use. No use regretting his mistakes. Regretting his actions.
Because now he was alone. It was dark in here. In the coldest corners of his mind. His lungs were filled with mucus and the dust that lingered there. He had a chronic cough. A cold that wouldn’t go away no matter what he did. His throat ached and his back pained him. He couldn’t sleep at night, couldn’t flee the nightmares that had haunted him since Alexis’ death. Since Jackie had left him, shivering here. No one left to hold him. Nothing to ease the pain of their passing.
But that was his punishment. His punishment for thinking he belonged with Alexis. He had killed her and his best friend had been unable to look him in the eye afterward. That’s what he got. Always the short end of the stick. Nothing else for him. He didn’t deserve it. What had he ever done to make himself believe that maybe he could find himself a happy ending? Nothing.
And because of that he was left alone.
With nothing.
MOre to come!!
