Come Find Me (boxboy)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

*Present day*

Come find me.
-C

It was the only thing I had ever heard from Caleb Stanley in the seven years that separated the last moment we had ever seen each other to now. I kept the letter to this day, even though it was sent over two years ago. It didn't make sense the first time I ever read it and it still didn't make sense now. I've held this very crumbled, coffee-stained paper probably at least a million times over again and yet; nothing.

I tried to "find him" for years but he never wanted to see me. I didn't know why though because the last time we had seen each other, he was declaring his love for me. Then a week later, the first time I had ever tried to visit him, he denied me.

I could still remember the scene as if it were yesterday and not seven years ago. I had walked up to the receptionist in the waiting room after a very uncomfortable pat down experience and when I had told her, "I'm here to see Caleb Stanley." She walked away only to return a minute later.

"He doesn't want any visitors," The older, blonde lady said into the small hole of the glass that stood between us. At this time, Caleb was at a minor's facility since he was a year short of eighteen. Though the place was for minors, it was set up like a real prison. The air was cold and crisp yet had a dusty smell I could never quite place.

"Did you tell him that I'm Bentley Cooper?" I asked her, my voice only short of a plea.

"He said he doesn't want to see the ginger kid." Her voice was just as flat as her expressionless eyes. She looked at me as if I was just another fly buzzing around and annoying her. The way she said those words were so minimal compared to the feelings they raised inside me. The words caused my world to collapse around me; it was truly an earth shattering moment for me. The weeks leading up to that moment was already a hell for me and then that. Yet, to the lady behind the glass, it was just as ordinary as ordering a pizza.

"Ginger kid?" My voice echoed hers in a heartbreaking question.

"That is what he said, yes." She nodded, her eyes glancing to the person behind me who was next in line. I tried not to let this bother me but she was obviously getting annoyed.

"Can you ask him again? Just tell him that-" She had cut my begging off abruptly.
"Kid," She said, "You're holding up the line. Come back another day."

So, I did exactly that. I came back another day, only it was the very next day. When the same lady was working and saw me yet again, she was visibly pre-annoyed with me.

"How can I help you?" She asked with a long, drawn out sigh. I had to try my best not to roll my eyes at her, she knew exactly why I was there.

"My name is Bentley Cooper and I am here to see Caleb Stanley." The second day my stance was much more firm, much more determined. I was convinced that after a night thinking about how I had come to see him would change Caleb's mind. I thought he would fold and say yes and hold my hand across a damn table like he promised he would.

It was the same drill as the day before and when she came back, she wore the same expressionless face. "He doesn't want to see you."

As if it could, my world had shattered again, just twenty-four hours after it happened the first time. This didn't deter me though. I returned the next day and the next and the next after that. It had turned into a routine. After school, drive to the facility. After work on the weekends, drive to the facility. I did this for months and months and every single time that damn lady came back with the same words. Everytime I begged for the same mercy as the day previously and never did she lighten up.