The Note in a Bottle

If I just Lay here. . .

Leo was followed by Katie into the gym. She wore her school uniform, and her hair was up in a sloppy, loose bun. "I'm honestly not going to exercise here, Leo. I'll watch for today."

"That's fine," Leo smiled, "You had a long day at the competition yesterday. I understand. Besides," he signed into the touch-screen, "I know how much you like to watch me work out my guns." He winked to her playfully, getting a laugh out of her.

"Always and Forever," Katie gave him a kiss and followed him towards the treadmill. Deciding against what she had said, she started to walk on the treadmill next to his. Leo asked what time Katie had to be back at home, and Katie whipped out her phone from her pocket to ask Mom. After getting approval from Mom to stay longer, she said, "I can go to your place and take a shower, get things together to go to Florida."

"Well you have enough stuff at my house, I'm sure you have more than five days worth."

"Exactly," Katie slid her phone back into her pocket.

===

Katie jolted awake at two in the morning. She was shaking terribly, her chest was tight, and she was having slight troubles breathing. She stared motionless at the blankets underneath her for a few minutes, then closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. She hadn't had a good night of sleep in weeks. This was the second nightmare she'd had the past hour, and she had yet to have a single 'better' dream..

Katie grabbed her phone and texted Leo that she loved him. She stood slowly from her bed and took down her hair, took a quick shower, then she pulled on Leo's dark hoodie. Katie put on fluffy, long pajamas, then laid back down on the bed. Her hair fell over her shoulders she rolled over to her stomach. Katie's monkey pillow began to soak with tears, and she covered her ears, beginning to hear the shouting in her mind again. She knew that it was just her imagination, that it wouldn't help to cover her ears, but she did it anyways, and she shivered. "Leo..." She shook her head, feeling her throat close up, and she had to gasp for air as tears streamed down her cheeks. She felt no comfort, and just got worse. She pulled the covers over her and covered her eyes with her pillow.

After a few minutes of only tears, Katie began to calm down, slowly but surely. She picked up her phone to find three new messages: Hey, Amanda? and I love you too, all by Leo. Katie let out a slow, painful, yet relieved breath. She fell weakly to her side and texted back casually, Hey, Prince.

===

Katie's eyes opened when she heard the abrupt ringing of her phone, playing 'Cheerleader' by OMI. Katie grabbed her phone and put it to her ear, "Hello?"

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Panda..." Leo was obviously crying on the other side of the phone.

"Hey... It's alright. What happened? Are you okay?" Getting no reply except a barely-audible 'no', Katie said, "I love you, Leo. And you know that's never going to change. I will always love you."

"I love you too." Leo's voice was getting a little more understandable. Katie's mind automatically came to the assumption that he was just wanting to hear her voice because he'd had another nightmare or such.

Katie closed her eyes and just sat there for a few minutes, focusing on his unsteady breaths. "Nightmare?" She guessed quietly.

"Yeah. Second one tonight."

Katie smiled sadly. "I wish I was there to cuddle with you."

"Ditto. But you know we'd do more than just cuddle."

Katie giggled at the input and said, "True that."

"Really?"

"Eh." Katie shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

"You're so indecisive and stubborn, Panda."

"I know, Monkey. But so are you, in different instances."

"That is also true."

Katie let out a soft breath. "You scared me, Leo."

"I'm sorry, Katie-bug. I never meant to. I just wanted to hear your beautiful voice. You're the one who keeps me up at night. You owe me."

Katie tugged at her bottom lip, trying to hold in a laugh as she melted inside. "You're so good at words, Leo. I love you."

"I love you too. I'm sorry for waking you up. I'll let you go."

"Are you sure? I can stay and talk."

"No, it's alright.." Leo whispered, then everything went extremely silent.

"Okay, goodnight, Leo. I love you. Sweet dreams, sleep tight, sleep well." Katie waited for an answer, only to receive more deafening silence. "Babe?" Katie sat up and hung up, then called again to see if it was just phone signal or a phone crash. She got no answer. So she called Cindy and held her phone to her ear. "Mommy? Hey, can you check on Leo?"

After a moment of rustling and murmurs from the other end of the line, Cindy said, "Katie, come over. Quick."

Katie hung up and didn't bother to put on shoes or new clothes as she ran out the door towards Leo's. Not-so-lively thoughts swam through her mind. She felt goosebumps as the wind rushed past her, and she heard Butterball, the Australian shepherd, barking at her car alarm which had obviously gone off through the house when she past it. Katie honestly had no care, and she ran faster, not wanting to get caught.

What happened...? He never just stops talking like this. Mommy doesn't speak in that cracking tone of voice often, only when she's crying. What's wrong? Did he do something? Did he hurt himself? A million thoughts of Leo hammered at the back of Katie's eyelids, threatening tears to fall. Unintentionally, she wiped her eyes. Maybe it was just the cold wind against her eyes, but her eyes began to water. Katie ran up the drive to Leo's house and put in the pass-code to the door, then walked into the house urgently, not bothering to close the door. Her probably-skinned feet slid across the carpet as she ran up the stairs towards Leo's bedroom. . .