Lost souls | Mason Mount

four

Mason woke up to the horrible sound of the doorbell. It was only 10 in the morning; who could possibly be knocking on the door this early on a Friday?

He got out of bed, put on a T-shirt, and headed down the stairs to open the door, only to be met by the one and only, Ben Chilwell.

"It's 10 a.m.," Mason looked at him, his eyes fighting to be opened.

"You're lucky I didn't come earlier; I've been awake since 7 a.m.," Ben invited himself inside.

Mason had forgotten that Ben was injured still; he was only doing light training and had his own schedule, therefore he also didn't have much to do most days.

"Look, I'm only here to talk to you for a bit," Ben said as he placed himself down on the L-shaped couch, in the living room. Mason followed him and sat down on the other end.

"About what?" Mason sighed, having a slight idea of where this talk was going.

"I'm worried about you, bro," Ben looked at him, he wasn't lying. Everyone at the football club was worried about Mason.

"You don't have to worry," Mason chuckled, not taking the situation as serious.

"Yes, I do. You haven't responded to anyone's calls or texts; people think you're dead." Ben sounded slightly dramatic as per usual.

"I'm going through a loss, Ben, and my phone is the last thing I give a shit about," Mason sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"I think you should talk to a therapist," Ben suggested.

Mason looked at him and laughed, "I don't need a therapist," he said, determined. He thought back to yesterday. Talking to Hazel was a better feeling than talking to anyone else; he hadn't laughed until he spoke to her. She knows what he's going through, even if it was just a simple conversation between them.

"Ok, you know what, I tried," Ben sat up properly as he  interrupted Mason's thoughts, "but I'm throwing a get-together tomorrow, so you have to come," he added.

"A get-together?" Mason asked confused, knowing well enough it wasn't going to he exactly that.

"Fine...a party, but same thing," Ben rolled his eyes.

"I don't know man," Mason shook his head.

"Come on, you're not doing anything anyway; you could use some distraction, maybe even find yourself a girl," Ben said.

"I'm not really looking for a girl at the moment, Ben," Mason rolled his eyes. This was Ben all the time, throwing parties to hang out with girls and expect that everything would fall back in place, "you shouldn't even throw a party; what's the point?"

"Because it's fun," Ben stated what was obvious to him.

"It's a waste of time," Mason corrected him

"No it's not," Ben disagreed, "I'm not letting you lock yourself in this house anymore. I'm not saying you shouldn't grieve, it's understandable why you're having a hard time, but it's also almost been a whole month and you haven't showed any signs that you're doing better, mentally. Don't fall into that deep whole, Mase, it's not a fun place to be in," Ben said, speaking from experience with all the times he had been injured and had to deal with the pain not playing football for almost a year.

"We'll see," Mason shrugged, still not convinced if he wanted to go or not. He knew Ben was right but it wasn't so easy.

"I have to go now," Ben said, standing up from his seat, "think about it," he looked at his friend.

"Yea, see you," Mason stood up too; they both gave each other a brother hug before Ben opened the front door.

"Love you, bro, take care," Ben said before walking over to his car.

"love you too, bro," Mason waved goodbye before closing the door, ready to go back to bed again.

———

Hazel's life wasn't the most exciting one to share. For some time, she's been struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life; she was planning on getting a job, but after the passing of her mother, she just felt hopeless and not having the energy to do anything.

Her mind was somewhere else the past few days; she had been very occupied with her feelings and felt like things weren't getting better...well, that was until yesterday, when she met Mason. Sure, he's a handsome-looking guy, but that wasn't the main thing that stuck out for her; it was the fact that he made her smile for the first time in days, and that meant so much to her.

Her grandparents did see her talking to him at the cemetery, but from a distance. Hazel didn't want to talk about it with them when her grandmother asked her about him; they would most likely tease her like they always would.

She was preparing food for the three of them to eat; she placed plates on the table and helped her grandparents pour the food. Now that they were getting older, she had to look after them, and she didn't complain at all.

Hazel took a seat herself at the table; she didn't have much appetite and only took small bites, just staring at the empty seat in front of her where her mom would usually sit. She knew the pain was always going to be there; she just needed to learn and get used to carrying it, but of course it was difficult.

"Something's on your mind, Zella," her grandfather interrupted her thoughts, calling her by the nickname he had for her.

"Sorry," she chuckled, pretending like it was nothing, but she couldn't fool her silly grandparents. They can read her like a book.

"Is it that boy?" her grandmother teased her, Hazel rolled her eyes, knowing how this conversation was going to be.

"What boy?" Hazel's grandfather asked, forgetting completely what he had seen yesterday.

"That boy at the cemetery, you old fool," her grandmother rolled her eyes at her husband, causing Hazel to chuckle.

"It's nothing, I'm just a bit occupied in the head," she wasn't lying; there were all sorts of things running through her mind, and even if Mason was one of them, she didn't want to admit it. She wasn't even sure why she was thinking of him.

"You know you can always talk to us about anything, Hazel," her grandmother looked at her with a caring smile.

"I know," Hazel smiled back at her.