FEAR ▷ Denis Stoff

seventeen

I was required to come into the police station the next day. Denis had called my Grandma last night explaining what had happened and her and my Grandpa had gotten on the next flight to Nevada. The whole situation felt unreal. It felt like it was all a dream. I was going to wake up any second and my parents would be sitting in the living room joking around with Kassidy and I.

"Miss..." An officer was trying to get my attention.

I snapped out of my trance and stood up.

"I was informed that your Grandparents are here. Follow me, please." He spoke in a soft voice.

Denis laced his fingers with mine and basically dragged me along. I clung to his side, fearing he would suddenly leave too.

Kassidy was staying with Sam back at the hotel. I felt horrible knowing that they were supposed to be playing a California date today, but they were stuck in Nevada dealing with the situation. They were forced to postpone the tour for a couple days while everything was sorted out. Denis told me that he didn't want me to be anywhere else but with him so that I would be coming with the band once the tour started back up. Kassidy said that she wanted to stay with my Grandparents. By law, she had to anyways so I'm glad that we didn't have to force her.

"Sofia..." My Grandma spoke as soon as she saw me.

Denis let go of my hand and I embraced her. I had cried all last night. I physically couldn't let anymore tears fall. However, my Grandparents were a complete wreck.

I hated seeing people I loved cry.

My Grandma and I stood in an embrace for a couple minutes until another police officer had escorted us to a spare room. He had given us a piece of paper with the name of the morgue that our parents were at.

Denis stood next to me the whole time as he knew if he was there, then I'd be a little comforted. I appreciated it a lot.

***

Once we had finally made it back to the hotel where everyone else was, I was exhausted. Kassidy was asleep while Sam and James were watching some movie.

"Hey, love. How're you holding up?" James looked at me.

I shrugged and tried to smile. Needless to say, it looked bad.

"Get some sleep. I'll be right here with you." Denis rubbed my arm.

I nodded and made my way to our room. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell fast asleep.

***

"It was your fault. If you would've been there, then mom and dad would've been fine." Kassidy screamed at me.

"What are you talking about?" I was taken aback.

"You were with Denis. You seem to cherish him more than us." She shrugged.

"Denis doesn't have anything to do with this. Leave him out of it." I scoffed, in disbelief of how she was acting.

"Maybe you should burn too. Just like mom and dad did." Kassidy had an evil smirk on her face as she lit a match.

"What are you doing?" I jumped off the bed.

She dropped the match and and everything went up in flames.

I woke up screaming and in tears. I was still alone in the room. Seconds later, the door swung open and Denis rushed to my side.

"What's wrong, monkey?" He was frantic.

I pushed the blankets off of my body and threw my arms around my boyfriend. He pushed me over a bit so he could sit next to me on the bed.

"Bad dream. I'm fine." I shook my head.

"You aren't fine. You're shaking." Denis sighed and laid down.

I laid down next to him and we went silent for a bit.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

"No. Really it's fine." I insisted.

"I don't believe you." He said quietly.

"What do you want me to say? Fine, my parents just died and I'm not okay." I snapped and turned around.

***

I must've fallen asleep because it was dark when I woke up. Denis was asleep next to me. I felt bad for getting angry when all he was trying to do was help.

I untangled myself from the blankets and got up to shower.

Before getting in, I stared at myself in the mirror. I can't remember that last time I had eaten. My ribs were protruding from my stomach and I had dark circles under my eyes. I looked like a complete mess to sum it up. I didn't recognize the girl in the mirror at all.

I fell to my knees and began to cry again. It bothered me that I had no control over when I would cry or not. My body did it on it's own. A couple minutes later, there was knocking on the door. Denis was probably up and I couldn't stop myself from crying. If anything, I was crying harder.

"Sofia?" He was knocking rapidly.

I couldn't answer him. The door swung open. Luckily, I still had my bra and underwear on.

Denis' eyes landed on me and he furrowed his eyebrows in sadness.

"I-I'm sorry." I choked out.

"No, no. You have no reason to be sorry." He shook his head and picked me up off the ground.

I sat on the counter in front of him.

"Maybe I should just go with my Grandparents, I'm just going to be sad and a bitch all the time and that's going to ruin everyone's moods especially when you guys want to out and party. I'm just going to be bothersome and the last thing I want is to be-"

"Sofia, listen to me." Denis pushed my chin up so we were face to face, "You will never, ever be bothersome to me. I'm not gonna spend these next couple months worrying about if you're alright or when I can see you next. I'm not going to force you, but I really want you to come with us. I want to keep an eye on you because..."

He had mumbled the last part.

"You what?" I sniffed.

"Because I am completely in love with you."

HI SORRY THIS IS LATE. IVE BEEN KIND OF BUSY AND TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY AND LAST NIGHT I GOT TO GO SEE ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS AND HE KEPT CALLING ME HOMIE IT WAS GREAT.