Free™

Chapter XVII

Zoe's POV

Zac was sleeping peacefully beside me. His arms tightly wrapped around my waist as if he was afraid to let go. Delicate blonde hair, fell on his brows, skin pale as the sickness that promised death. He was broken. Shattered into millions of tiny pieces and I had to help him. I pecked his lips and got up to prepare breakfast, making sure I don't wake him. But all my thoughts went in vain as he pulled me closer and kissed me. I pulled away as he opened one eye, and with a smile perfect for any Colgate commercial said, 

"Good morning beautiful." In a deep husky voice that made me go weak in the knees. 

"Morning!" I chirpily replied, getting up. 

Zac too got up, and made his way to the kitchen. I went to the bathroom, before joining him in the kitchen. 

"We need to go grocery shopping." Zac declared. 

"I'll just come in five minutes, get ready." He said disappearing down the hallway. 

I wore my converse as I waited for Zac, he came after a while. Cleaned and fresh as we both made our way to the car. 

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"Wait here, I'll go grab Lucky charms." 

Zac and I came to Walmart a while ago. It wasn't all crowded, with only old people, or tired moms shopping. I took this as my opportunity to cheer Zac up. So after annoying him with cheesy puns like, "I'm so eggcited for breakfast." 

Zac pretty much wanted to get as far away from me as possible so grabbing Lucky charms was his golden opportunity. I was just goofing around, thinking of more annoying puns as someone familiar captured my eye. A middle aged man, with big brown eyes and thinning hair. The once black locks, slowly losing their shine and turning white. He was wearing these big boots that made a rhythmical sound every time he moved. His face was stern yet peaceful. And it hit me. I knew exactly who he was. How could I not? He was the same man that left me and my mother all alone in this crazy, crazy world. He was the same man who's embrace was my safe haven. The same man who told me stories every night, even the night before he left. The same man, who I trusted. Who I knew wouldn't hurt me, but boy, was I wrong. Fate has got to be kidding me, Why him of all people? My Father, was standing right infront of me totally unaware of the fact that his daughter, his dying daughter who needed him when he left was watching him with teary eyes. 

He lifted his head. His face had the same bone structure as mine. He was old now. Our eyes met, and he instantly recognized me because his eyes first turned dark and then lit up. His lips turned up in a smile and he made slow strides towards me. Seeing him after all those years, I just couldn't process. I couldn't just let him come to me and say "Hey Zoe, you remember me right? I'm the same man who abandoned you and your mother years ago. I wish you can forgive me, because I really do love you. " 

Nah-ah. Not happening. So I ran. As fast as I could. Found Zac on my way and literally pushed him away as he tried to stop me. I just needed to be alone. I wanted to cry, scream, shout and break things but something inside me just stopped me from doing all of this. Instead I just stood beside the car waiting for Zac. 

Boy, what is happening? 

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"So, tell me again, why did you run away?" Zac asked still confused. 

I couldn't just tell him the truth right? He has enough on his plate already so I told him that I was running because I just got my period and basically blamed it all on mother nature. Real mature right? In the meanwhile I also called Chace and Liam and asked them to come over. I needed to distract myself. 

"You know, how once every month girls ........ " He didn't let me finish. 

"Yeah yeah, got it. No more questions." I rolled my eyes. Boys. 

"You know, I might have, maybe forgotten to buy breakfast because I thought something was seriously wrong with you. You scared me Zoe." He told me slightly embarrassed. 

As if on cue, the door bell rang. 

"I'll get that." 

It was both the boys. Liam and Chace with a box of pizza. God bless them because I was ecstatic when I first saw the pizza box. What? I get hungry when I'm stressed. 

"Hey." The both greeted me and went straight to Zac's room. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Still alive. Thank you very much." I yelled after them. I wonder how Chace is doing after Nat's death. I was so busy with Zac that I completely neglected Chace. I'm a horrible friend.  

Grabbing some glasses and plates I went into Zac's room too.

We were sitting goofing around and enjoying pizza, pretending every thing was fine just like old times. For a moment it actually worked. Until Zac asked Chace, 

"So how are you man?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine I guess. I miss her though. Only if I had stopped her that night." 

"Don't be so hard on yourself Chace. It was just meant to be." 

 I gave him a small side hug as my phone beeped. It was a message from mom. She asked me to come home as soon as I get her text. Thinking it could've been an emergency I told the boys and grabbed my coat as I headed out. The boys offered me a ride home but I refused. I needed some alone time to clear my head.

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As soon as I entered the house I knew something was not right. Something seemed off. I hanged my coat and carefully moved towards the kitchen. 

"Mom?" I called for my mom but got no answer. That was weird. Mom always answers no matter what. I tried again. 

"Mom?" No answer. I was about to call 911 when she finally appeared from the living room. 

"Mom, God. Where were you? why weren't you answering you scared me." 

"Mom are you alright?" Something wasn't right. Mom was pale like she just saw a Ghost. Her eyes red and puffy like she was crying just a while ago. Her clothes wrinkled. 

"I wan't you to meet someone Zoe." 

She led me to the living room and I was shocked to see who was sitting there. 

"Hi Zoe." 

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AUTHORS NOTE:

Hey Lovelies! So I finally decided to update! What? Yess. And I know you know exactly who I am talking about. C'mon you're clever. 

So y'all have been sending me loads and loads of messages to update soon and I was like, well give them what they want so here it is. A new chapter full of drama. If you like it, hit that star and comment what you're expecting next. Until next time, Toodles ^_^