The Suicide Helpline | ✔ #Wattys2018

26

L A Y L A H

There was huge rush near the cafe. Obviously, this was one of the most famous cafe, known for it's cold coffee and chicken nuggets. They made them look heavenly.

I was nearing the entrance of the cafe as my heartbeat raised to an impossible rate. Finally, I was going to meet Shawn. Or, I could say, a sober Shawn. Each second seemed like an hour to me. My knees had given up, they just wanted to run back home.

I had my doubts, that maybe, Shawn will leave me and never speak with me again. Yeah, I had that low self confidence. Because, my father had always told me I was useless. I was a disappointment. I still had no idea why he adopted me in the first place, if he hated me so much.

I walked, mustering all my confidence, towards the door and suddenly dashed into a man. He fell down, his glasses falling down even. Even I was sitting on the ground, or should I say, I fell on my butt? Whatever.

I looked up at him and murmured an apology, as he tried to get up and gave me his hand. I accepted his help and stood up, dusting my jeans to remove the dust.

"Be careful, kid.", he said grumpily, putting his glasses on and looked at me.

"I'm sorry, sir. I will be careful.", I tried to smile at him.

But, as soon as his eyes met mine, he stared at me, frozen. I don't know why, his face started to pale. He started turning blue. He wanted to say something maybe, but wasn't able to.

"Are you ok, sir?", I took my hand forward to support him.

"You- you, what's your name, child?", he stuttered. He was breathing a bit heavily.

"Lylah, sir. Is there some problem? Do I need to take you to the hospital?", I widened my eyes.

"No. I'm okay.", he suddenly stood straight and walked away. He turned back a number of times, before vanishing from my sight.

Confusing old man.

I entered the cafe, and my heartbeat resumed it's beating, at the same illegal heart rate. Looking around, I found Shawn sitting on a two-seater table, looking at me anxiously.

I went up to him and smiled. That is a very different thing, that inside I was blushing with nervousness.

"Hey Shawn.", I greeted him lazily and sat down.

He kept blinking his eyes for a few minutes, before believing I was really present, and blushed. God, he is so cute!

"Lylah!", he grinned. "Finally, I am looking at your gorgeous face."

A blush creeped up it's place on my neck and I looked down.

"Wait a second, your dad did not say anything that you're here?", he scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion.

"My dad isn't in the city, remember?", I tried to remind him.

"Then who was the man outside, who you dashed into? He looked partly like you.", his eyes widened.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at him.

"Your sense of humour sucks.", I stated and looked away.

"But..", he started and ended the sentence right there. "Anyways, want something to eat?"

"Not exactly.", I said but he was out of his seat in a second. I rolled my eyes at that and started checking out the interior of the cafe. It was smelling if sweetness. Cakes, coffee. But, it was smelling of cheese, too. Like those delicious smells of burgers and pizzas.

Shawn came back carrying a tray with the help of both his hands. With a lot of treats.

Two chicken crispy burgers, french fries, one pineapple and spicy chicken pizza,  chicken nuggets and cold coffees. I don't even know why he asked me what I wanted to have, in the first place.

"I thought it would be better if we had something to eat.", he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"Nice thought.", I chuckled.

"So..", he drawled, as I took my beautiful burger in my hands. I looked up at him, raising my eyebrows.

I hate distractions between me and my food.

"How are you, Lylah?", he smiled at me weakly. Aw, poor Shawn. He was scared for me.

"I'm good, Shawn. Now eat everything before it gets cold.", I bit into my heavenly burger. The mayonnaise and cheese smearing my face. I totally understand why this cafe is so famous.

Shawn took his burger and started eating it, looking at me continuously. I decided to ignore him. But after three minutes, it was becoming irritating.

"What?", I frowned up at him.

He smiled and shook his head before looking down at his food and eating it. A smile still present on his beautiful face. Why was he so handsome?

Sometime later, he started talking about his family and told me about all the best and embarrassing incidents in his life.

But the one incident that made me laugh was about Sally. Shawn had this huge crush on Sally, when they both were in the tenth grade, and according to him, even she kind of liked him. But later, he got to know, all the loving signals, she was giving him, were actually for Brian, Shawn's best friend, who used to sit next to him.

This wasn't the funniest part. The funniest part was, when Sally signaled him that she was coming to kiss him, and Shawn was all blushing and prepared. And Sally, just went and kissed Brian.

The best thing about Shawn was, that he wasn't trying to claw out the secrets out of me, about myself. He was giving me time and making me comfortable.

Just as he was about to say something, the door to the entrance opened, and two bulky men came inside. Their face masked.

They looked around, frantically, trying to find someone, maybe. Their foreheads scrunched up in a frown.

The cafe had gone deathly silent. Everyone had their attention on the intruders and the intruders were searching for someone, their eyes moving around in speed.

Until those eyes reached me, and they relaxed.

"There she is.", one of the guy spoke in a deep voice.

*****