Timeless Tides | ENGLOT

Chapter 3: Weight of Goodbyes

Calista's POV:

I don't come down for dinner – hunger is a trivial matter compared to the aching in my heart – i don't even have the strength to leave my room, and when my parents ask me what's wrong, I just mumble a disheartened "nothing" as I turn her back on them and pull the sheets up higher.

It's dark in my room when my dad brings me a sandwich, the odor of grilled cheese and ham – my favorite – reaches my nose through the sheets, but even then I don't care. Dad takes a seat on the edge of my bed and rests his large, gentle hand on my back. But I don't move.

"Want to talk about it?" He asks. "You'll feel better."

I stay silent, shutting my eyes tight.

"Ember came by to check on you again," he then says, and based on the way his hand begins rubbing circles on my back, I assume he knows this is about Ember.

"Tell her I'm fine," I finally say, the muffled heat from my breath is moist and suffocating inside my fort of pillows.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?"

"Dad," I plead.

There's a silence in which I know that dad is contemplating his next move. The more he tries the more stubborn I become, and really, I just want to be left alone.

"Eat something," he says, "it'll make you feel better."

"Mhmm." Hoping my response will make him leave me alone.

When the thud of a door closing reaches my ears, tears I've been holding back, began to fall again – the painful kind, the one where already red, swollen eyes start stinging before the first tear even falls.

I bury my face in my pillow and let the sobs wrack my body, feeling as though my heart is breaking into a million tiny pieces. How could I have been so stupid to think that Ember might feel the same way I do? The memory of her pulling away from our kiss fills me with a fresh wave of pain.

I hear a knock on the door, and despite my best efforts to quiet my sobs, I knew they heard me.

"Cal? Honey?" I hear my mom's voice through the door. "Honey, you're dad and I—"

"Just go away!" I shout, "I promise I'm fine mom!"

I hear silence, then shuffling on the other side before hushed tones speaking to each other started. "Let's leave her be." My mom said, most likely to my dad.

"Just...just eat your sandwhich Cal." My dad's voice said louder. "I love you." He added.

I bit my knuckles and curled up tighter, fresh tears building up behind my eyes. Forcing sleep to come sooner.

...

The sandwich is cold when I wake up. It still smells good and my stomach growls, so I give in. It leaves me with a dry throat, and the second I think about water, my bladder suddenly shrinks to a painfully small, painfully full size.

Groggy, dehydrated and dizzy, I go to the bathroom. The house is dark and silent, except for the fridge buzzing away from some corner of the house. In the bathroom, I did my business and because the inside of my mouth tastes and feels like death, I brushes my teeth.

I pick up a bottle of water from the fridge and chugs half of it on the way to my room wincing when the cold water mingles with the minty freshness in my mouth.

On the bedside table, my phone flashes a steady rhythm demanding my attention. I know what I'll find, things I don't want to see, but I check it anyway. Unread text messages from Ember apologizing for freaking out and begging me for a chance to explain herself.