CLAUSTROPHOBIA

V

October 12th, two and a half weeks until Halloween

Ronni felt frozen in her stance as the name exited Lane's mouth.

"That's him...that's who killed my mom." Ronni's eyes dropped to the ground as she became unable to process all the thoughts swarming around her head.

Across from her, Lane was equally dumbfounded. "He really did it, he went to jail for your mom." Although he had been the original one to come to this conclusion the reality of it now being confirmed boroughed it's way deep into his chest. For several moments Lane felt as if he couldn't even inhale air with how heavy the reality of the situation felt. The more he thought about it, the worse the feeling got. "He's getting out in two weeks."

"What?!"

"He got convicted of manslaughter so he gets out on parole in two weeks."

Ronni's eyebrows furrowed together in disgust. Her whole body shook with the revelation as she turned away from Lane and walked back toward her door. "He loved my mom so much he killed for her." The thought sent a sinking feeling into her stomach. She peeked behind her shoulder to find Lane looking almost nauseous. His eyes looked glazed over in disgust causing Ronni to realize how much harder he was taking the news. She knew it was better to close off her feelings for the moment and focus on him.

She walked back up to him and before she could place a comforting hand on his shoulder he spoke. "No wonder my mom left." He croaked out, face looking more devastated than Ronni had ever seen him before. She felt the pure sorrow and confusion radiating off of him and her heart ached at the sight. Without even thinking Ronni leaned forward to wrap her feeble and shaking arms around his tall body pulling him in close to hers. When he squeezed her back she could feel how hard his heart was beating through his shirt. The warm feeling of his arms tangled around her torso knocked the wind out of her.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sure he loved your mom too."

"I don't know, they were never happy. But maybe now she's happy away from us..." His voice trailed off as his arms held Ronni tighter.

"Lane, it's not your fault she left. You know that for sure now."

"I don't know what to do with this. Do I talk to him about it? Do I not? Does this make it better or worse?" Lane rambled, voice cracking in between the few tears that escaped.

Ronni pulled out of the hug but still held onto his arms. "You have two weeks to figure that out. Maybe you could get some closure."

"You-" Lane began to answer but was quickly interrupted by the sound of Bobby yelling that it was time to leave. His voice was a repreve to the heavy emotions currently clouding the two of them allowing them to re-gather their thoughts.

Lane pulled Ronni back into a short hug in order to press a barely there kiss near her temple. "Thank you, Ron." Was all he said before disappearing toward the sound of his brother's voice.

Ronni felt her entire body heat starting at the point where he had kissed her. She let herself bask in the comfort of the feeling until she realized that heat was how Steven used to make her feel. While the heat from Lane was comforting and the same feeling from Steven was sadness and anger her mind and body could not tell the difference. The similarity scared her out of her mind. Her brain began replaying the horrible feeling she got every time someone hurt her and Ronni's anxieties toward the possibility of being hurt again made her believe she could not afford to love someone ever again. These fears convinced Ronni that it would be best to pull away from him in service of protecting herself.