A Twisted Love

Chapter 37

The next day when Tessa walked into Literature, again Will wasn't sitting in his seat, and again he didn't show up to class. He didn't the day after that either. That day when Tessa came home, she found Cecily, Clary and Isabelle all whispering worriedly in the kitchen. She had asked them what was the matter, but their worry was gone the moment they saw her and Isabelle quickly had changed the subject. Odd, Tessa had thought to herself. She didn't see Will even when they all hung out together, but she didn't dare ask where he was, not wanting to know if he was with one of his girls. No one else asked about him either or said anything about him.

When a week passed and Will hasn't shown up to class once, Tessa became worried. Why hadn't he been coming? Did he really not want to see her that much? For some reason, Tessa didn't believe that that was the reason why he wasn't showing up. This was Will she was talking about, he didn't run from anyone. When Tessa went home after class that day, she found the three girls whispering to themselves again.

"Okay, something's clearly going in so can you guys please tell me what it is?" Tessa asked, worriedly.

Clary exchanged a worried glance with Cecily who was biting her lip nervously and looking at Tessa.

"It's - it's about Will." Cecily started.

"We didn't want to tell because we didn't want to worry you." Clary piped up.

"We also knew how you two weren't talking anymore and we wanted to give you a chance to move on." Isabelle added in.

"Can you please tell me now?" Tessa spoke, her anxiety almost going through the roof.

"Last week, the night after the party, Will was rushed to the hospital." Cecily began, worry written in her eyes. "He drank himself into oblivion, basically, to the point where he passed out and was unresponsive. Jace found him, thank god, in his bedroom. He's okay, he was released the next day."

Tessa felt shock, worry and anger course through her. Will had been in the hospital? And she hadn't known?

"What? Why wouldn't you guys tell me?! He was in the hospital for heaven sakes!" She exclaimed loudly.

"We didn't want you to worry. We know how much you care about him." Isabelle said, frowning.

"Why would Will do that to himself?" Tessa asked.

"We don't know." Cecily told her. "All of us kept asking him and he would only say that it was his life and would do what he wanted. The day he was released from the hospital, he was back to drinking again. It got so bad again, that Jace and I had to drop him off at my mother's house to make sure he wouldn't drink."

"He's like a child." Clary sighed.

Cecily ignored this and kept on talking. "Yesterday morning, when my mother went to go check on Will, he was missing. He wasn't in his room and he wasn't in the house at all. He's still missing and we have no clue where he is."

"Have you guys called the police?" Tessa asked worried. "He could have been drunk and hurt himself."

"We're going to if we don't find him by 5pm this evening." Clary said. "We've checked everywhere though. We have no idea where he could be. Jace, Gabriel and Simon are all out looking for him right now."

Tessa swore quietly to herself. Why did Will do this to himself? She had never recalled being so worried about someone in her life. He could be hurt or - and it pained her to even think it - dead.

"You guys should have told me sooner." Tessa spoke. "You should have told me that he was in the hospital. I deserved to know."

"We should have. We're sorry, Tessa." Cecily said.

"He was calling out for you." Isabelle spoke quietly.

Tessa looked up at her, not sure if she had heard her correctly. "What?"

"At the hospital, when he was passed out in the bed, he was whispering your name over and over." She replied back.

"We should have called her then. It was clear that Will was wanting Tessa." Clary looked guilty.

Tessa felt shocked. Will had been calling out for her? Why? He had been ignoring her for the past two weeks so why suddenly was he now wanting her? She was confused.

"Tessa," Cecily started slowly. "Do you - do you think that Will did all of this because of the fight you two had the night before?"

"Oh no, definitely not." She replied. "Will doesn't care about me that much to do that."

All three girls shared a look of doubt that Tessa didn't miss, but decided to remain silent.

"I don't know about that." Clary looked at Tessa. "You seem like the only person Will cares about outside of his family. You may not see it, but we all do."

That was same thing Sebastian had told her that day - that Will cared about her. For some reason, Tessa was just not convinced. If he truly did care about her, then why did he treat her so badly? Just as Tessa was about to reply, Jace, Simon and Gabriel all walked into the kitchen, all looking worried.

"We couldn't find him." Simon frowned.

Isabelle swore and Cecily put her face in her hands.

"I just don't understand why he would do this." Cecily said. "I don't know how he's become like this. He's just so careless."

"We can worry about that later." Jace said gently to his cousin. "Right now, we just need to find him."

Suddenly, realization hit Tessa and she gasped. Why hadn't she remembered this before?

"Guys," She started. "I think I might know where he is."