Fragile Hearts | RAFE CAMERON

Six | E X P U L S I O N

                           One week later

The dorm room felt like a tomb. Not a spooky, creepy tomb, but the kind that feels like it's pressing down on you, suffocating you with its quiet emptiness. I threw my backpack onto the bed, a lump of leather and textbooks that had felt like a mountain on my shoulders just minutes before.

My phone vibrated. A text from Lilah – "Hey, you back? Want to grab coffee?" She'd asked the same thing every day this week, a daily ritual that had started after the news hit. My phone had been buzzing constantly, with everyone asking the same thing, "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" And the truth was, I had no idea. I didn't know how to be okay. I didn't know what I needed.

I'm not apart of the Kappa sisters anymore now that everyone knows Rafe and I kissed. The part that hurts the most is I'm known as the girl who got played and he's known as the best player on campus. Some misogynistic bullshit.

"Hey," I typed back, "I'm just going to chill for a bit. Maybe later?"

I knew I should have gone with Lilah, should have tried to pretend things were normal. But the thought of facing someone, of having to force a smile and answer the inevitable questions, felt like a physical effort. It's better being alone, it's safer.

I sank onto the bed, the mattress surprisingly cold against my skin. My room, which had been a chaotic mix of textbooks, posters, and half-eaten ramen bowls, now felt sterile and empty. It was as if the silence had sucked the life out of it, leaving behind a hollow, echoing space.

I picked up a photo from my desk – Davis, grinning broadly as he held a fishing rod, the sunlight bouncing off his red hair. I traced the curve of his smile with my finger, feeling the rough texture of the paper.

I knew that I couldn't stay in this room, in this silence. I had to get out, to move, to breathe. I grabbed my shoes and headed outside, the cool night air a welcoming gesture from the suffocating silence of my room.

The city lights blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors as I walked, a comforting distraction from the storm inside me. I walked until my legs ached, until my breath came in ragged bursts, until I felt the tight fist of grief loosen its grip on my heart.

I finally sat down near a lamp listening to the waves wash along the shore, the beach will always be my safe place. It makes me wonder if Davis would come here at night and listen to the waves too. There's so many questions I won't be able to ask him. All I have are my memories of him. His soft brown eyes, his snarky comments, his need to be the best at everything he did.

What hurts the most is those memories will fade, but my pain will still remain.

To my shock something caught my attention. There was a figure standing at the top of the lighthouse leaning over the edge, Actually leaning, if their foot slipped they would be a goner.

I stood to my feet hoping to get a better look at what they were doing. From what I was seeing no one would stand that close to the ledge unless they wanted a death wish.

I couldn't walk away. I needed to stop it. Immediately I ran toward the lighthouse shouting for them to get down. It was far too high for them to hear me, so I made my way in. I tumbled up the hundreds of steps hoping they wouldn't have fallen by the time I reached the top.

Finally, I swung the door open making them quickly turn around.

The figure that I thought was a woman was a man, a familiar man. It was Rafe, to my demise. He was on the outside of the railing facing the ocean with his back towards me. "Rafe." I say calmly trying not to startle him. I had to push my anger towards him to side and somehow get him off this railing before he falls.