V O I D

Chapter 2.

Lin woke the next morning and rolled out of bed in search for pain medicine to reduce the ache in her head. She stood in front of the bathroom sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She shook her head at the reflection staring back at her and popped a couple pills into her mouth, chasing it quickly with water. She splashed water on her face to wake herself up and made her way into her kitchen to find something to eat.

She heated up some leftovers in the microwave and sat on the couch to eat them. Her phone lit up on the coffee table and she glanced down to see a missed call and voicemail from a number she did not recognize. Lin pushed play on the voicemail and placed it on speaker mode, setting the phone back down on the coffee table. She took a bite of food.

"Linny," a raspy, male voice came across the phone.

Lin's stomach dropped and when she realized the voice was her father, who she had not spoken to or heard from since her senior year of high school. Now, it was ten years later and the voice still haunted her, making her cringe as she listened carefully to the voicemail.

"Listen..your mother..." the voice continued. "She uh, had a heart attack I guess and apparently she still had me listed as emergency contact. Well, the doctors say it's not good and, Linny, you should probably try to get home," her father's voice trailed off and the voicemail stopped.

Lin sat quietly, staring at her phone as the room fell silent.

____________

Kath woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than the day before. She rolled over, glancing at her phone read a few missed messages that she had on her phone.

Sam(7:45am): So I was thinking we could do dinner tonight

Sam(7:46am): It would give us a chance to talk more

Sam(7:49am): Only if you want...

Kath laughed and shook her head.

Kath (8:31am): you're up early. And yes, that sounds perfect.

Kath smiled down at her phone. She thought about how long it had been since she felt anything more than a friendship for another human being. She felt that she had fell into the comfortable feeling of only caring for herself, but her friends began to describe it more as 'being afraid to let someone new in.'

December 31st, 2013

"Damn, lil' sissy, who you all dressed up for?" Charlotte asked as she entered the bathroom, seeing Kath looking at herself in the mirror.

"It's New Year's Eve, I figured I'd wear something nice," Kath smiled.

"So which one of those future frat boys out there are you lip locking with at midnight?" Charlotte asked.

Kath laughed. "Definitely none."

"Oh come on, Kath. New Years tradition!" her older sister informed her.

"Maybe if someone I'm interested in shows up," she laughed.

"So you ARE interested in someone?" Charlotte asked.

"Goodbye, Charlotte!" Kath said, pushing her out of the bathroom.

"Why don't you get out there and entertain your guests, they're starting to show up," Charlotte nudged her.

Kath took a deep breath and looked at herself once more in the mirror before descending down the stairs.

Present Day

Kath shook her head at the memory and climbed out of bed, taking her phone off of the charger and bringing it with her to be sure she wouldn't miss anymore messages. She made her way down the stairs to see a note on the counter from her sister.