Set A Torch To Flame | ✔ | #1

Chapter 19-

Author's Note-

Alright guys, last chapter. Yeah, I know, I know...Owwwwwwwwwl. Don't worry, there's gonna be a sequel that will probably be out soon. Heck, I think it'll be better than this one.

Just, ya know, please don't hate me for the ending of this chapter--such a cliffhanger, I know. I kind of hate myself for writing this...but I also really want to write the second part, which is different.

Also, just wanted to say that there's literally no way you'll see this coming. Prepare to be shocked to the core.

Owl~

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Chapter 19-

Sophie woke up. A feeling of dread was building up inside of her. She glanced at her alarm, and her eyes almost popped out of her head. Noon! It was a school day; she'd probably missed all of her periods. She let out a groan.

She imagined her boyfriend with his cheeky grin. He would tell her good morning, cracking a joke and lightening the mood easily.

Biting her lip, she noticed Keefe's presence missing from the bed. He should've woken her up! She sighed, flopping back down onto her bed. She let her fingers run nimbly over the place where he'd been. Not warm, not recent.

She got out of bed.

Sophie let out a sigh, got dressed, then huffed downstairs to ask her parents why they hadn't woken her up. Not that she really minded missing school, but...

Wait a minute.

She stopped. Keefe skipped school all the time. He would willingly do it for her, of course. Why wasn't he here with her, then? She shook her head in confusion, marching downstairs and hoping that he would be somewhere down there.

He wasn't there. Was it just a mirage? She blinked. Nope, apparently not. She puffed a cheek when she realized that her goblin bodyguard was following her. Of course. She shook her head, a smile on her face. Keefe was the only one that could make her forget that she had a seven-foot tall shadow constantly following her.

Sophie's smile vanished. This was reality, and she didn't know where he was. Spotting Grady and Edaline, she went towards them with a smile on her face. "Good morning, guys! Do you know where Keefe is?"

Edaline's mouth made an O.

Grady closed his eyes as though regretting something. "How to break this to you gently..."

Sophie's forehead scrunched up. "Whatever it is, you guys can tell me." She studied their faces. She never was all that great at reading emotions from their facial expressions. She was no Keefe. Keefe. The thought crossed her mind and she raised her eyebrow at her adoptive parents. "You do know that, right?"

"Of course, Sophie," her foster father said. (Ha, see what I did there?) "We do know. It's just that..." His worry lines were going deeper by the minute, and she was starting to get weirded out.

Silence filled the air.

Finally, her foster mother choked, "Gone."

"What?" Sophie was confused. What did Edaline mean?

Grady swallowed. "He's gone, Sophie."

The harsh reality settled in. "You mean Keefe."

His head bobbed up and down, but Sophie could barely make out his movement in the blurred world around her.

"What do you mean that he's gone? How can Keefe be...gone?" Her voice was cracking badly from emotion, but she didn't care at all.

"He only said that he was leaving and couldn't come back, Sophie," Edaline explained softly.

"He told us to tell you that he did love you, he told us to tell you not to forget him." Grady's voice was bitter.

"He really loved you, Sophie. You could see it from his face," her mother tried to comfort her.

"How can he...how can he just leave," she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks faster than before. The salty droplets escaping her eyes were a bother, but she didn't care enough to brush them away. "Why would he say that he wasn't going to be back?" Her brain was desperately trying to grasp all of this new information, her heart already overwhelming her with its part. The words were repeating in her mind, over and over and over again.

Edaline was the first to hug her, grabbing her and squeezing Sophie tight. Grady wasn't long after her, seizing the chance to be in on a family moment.

Sophie sobbed into them, tears and snot rubbed all over their cloaks, but she couldn't make herself say sorry for it.

Guilt took over her emotions now.

"What did I do wrong?" She murmured through a haze of tears. "What did I do wrong?"

"Shh, my little custard burst," Edaline cooed in her ear soothingly. "You did nothing wrong. If he can't see that he was lucky to be with you, that's his fault."

"Exactly," Grady stated confidently, his handsome features hardened with anger. "The nerve! I give him my blessing, and he does this to her."

Sophie's mother jerked in surprise. "You gave your blessing?"

His head went up and down in a nod.

"Wow," Edaline whispered to her playfully. "Never thought he'd ever give his blessing to any of your boys."

Sophie managed a weak smile, then buried herself in her parents, hoping that she would never have to come out of the darkness that was overwhelming her in strange warmth. Her body had gone numb.