Cold Hearts in The Rain

Chapter 36 (The End!)

Caleb saw the fear in my eyes and turned to look at the car. Then he looked back at my with an amused expression on his face.

"That car is common, Doe," he said, chuckling. "That's not even his license plate."

Relief and embarrassment flooded through me.

"I'm traumatized," I said, sheepishly. His laughter subsided and then stopped.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, taking my hand and kissing it.

I smiled and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't be," I whispered. He squeezed me in reply.

***

Something is wrong. My mom is not looking at me. We're in a completely empty space, darkness surrounding us. She starts walking towards someone. At first I think it's my dad. Then I think it's Clark.

It was neither. She was approaching Caleb.

They start to whisper to each other. My mom turns around and looks at me, her eyes missing from her head. Fear surrounds me and I gulp.

He looks at me solemnly while saying something and my mom nods. She turns and faces him again while walking away.

I watch as he approaches me.

"Doe," he says, his voice sounding foreign and strange.

"Caleb..."

"I can't do this anymore," he said, eyes dark. He takes another step forward in the darkness towards me. I feel lost.

"Do what?" I ask.

"Us," he says. "There's no more us."

"But..."

"You're horrible to me," he hisses, "always treating me badly."

"You're the one who wanted to be my friend when I was like that!" I protest.

"I wanted to be your friend because you were a suicidal girl who was begging for attention. What do you think trying to commit suicide on a public beach suggested? Anyone and everyone could see you. You were screaming for it. So I gave it to you."

"There was no one there--"

"And when you say things like you don't want me to help you it shows your lack of trust in us!"

"I hardly do that--"

"And when you closed your eyes and rubbed my scar that night after the sherif's funeral, you felt self-pity. That's the reason why you stopped kissing me. You felt sorry that this happened to you and that even your boy toy got hurt."

"That's outrageous! I felt no such--"

"Save it. I don't want to hear what you have to say. We're done."

He starts to walk away and I'm left there, stunned.

The ice that used to be there was no longer here to protect me. The hurt I felt was more than I ever expected to feel when I began caring about people again.