Heart's Games

Heart's Games|Chapter 43: I'm Not Letting That Happen

Chapter 43: I'm Not Letting That Happen

I just sat there for maybe fifteen minutes, looking straight ahead, wondering if this was real. Wondering if this was all a prank and he'd come running in through that door any minute now, telling me he loved me and that he regrets having even thought about leaving me behind.

But it was. Because it wasn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't.

I looked down at my phone, trying to snap out of it. 

I had to call Seth. Make up a story. Lie. But this time, my lie had to be amazing. Because I didn't want Tyler to get in trouble. That was the last thing he needed. I was not going to hurt him. I didn't want to see him hurt.

But as I sat there, looking for the perfect lie, I realized there was no such thing. There was no excuse for him leaving me here. There was no excuse for him not explaining to me what was going on. There was simply no excuse; I had finally ran out of them.

You don't leave the people you love behind. You don't tell someone that you love them and then keep on as if nothing had happened. That's just wrong.

When you love someone, every inch of you holds on to this small hope that everything is going to be alright. That there is a solution out there for everything and anything and it will be alright as long as you two stay together.

But then again, did I really know much about love? Because I've never had it stick around for long enough.

I heard the door creak open.

Crap.

He told me to run away in two minutes. He gave me two goddamned minutes and I've been here for far too long, simply crying over my pathetic little thoughts.

With the littlest of strength I had left inside of me, I pulled myself up, grabbed my things, and ran out of the room, my steps being as silent as a mouse's. Desperately, my eyes searched for a back door or at least a window.

I heard someone else's footsteps downstairs. I finally spotted a window at the end of the hallway, and just when I had made the decision that it was better to die on the attempt of escaping than being killed by a psychopath, I heard a familiar voice call out my name.

My feet stopped. My heart was thumping hard inside my chest. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.

"Katherine! Are you here?"

I searched for my phone in my pocket. I had ten missed calls from him and that one text message Tyler hadn't let me answer.

"Jerome?" I called out.

The footsteps quickened. It didn't take him long to get to me, desperation in his eyes. But as soon as his eyes fell on me, he sighed in relief and his eyes were now filled with joy. He got to me and pulled me into his arms.

I hugged him back, filled with confusion.

"Where are your shoes?" he asked me, not letting go of me.

I left them in the room.

"What are you doing here?" was my reply.

Jerome let go of me and awkwardly avoided looking into my eyes.

"Tyler texted me to pick you up," he said.

I was about to nod my head, until I realized...

"It's Florida, Jerome. You live all across the country. How did Tyler know you were here?"

Jerome looked away as he scratched his neck. I didn't take my eyes off him, even if they felt heavy from all the crying.

"Jerome?"