King of the Fall

Chapter 11

(Abel)

I wanted her to smile. While she slept in my arms, I thought of her smile. I thought of her laugh. Her real ones, not the ones she'd greeted me with.

She'd given me something to hope for. I didn't know if it was love or if it was just a stable future that I craved. I thought about her, like I always did these days. But I didn't think of her body. I thought about her life, the person she was and it seemed so normal that I couldn't figure out why she wasn't.

She wasn't normal and most of the time, it felt like she didn't want to try. I always thought that not being normal was a good thing. It got me where I am. It got her where she was. She was young and she was good at her job. She wasn't normal and she was amazing. But when most people tried to fit in, she didn't seem to make an effort. She did whatever she wanted.

I'd seen so many girls straighten out their natural hair, suck up to dirtbags, try to make men fall in love, sell themselves around. It wasn't my problem, they could do what they wanted but then I saw this girl. She just... stood out. She lived her own life. She'd rather not depend on people. It was just... different. She stirred in my arms and I opened my eyes and saw her reach up to take mine. "You awake?" I whispered. "Sort of," she muttered.

"What's sort of mean though?" "Um... it means, sort of," she joked and played with my fingers. "Right," I muttered. "You want to eat something?" "Um... no, not really," she said. "Okay, well, I'm kind of hungry." I felt like I was complaining but I was a bit hungry.

"Let's go out to eat," she suggested. "Are you sure?" "Very sure, let's go," she said, moving to sit up. "Sounds good," I said, rubbing my stomach. She giggled and kissed my cheek before standing up. She was wearing one of my shirts with lace undies and when she walked away from me, I felt a lot hungrier.

She came out about five minutes later in a pair of jeans, a white shirt and a hoodie. "Let's go," she said. I smiled and took her hand. "You tired?" "Um... a lot tired," she said.

"Have you slept recently?" "Between throwing up and drinking, a bit," she muttered. She was wrecked. I knew that when I heard her voice. She hadn't told me what all this was about anyway. I asked her but she just shook her head and looked away. It made me feel like she was trying to avoid the reality of it.

I looked at her as she slowly put her shoes on and then we proceeded to leave. "Do you want to walk or drive?" She asked me. "Definitely drive," I said. "Cool," she murmured and grabbed the keys of the TV table.

She was silent for the whole drive. She didn't let me drive and then she was quite the whole while, guess she needed an excuse to be quiet. It seemed like her to be silent. She wasn't exactly verbose but this was different. It wasn't like her, and I was sitting here like a dumbfuck unable to understand what was up.

She pulled into the parking lot of a nice restaurant and then I climbed out. "So, um... Elize, how's your dad?" I asked her, as we walked towards the restaurant. She stopped and when I looked at her, I realized what had happened. How it had taken my one question to reveal what she was going through.

"I'm sorry," I murmured and put my arms around her. She nodded and put hers around my waist. I kissed her neck and then her hair. "I thought you said he was stable." "There were other complications... due to his age," she murmured so softly, I could barely make her out. "Um... how's your mother?" "I haven't spoken to her," she said and walked away, effectively dismissing the discussion.

It was mine to think about her state. It was mine to be worried but it wasn't mine to ask her questions that I didn't necessarily need answers to. I met up with her and took her hand. She intertwined our fingers and I smiled.

"I'm sorry for asking." "Don't be," she murmured. We entered and took a table. We ordered and she seemed worn out. I knew that she was but I'd never seen her this way before. There was so much to go over and so much to talk about but I didn't actually want to ask those questions.

"What'd you do for this amount of time?" "Um... I drank a lot, slept a lot, threw up a lot, watched tv a lot, went to the funeral, ignored people, drank, slept, threw up and then ate here and there. Went to the club, danced, drank and then came home," she said. Blunt and... well, I didn't know what to say after that. "Oh, yeah, I smoked a lot too."

"Elize, do you think you want to go home now?" "No, not yet." "You could live with me, you know?" "I just... prefer to be here and just... not socialize. I almost... didn't call you. I didn't in a moment of... pain, fury, guilt. I didn't want you to think I was dead or... I'd forgotten you, cause I didn't. You kept me sane. Thanks for coming, by the way," she ended.

"Can I stay here then?" I said. "With you?" "That'd be great, yeah," she said, with a firm nod. "Cool."

But you decide to go ahead and lay down...

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Hey, all. I know it's a quick update but I think it's a done deal. :p I kinda like this chapter and I hope you like it too.

I'm glad he figured it out. She didn't have to tell him.... YAY!!!! hehe. Anyways, leave a message. Leave a comment. Leave a vote. Basically, leave some love.

Take care my xo folks.

xx