Blocked Away | A TMF Fan-Fiction

Chapter Eighteen

Zander's P.O.V.

Last night was not fun. After Hailey left his room, Zander pretty much did the same thing the whole night: lying down in his bed and sulking, trying not to think about what had happened to him that afternoon.

The next morning, Zander now lied in his bed, with his blankets and bedsheets kicked around his bed. He and his best friend had the same habit where, whenever they got a bad night's sleep, they would kick the blankets around. At least...Zander thought Luke was still his best friend. He still thought of him that way. But that was the problem... Zander wasn't quite sure where they stood yet. It had only been less than twenty-four hours since it happened though.

Zander could feel a headache that was centered near the back right side of his head. The lighting in his room was still dark. He wondered what time it was, and flipped over his phone to check. It read, "5:03 a.m." Zander was hoping it would've been later. It being this early just left him more time to be depressed. He then realized he had two options: he could either wallow in pity about what happened last night, or do something to keep himself occupied. If he were to wallow in pity, he would eventually have to start thinking about what happened, and he really didn't want to do that. So he decided to do something.

As he considered his options as to what he could do, he noticed his Frankenstein book lying on top of his desk. He had to finish it before the weekend was over, so now was just as good of a time as any to get it over with.

So Zander lazily got the book from his desk, plopped back down on his bed, and started reading. He wasn't sure quite how long he had been reading. It felt like hours. Usually he would read much faster, but he kept on getting lost in the sentences, and had to keep on rereading them.

(Warning: the next paragraph will contain spoilers for Frankenstein, and mentions of suicide)

Zander was getting pretty close to the end. So far he was not happy with how the story was going. Elizabeth, the main character's wife/sister/cousin, had died from the monster murdering her. Victor, the main character, had killed himself out of sadness for Elizabeth's death. Then the creature, who had literally made Victor's life a living hell on purpose, got really upset about Victor dying for some reason, and also killed himself.

Something about the ending really pissed Zander off. He slammed the book shut, and threw in across the room. It landed into a photo he had on his desk, knocking it over, but he didn't care. Guess Luke was right about the ending being pretty typical... Why do so many classic books end in suicide?

Zander suddenly noticed that his room was no longer dark, and now bright. He looked at his phone to check the time, only to see that it was 10:36. Zander was taken aback to see the time. He knew he took a long time to read, but he would never have guessed he took that long. He then suddenly remembered the plans he made with Luke, to meet up with him at the coffee shop at 11:00. Realistically, he knew their plans were cancelled. It went without saying. But Zander still wanted to make sure...but he didn't want to text Luke about it either. That would feel wrong. He decided that we would just go to the cafe, on the off chance Luke showed up. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Zander then threw on the semi-decent outfit of a sweater, and some khaki pants. He walked downstairs, and by the kitchen to get to the door, but then he heard a voice.

"Woah." Zander turned his head to see Hailey sitting at the kitchen counter, with her laptop open in front of her. "You look so..."

"I look so what?" Zander asked bitterly. But he knew what she meant. Even though his outfit was decent, he knew he probably looked like a mess. Whenever Zander was distraught, you could just see it in his face, that he had no energy, nothing to give. But Hailey knew better than to say that outloud to him right now, and just looked away, pushing some hair back behind her ear.