Where These Souls Go

Chapter 10

It was hard to avert eye contact with Beck, as he was staring straight at me, his eyes searing into me like two lasers. We were sitting across from each other in small chairs that reminded me of middle school, or even elementary. They were uncomfortable, but that wasn't the only thing that was. I swallowed awkwardly, sitting up further and clearing my throat to interrupt the odd silence. There was often silence between me and Beck. More often than not, actually. Finally, Beck rubbed his eyes and sat up straighter, licking his lips before speaking.

"You were in the in between...it's the place between here and there. There being consciousness and here being this world... sometimes people step into the in between to hear their loved ones speaking to them. A few minutes is alright. But if you stay too long, you could get trapped there. It's enough to drive any person insane," he carefully but cynically explained.

I remember hearing Jensen talking. His voice and his words were so comforting to me. And so brief. I couldn't have been there for any longer than a few minutes. What was Beck worried for?

"I wasn't there long..." I reminded him, fiddling with the watch on my wrist, which now served useless

"Yes, you were,"

"Beck, i swear I wasn't. I heard Jensen talking to me, and then I was out. It was only a few minutes--"

"--No, Olivia, you were there for hours," his words rendered me speechless.

My entire body was frozen in shock. I couldn't believe the words he was saying. Hours? That can't be. How?

"H-how would you know, anyway? There's no concept of time here..." I slowly shook my head, fixing my gaze onto a speck on the floor.

Funny, there were still flaws in a perfect world. How ironic.

"Not always. Sometimes, time can pass quickly. Other times, it slows down. In short, we don't know how time passes here. But there are ways to generalize it. For example, I know you weren't there for minutes because I was looking for hours. It was a long time, Olivia. Short for you because you were in the inbetween. Time passed differently there. But...it was hours, believe me,"

I couldn't find any reason not to. I nodded slowly again, undoing the latch on my watch.

"Thank you...for coming after me..." I said gently, managing a small smile.

He looked up at me, observing my face for a moment before nodding and smiling too.

His sad smile.

It killed me.

"You saw your accident, didn't you?" he guessed it.

I shrugged at him, fiddling with my watch.

"It all came back at once. I panicked," I rolled my eyes in embarrassment, trying to keep my mind off of what happened to me.

Beck moved his chair closer to me, looking me in the eyes. He did that a lot nowadays. More than when we first met. It was almost like he was comfortable with me seeing his amber eyes as they visualized all of his real thoughts and feelings.

"That happens...around the first month," he said, closing his eyes as if he was afraid to see the reaction on my face.

A month?

A month.

I had been asleep for a month. That's a long time.

So, this didn't all happen in one day. That made more sense. It had been a series of days; I just lost track.

I felt sadness fill my heart, but I didn't cry or get angry or ask stupid questions. I stared straight ahead for a moment, before blinking away the threatening tears and letting out a long sigh.

Beck...

I studied his face while his eyes were still shut. His face was a lot gentler when he was relaxed, instead of wrinkled with worry or annoyance. It was kind of a beautiful thing. I wish he was always this pure and innocent looking. I felt a small smile spread on my lips.

"Beck? Beck, I'm fine," my voice was barely above a whisper.

He carefully opened those amber eyes and fixed them back on me, his shoulders dropping in relief when he saw that I truly was okay.

"I know it's scary. You're being brave," he told me.

A compliment? From Beck Mitchell himself? I felt honored, and couldn't help but blush.

"You make me brave," I admitted.

He rolled his eyes.

"Don't get all sentimental with me, stupid," he crossed his arms, smirking at me.

Ah, well. We're back to stupid again. I sighed.

"I told you--"

"--yeah, yeah. I know. I'm not a good listener," he joked.

"Clearly," I raised my eyebrows, pretending to be annoyed with him.

He whistled.

"I could say the same about you, Scott,"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Scott? First it was stupid and now Scott?"

"Same difference," he shrugged.

I playfully punched him in the shoulder again, to which he jokingly winced, being dramatic about his injury.

"That hurt!"

"Oh yeah? It's payback for you digging your nails into my shoulders,"

"I'm sorry," his voice got soft, "I didn't want to let go,"

Silence filled the air again, our signature silence, as my brain raced to make sense of what he just said.

Beck, why do you have to be so mysterious? It's impossible to figure you out.

At least we have plenty of time.

"Anyway, I'm sick of watching you rest. Quit doing stupid things, stupid,"

I let out a groan, trying to hide my smile.

I didn't mind the "nicknames". They were fine. But there's one thing that was still bugging me.

Why did he call me Liv?

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Shorter chapter, oh well. I'm pretty sure nobody reads this anyway XD.
If you do, THANK YOU!! Let me know what you think!