33 | kunboss - game of life

13 1 2
                                    

track #05 in kunboss ryder bailey

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

track #05 in kunboss ryder bailey

enhypen // foreshadow


TO ME, the hours after Cadence's passing tick by like a time bomb. Slow, but you never know when it'll explode. Everyone resumes life like they did before; our house is just as bustling and as active as it was two days ago – and I can't help but think: how could they?

Knowing how Cadence suffered in her past life just to keep us happy and content broke my heart more than I'd ever know. I never even bothered to talk to her or understand what she was going through. And Laine was just unbelievable.

At this exact moment, Laine herself knocks on my door, and I groan to myself, because why must she always be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I stifle all my feelings, though, and crack the door open.

"I'm sorry," she blurts before I even have the chance to say anything.

"What do you want?" I snap.

Laine raises an envelope in her right hand before carefully handing it over to me, and I take it with curiosity. "I know you're mad at me for being here, and I get it. Hundred-percent. Maybe Cadence meant more to you than you thought she did."

I frown at her as if to ask her if she's done yet, but she raises a hand in protest. "I found this in my- Cadence's room while I was unpacking. I showed it to the others already – I just thought you deserved the right to know about and read this. So you'll understand what Cadence was going through. I'll go now," she smiles awkwardly, already backing out the door.

As the door clicks gently shut behind her, I clutch the envelope – also adorned with Cadence's handwriting in black ink – tighter in my hands, waiting until I reach the bed to open it.

I might have overestimated my capacity, because one look at the letter brings tears. They prick at the corners of my eyes, liquid droplets as sharp as daggers. Laine was right. It helps me understand what Cadence had been going through. Because as much as I blame myself for not being able to figure out how she was feeling in time, I don't think anyone else would've been able to.

Only one day ago did Cadence write this letter – and it strikes me how everything has changed. In one day, our team has lost someone, and unlike what others say, not gained something in return. Cady was more valuable than I'd ever thought she was – but I guess that's on me for not being able to appreciate her.

"To Rylie:

The day your heart stopped beating, so did mine. The day fate cut the bond between us, I'd lost everything I'd ever lived for. And when I saw the life slip out of your eyes, that blank stare when we both realized the shared future we'd designed together, was gone.

We'd promised that we'd be with each other every step of the way, didn't we? We told each other that I'd support you when you fell, and you'd help me up if I did. For the longest time, that was my dream, but with one simple crash, the collision of the galaxies, it was all gone, and that made me angry. That made me scream and cry. My world was gone.

⁴ FLEETING DECISIONS ─ the adelaide woodsWhere stories live. Discover now