Unveiling Destiny

Chapter 27: Griffin

Two and a half weeks. Two and a half weeks without her smile.

Without her laugh.

Without her.

I feel like I'm going through withdrawals. I'm barely sleeping, doing everything I can to stay busy and not think of Aria.

The good news? I'm way ahead on work for my clients.

The bad news? My body's breaking down.

I stagger into the house, heading straight to my room to shower and then stare at the ceiling while I attempt to sleep, as has become my routine.

"Dude, come here," Blake calls from the living room, interrupting me.

Groaning, sure he's going to force me to eat something, I reluctantly make my way towards his voice. I find him sitting in front of the TV, watching a movie.

"What?" I ask, annoyed. I've been an absolute dick for the last few weeks, but I can't bring myself to care.

"You got a package," he says with a weird grin on his face, pointing to a small box on the coffee table.

"What'd you do?" I just stare at him, not moving.

He scoffs. "Nothing! Why would you think that?"

"You have a weird look on your face," I say, turning to head back to my hermit hole. "I'll open it later."

"Griffin," Blake states, using a voice uncannily close to the one my mother uses when I'm in trouble. "Open the fucking box."

I huff, throwing my hands in the air as I stalk over and unceremoniously grab the box, yanking my switchblade out of my pocket to cut it open, barely looking at it.

Slashing through the tape, I open the top to find a stuffed character from my favorite theme park holding a piece of paper. Unamused with whatever game Blake is playing, I chuck the stuffed animal at him, the paper fluttering to the ground in front of me.

Scowling at me, he dodges my throw. "Take the stick out of your ass, and read the damn paper, Griffin."

"I don't know what game you're playing, Blake, but I'm not interested." I turn to stalk away when I'm hit square in the back of the head by something soft.

Spinning, I turn to glare at my best friend, finding him still scowling. "This isn't from me, dipshit. Someone dropped it off earlier, and I guarantee you want to see what's written on that note. Now, would you like to remove your head from your ass, or am I going to have to surgically do it for you?"

Just wanting this to be over so I can retreat to my room, I roll my eyes dramatically and make a big show of waltzing over to the slip of paper on the ground.

If it's not too late, come find me where everything started. I'll be there all night.

My heart completely stops.

Fighting to keep my voice calm, I look at my best friend. "Blake. Who's this from?"

He throws me a shit-eating grin. "I think you know."

I look between the loopy writing on the page and the stuffed animal.

"You're not messing with me, are you?"

He snorts. "Please, I'm not that evil."

At his confirmation, my heart restarts at three times its normal speed and my stomach fills with excitement. "I'll see you later," I manage, before bolting towards the door.

"Griff?" he calls after me. "You might wanna shower first, man."

I look down at my clothes covered in grease and dirt. "Shit, you're right."