Forget Me Not

Chapter Six

Since that visit, Zack came to see Fey everyday. Over time he came to like her more and more, she was sweet, kind and smart, more than anything she didn't ignore him the way it seemed everyone else did. Fey's feelings stayed negative towards Zack, but she hid them. She needed him to trust her.

A few more weeks had passed, and while they were unpleasant Fey couldn't help but admit that her stay had much improved since her second fake attempt at friendship. Zack really seemed to enjoy talking with her, and as long as she pretended to like him they were okay. He had been bringing her better food more and more often, sometimes dropping in twice a day.

Spring was definitely on the way, the sun shone through the dusty windows of the garage earlier and earlier each morning, and stayed up later in the evenings. Song birds could be heard outside cheerfully chirping the days away. It had been a hard winter, but the early spring seemed to lift everyone's spirits.

Everyone except Fey's family and friends, for them it marked the start of another season without her. The police had all but given up, they had no leads and no one seemed to have any information on the girls whereabouts. Charol had fallen into a state of despair, she never left the house, she cried almost all the time and anytime, anyone, mentioned Fey's name she would run from the room tears flowing down her cheeks. Her father had taken a different approach with his grief, he was snappy and irritable and often spent night away from the house, searching, thinking and trying with everything he had to find his daughter. Bailey, had been told by multiple grief counselors that there was nothing she could do, but she couldn't help herself from waiting by the phone, and looking in the hall, for the friend she knew was gone.

The spring didn't do much for Fey either, she was still here. All the warm weather did was keep her from shivering as much at night, but she was determined to stay cheerful, or at least to fake it, therefore whenever Zack visited she put on her best and brightest smile and played along with whatever he said.

It wasn't until late March that Fey dared to bring up the subject of going outside, for months she had worked to build up Zacks confidence in her. Feeding him lie after lie about how well they seemed to understand each other and how much she liked him. Finally the time was ripe to try to escape yet again.

That day started like any other except for one thing, Fay was actually and validly happy for the first time since her capture, she had hope and that was all she needed. It was the weekend, which meant they would spend lot's of time together, the perfect opportunity.

Zack's day so far had been surprisingly cheerful, he hadn't fought with his parents in a while and he awoke to the pleasant sound of a robin outside his window. Because he was in such a good mood he decided to surprise Fey with a morning visit, he usually went in the afternoon on weekends, but maybe they could spend the whole day together. That would be nice. It had been only a couple weeks ago, while they were talking normally that he had come to the realization that he was indeed in love with Fey. At first the idea had surprised and confused him, but really it wasn't so startling. He had no friends and his family wasn't very close to him, she had been the only one he had a proper conversation with in months.

So that morning he set off without even eating breakfast, he instead packed some ham sandwiches in his pocket. A picnic in the garage would be quite nice. Today was one of the warmest so far, the snow had almost all melted and a fresh earthy smell was in the air.

Though she had not been expecting him until the afternoon, Fey was quite pleased to see Zack.

"Hello!" She called cheerfully as he opened the door, she still didn't have her glasses and in fact it seemed her eyes had gotten worse over her time there, but she had learned Zack's height and shape.

"Hi." He answered sitting down beside her.

"How are you?" She asked.

"Great!" He answered honestly, the usual answer being a grumpy sort of "Okay, I guess."

"That's good. What's making you happy?" Fey asked, Zack never asked about her.

"You." Said Zack blushing fiercely. Fey's mouth opened in a perfectly surprised O. She was disgusted by the very idea, but quickly put on a very pretty, and very fake smile.

"Oh, yeah?" She asked her voice a shaky attempt at flirtiness. Luckily Zack seemed so dumbfounded by his own daring that he hardly noticed she said anything.

"Anyway, it's May in only a couple of days." Said Zack rushing to cover up the moment where he revealed his true feelings, something he had never done before.

"Really?!" Asked Fey, in fake surprise. She had been keeping track vaguely of the date since he had told her it was almost April.

"Yeah, spring is definitely here. I'm sure you must have felt the temperature warming up?"

"Yeah, and sometimes I hear the birds chirping outside." Fey could not conceal the wistfulness in her voice as she spoke of the outdoors.

Zack heard it, the longing in her voice, and for awhile could think of nothing to say. There they sat, each silently brooding over what spring would bring. Eventually Zack broke the silence by saying,
"I brought some sandwiches. Ham."
"Really? I love ham!" Said Fey sounding much happier than her fake happy voice ever sounded. That was because she was truly and honestly happy, ham was one of her favorite foods of all time, and if she missed something other than family, friends and warmth it was definitely good food.

Zack dug in his pocket and pulled out three, slightly squished sandwiches. He handed one to Fey and began to eat one himself. They mostly ate in silence, occasionally speaking to marvel at how wonderful such a simple food could be.

"Simplicity is the ultimate joy." Said Fey profoundly. Zack couldn't help but smile at her, she was so busy being herself she didn't even notice how wonderful and unique she truly was.

"Quite wise, miss Ellens, but where did you hear that?" Said Zack in a mock formal tone.

"Why, in my own head of course." Replied Fey equally formal. Then they both began to laugh, it had been a very long time since Fey had laughed, it felt good, like she had been holding her breath for a very long time and was only now letting it out.

When they both caught their breaths, they were silent once again, but it wasn't the awkward kind to which they were accustomed, instead it was a silence of understanding, comfortable, even peaceful.

Maybe, thought Fey, maybe in another life I could learn to like him, truly and really. But never here, never like this. He ruined it the minute he tied me in this garage. Thinking this put a bitterness and determination in Fey's heart, she would get out, she would tell the police and she would see her family again. She was even more sure if this now than she ever was before.

"You know..." started Fey, fading out.

"What?" Asked Zack.

"Well, I was thinking it might be nice to spend some time together, you know, out of the garage." Said Fey in a perfectly calm voice.
It took a long time for Zack to answer, and Fey was terrified that it had gone wrong, but finally very slowly and unsurely Zack nodded.