Zero Out || M.C.

Eleven

There's something they don't tell you about the timer. Something they shouldn't need to. There's something not many people have to suffer through once they've found their soul mates.

You're timer is meant to go off the very first time you see your soul mate and then it deactivates. It just becomes these pointless wires inside your wrist. There's no use for it anymore. But what they don't tell you is what happens when you break up and don't see them anymore.

If you go longer than a month without seeing your soul mate your timer reactivates itself and this time sets for the next time you see your one and only. But this time it doesn't countdown to the exact second. You're only given how many days.

So when mine reactivated itself I was struck with nothing less of confusion. It had been a month since Michael left for Australia. It had been three weeks since I tried to talk to him. After your calls are rejected so many times you just feel like giving up.

53 days.

I had 53 days from then till I would see Michael again.

The timer is now at 32 days. One more month of this torture. One more month of being utterly depressed and lost.

The first three weeks before the timer started were the hardest. I spent the majority of my days crying, not wanting to get out of bed. I barely ate anything, I had lost so much weight and it was beginning to become unhealthy.

I just felt so numb and everything about me was paralyzed. The moments where I wasn't crying I would just lay in bed and stare up at the ceiling, wishing it was all a dream and I'd wake up and he'd be right next to me again. But I never woke up. I felt trapped inside this never ending nightmare. I felt like there was no escape. I needed a hero but the only person that could save me was also the person I needed saving from. I had fallen so hopelessly in love with Michael and the idea I had in my head of our life together that I had become so undyingly dependent on him. He was my drug and I was going through the worst case of withdrawals. I was a lifeless shadow, floating around aimlessly looking for it's owner. I was so lost. So unable to go on.

I hated myself more than anything. I hated that I went to the party. I hated that I drank so much. I hated that I couldn't move fast enough to get away from Thomas. I hated that I didn't fight harder. I hated that at one point in my life I allowed him to touch me like that. I just hated myself so much for everything that had happened.

I tried so many times to call Michael and tell him what happened but his voicemail became my best friend. The mounds of texts I sent him went unanswered. All I wanted was to have him back. All I wanted was to be able to kiss him goodnight and tell him how much I loved him. All I wanted was him.

Ashton continued to check up on me throughout the month. He would stop by for an hour everyday just to make sure I would eat at least a little. He was beyond worried about me although I told him plenty of times he didn't have to. I didn't want him worrying about me. That was the last thing he needed to do.

I didn't talk when he came over. I hadn't really spoken in the past two months since Michael left. Only a few words here and there. I just sat in silence, staring into space as Ashton tried to have a conversation with me. I hadn't payed much attention to him when he talked though. The only thing I manage to get out of his talks was that his timer went off and then something about Lindsay. In the moment I didn't care enough to pay attention.

32 days left till Michael would come back to LA. 32 days left till I could hear his voice again. 32 days left.

Michael's POV.

I miss her. I miss her so much my heart hurts. I feel so empty. But I can't go back. I told her I needed space. I told her I needed to think.

These last two months have been absolute hell. My parents were always on my case about why I hadn't been back to her yet. I hadn't told them what had happened because I wasn't able to admit it to myself. I mean how could she do this to me?

I was so angry and frustrated with her, with myself. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't piece the puzzle together. I couldn't figure out what I had done to lead her to cheat like that, to sleep with someone else. I didn't bother to ask who she slept with because knowing would only hurt more. I don't think I'll ever want to know who it was.

Romie had sent me at least a thousand text messages since the incident. I had read the majority of them but couldn't manage to think of words to respond. I was still trying to rang in all the emotions I was feeling.

If only I had let her come back to Australia with me. None of this would have happened if I wasn't so afraid of bringing her home. We could still be happily together and I wouldn't have to be hiding on an opposite hemisphere.

I heard a knock at my door before my mum walked in. "Hi honey." She was calm and sweet. That was one thing I always loved about my mom, she never pestered you to talk to her she just started talking and hopefully you'd open up.

"I just wanted to check on you Michael." She sat down on my bed across from me, still keeping a safe distance from me. "Your father and I are worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately."

"I'm fine. Really." I lied. She knew it too.

She began rubbing my back, trying to make me open up to her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I grunted and rolled over to face her. "I just can't believe she cheated on me." I whimpered.

My mums eyes went wide as she was frozen for a moment in time before she calmed her facial features again. "Have you tried talking to her?" I shook my head. "Maybe you should call her Michael. See what she says about it. After all honey, she is your 'one and only' and you know you have to work things out with her sooner or later so why not make it sooner? I've never seen you so in love with anyone before. The first few days you were here you wouldn't stop talking about her. I know how in love you are with this girl and you can't throw that away."

She had a good point although I would never admit that to her. I missed Romie more than I could physically stand. I was wildly in love with that girl even after everything that had happened. I think that's why I was so mad, not only at her but at myself. Because I shouldn't still feel this way about her. I should hate her and still want to see her again. I should be able to move on from her.

We dated two months. Two of the happiest months of my life. I've been gone that long. Just as quickly as it started, it ended.

"I don't know." I said after a long pause. "She said there was something she had to explain about what happened. But I didn't want to hear it." I explained.

"Michael, you're 19, you're still young. If you want to take a break that's fine but just know, if I was you, I would go to her. Find out what happened. Talk to her in person."

"But the timer." I pointed at my wrist.

She rubbed her thumb over the digits and looked back up at me as she stood up, "nothing stopping you from going back to her sooner."

I nodded and gave my mum a fake smile as she kissed my forehead and walked out of my room.

I grabbed my phone from the ground next to my bed and opened up my photo album. I scrolled through the hundreds of pictures Romie and I had taken a few months back and I couldn't help but smile. My mum was right. I should talk to her. Besides, I missed her voice so much.

Before I was going to call Romie I decided it might be smart to text Ashton first to see how she was.

"How is she?" I sent.

"She's falling apart mate. She needs you."

"I need her too. Mind helping me with something? I have a plan."

"Count me in :)"

Cliff hanger. Sorry.

So I decide to stop updating my other stories till I finish Zero Out. I want to just focus on this one for now. When I finish this story, won't be for a while, I'll start with the other two again! hope you're liking Zero Out right now. Prepare for some more drama and a few surprises. :)