Deserving | ✔

Chapter 17

A call from my phone stops me. It stops all my thoughts, all my actions and my whole breath. It was like a call from my life. I quickly swerve and stop the car.

When I pick the phone from my dashboard, I look at the ID. It's Ian.

"Hello? Ian?" I ask, waiting for some sign from the other end.

"Buddy?" I hear a constrained voice from the other side.

"Ian? Where are you? How are you? What's going on? Just, where are you right now?"

I hear a sob. "You don't need to worry about that. I'm somewhere. That's what matters. I'm still somewhere in this earth and that's the problem."

"What problem, buddy? What are you talking about?"

After a long pause, he says, "Today is my Angel's birthday. She's turning 24 today. She's going to get engaged today. She's going to be the luckiest woman on earth today. Or would have been, if she had been here. Had it not been for me, she would be here. I'm a coward, buddy. I don't deserve to call you buddy, Phillip. I don't deserve to be Steph's step brother. I don't deserve this life. I deserve nothing but death. But I'm too coward to even seek my own death. I'm too selfish, too cowardly, too betraying... too weak."

My breathing hitches. I fight myself to bring out the right words to tell him.

"Ian, you did nothing to Stephanie. Don't blame yourself for something didn't do. I know you didn't do anything."

He snorts. "Oh, but I did. I'm the sole reason why she's not alive right now. And you know nothing about it. I'm a betrayer."

A thought which I never would've imagined to think enters my mind. "What do you know, Ian? Do you know something? Did you do something?"

There is nothing but silence in the end.

"I'm sorry, buddy," he says and the line goes dead.

"Ian? Ian!" I repeat but he had gone long ago.

I curse under my breath and throw my phone next to me. Suddenly, the car jerks and comes to a stop.

The car's out of gas.

Fucking great.

I pick my phone and see it broken due to my throwing it.

Just fucking great.

I get out of the car and look around. There are a few stores here and there but they are closed. Except one.

When I get closer, I see the name board: 'Harr!son's Pub'.

As I get inside, I see a very silent yet well functioning pub. There's very few people dancing on the dance floor and a few by the bar.

I walk to the bartender and she quickly places a napkin in front of me waiting for my order.

"Hi! Could I use your phone, um, Michelle?" I ask, looking at her name tag.

"No sir, you can't use my phone - "

"Pretty please, Michelle, its a bit of an emergency. You see my car's out of gas and I have somewhere to be.."

"Allow me to finish, sir. I meant, you can't use my phone but you can use the pub's public phone."

"Oh Thank God!"

"Let me finish, sir. I was saying, you can use it but we have a rule we follow."

I nod to ask her to go ahead.

"You have to take a minimum of three shots on the house before I show you the phone."

She smiles seductively at me and I try all my might not to flinch.