Flames and Starlight

52🌘

Ruben

I groaned as the sound of my phone shrilling near my ear. I wearily opened my eyes and saw it was sitting a few feet away from me on the nightstand. I cursed, grabbed it, and turned it off. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. My head was pounding and I felt like I was going to either shit or puke - maybe both. 

The phone rang again. I growled and turned it off. It rang again.

Snarling, I grabbed it and answered it. "What?!"

"Dang man, chill," Nick's voice came over the line. "I was just trying to see if you made it home okay." 

"Well, I did." I checked the time and saw it was only seven in the morning. I groaned again. "Shit, Nick, why are you calling so early?"

"I've been trying to reach you for days to tell you I'm moving to North Carolina. You haven't answered any of my texts and I wanted to let you know what was going on. I got a job opportunity from my uncle and I'm moving down there. I'm leaving in two hours." 

The news jolted me. I sat up, suddenly sober.

"In two hours?"

"Yeah. I wanted to say goodbye before I leave. You've been a complete ghost this year, man. It's like you've been living under a rock."

I rubbed my eyes. "Shit, I've been trying to forget everything that's happened. I haven't been able to focus on anything else."

He was quiet for a second. "It's alright. I knew you went through a lot."

I sat up in the bed and rubbed my eyes, trying to clear them. "I thought I'd be over it by now."

"Dude, you don't just 'get over' something like that. My cousin got kidnapped when she was eleven and she's twenty-three now and she's still not over it. That stuff stays with you. Have you tried going to a therapist?" 

I snorted. "You know those people don't help. All they do is give you pills."

"No, there are actually therapists that can help, but maybe you need to get out of this state. Maybe it's this place and the people you're around."

I winced at his statement. The reason I kept avoiding Laura was that every time I looked at her, I thought of that attack, of being on the run, of thinking about how this might be the last day we were alive, of being subjected to mental torture beyond repair.

I knew that all of it wasn't her fault, that she'd gone through the trauma of her own, but she reminded me of the attack. I knew I was hurting her. I'd considered ending things between us, just so she could move on and not have to worry about me anymore. That was the best thing for both of us, but there was also this big, cowardly part of me that was scared too. I didn't think I could handle seeing the devastation on her face, of seeing how much I'd crushed her.

And it wasn't just her. It was this whole place. I kept seeing those crows, kept remembering that Caius was here.

Maybe Nick was right. Maybe it was the people and this place that wasn't letting me move on.

Maybe it was a fresh start that would help me move on from all of this.

Before I could think twice about it, I asked, "Does your uncle's job need another person?"

"Ruben," Nick said, his voice full of warning, "are you sure about this?"

"Yes," I said, even though there was a corner of my mind screaming at me not to, telling me that this was a big mistake. "I have to get out of this place."