Rrinkers

Chapter 25

The bathroom was steamy when Zoe got out of the shower. She wiped the mirror and saw the dark circles under her eyes when she stared at her reflection in the dirty mirror. It needed to be cleaned.

With a deep sigh, she continued to do her shower routine. She put her hair in a drying towel, wiped her entire body dry, and put on her creams and lotions, before getting dressed and walking out the bathroom to her bed. It was almost one in the morning and she was barely going to sleep. Tomorrow was Wednesday, the slowest day of the week, so that was the only thing she was happy about.

There was another thing that happened that brought so much comfort and happiness to her life. She found out that Malvin Rowans was not being granted early parole because the authorities found out he did not qualify for it. They found out he was only getting it because the judge was his friend. The judge was fired and Malvin was put back in the cage where he belonged.

When Zoe heard the news, the whole world was rainbows and sunshines in her eyes. She hadn't felt happier than that in a very, very long time and she wondered who had figured it out because that person was her angel. But just like a kite flying high, she came down. Fast. Today was especially hard for her. She just felt horrible. She felt so alone, with no one that she could really rely on in the entire world. All of these feelings were because she dearly missed someone she dearly cared about: Lucas.

It wasn't that she hadn't seen him that she felt so awful. It was the fact that she had no connection to him, after living in the same building for almost half a year. It was a horrible experience. She missed him. She missed him deeply. And it wasn't like she could go to his house and demand his love because he already had many girls doing that, and she didn't want to be like them. She couldn't be like the other girls no matter how hard she tried. It was simply foreign to her. So she did the only thing she could do: sit in her bed, thinking about him day and night and wishing he would show up one day and say that he cares for her more than anything in the entire world. No! She thought. That only happened in the movies. And this is real life.

She tucked herself in her blanket and closed her eyes, trying to drift off to sleep. Before, she would be able to sleep no problem. But now, whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Lucas, standing there looking deeply into her eyes, just like he would always do when he was talking. She missed it so much.

It was harder when she saw him in her dreams. He would be doing something loving and nice towards her and every time, she would think she was actually with him until her alarm clock woke her up and jolted her back to a reality without Lucas, and the same cycle of missing Lucas everyday would start all over again.

It's not like she didn't have anyone special in her life. She had Evelyn, Gabe, and she was starting to get closer with Ann from the coffee shop, but she wanted someone in a different sense. She hadn't had someone like that in a long time and it was weird that she missed it and craved it because she never craved anyone that way. Damn you, Lucas!

Why am I even thinking about him? He is probably sleeping with another girl as we speak right now! I'm over here getting heartbroken for him when he's living carefree like he never met me. He doesn't care! Her mind screamed at her.

At that moment, she decided that sleep would be the best option. She was done thinking about this like she did every night. What she needed was sleep.

While she was slowly drifting off to sleep, she thought she heard a noise coming from inside her room but she wasn't sure if it was the wind or if it was only in her imagination. She decided on the latter and went back to sleep.

That was before a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her up. She was awake in a heartbeat. Her entire body was in shock. There was someone in her room!