Soulmates

Chapter 9

"Do you have to go?" I said, trying to hide the unsteadiness in my voice.

He emptied his lungs in one breath, tired, sleepy, and putting on his tough guy persona that I got used to differentiate. "I sadly do. I wish I could stay but I'm overwhelmed just thinking about what I have to do."
"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"But I am. I wish I could help you with... Whatever it is you need help with. There's sadly only so much I can do from behind a screen." it was my turn to put on my tough persona and make sure I didn't show any weakness.

The short sound ending the call was becoming a miserable tune that wouldn't leave my worst nightmares.

My head rested against my fluffy pillow. Vanessa, whose room was right next to mine finally turned off her loud music. The thumping stopped, the call ended, the ruckus over.

It was just me and my thoughts right then, and I didn't trust myself with that. I wondered for a bit, if pillows could hold our thoughts for us. Imagined my pillow being a small cloud of lost ideas and false hopes. Lots of pillows would be full with fluffy brain material, as disgusting as it sounds.

Pillow fights would become a much more interesting concept that way.

Jessy and I no longer spend time in my room, nor in hers. She's busy with her life, and I was with mine.

My electric keyboard was starting to pick up dust. I missed playing.

When the atmosphere got even more silent, I figured everyone was asleep, which was my queue to leave my room and sit in the 'kitchen'.

Seeing Theodore at the table sent a jolt of shock across my body.

"How did you get in?" I asked in a voice slightly louder than a whisper.

"Your friend let me in. Haven't been here for long though." He fiddled with a spoon that someone had left on the creaky wooden table.

I didn't even know what time it was. "Why didn't you tell me you were here?"

"You seemed to be having an important phone call so I didn't want to bother or interrupt anything." My face changed when he mentioned the call.

How much of it did he hear, if he heard anything?

Did anyone here hear my conversations over the phone? Did they think I was pathetic? Vanessa probably thought I have an imaginary friend. Hunter wasn't imaginary at all.

I made two mugs of coffee, placed one in front of Theodore, and sipped as I wondered why he always showed up when I'm most stressed about Hunter.

"What had happened to you?" Asked Theodore when he got a proper look at my face. Didn't expect him to notice it considering most people didn't.

I lowered my head, kind of ashamed of myself. I have immensely neglected myself over the past days. Haven't had a proper meal since forever.

My face was sickly thin, and my eyes were so dark that I was starting to look like the Joker.

I drank a warm gulp of coffee. "This happened." I lifted the mug in the air.

Coffee beat you up in a fight or something? "Ha-Ha, no. But coffee has been my only source of nutrition for a while now."

"That can't be good."

Nothing of what I was doing in my life at this point could be classified as good.

He ever so silently left the table and went to the one window the kitchen has.

"I don't wanna creep you out, Jack, but I know more than you think I do." he said his words in such a cryptic way that I was considering kicking him out for a second. "Not like stalking-knowing. I'm just good at reading you."

"You've barely known me." I quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, I know." his fairly long brown hair flowed along the quiet breezes of late night mist. It made him look less intimidating than his words. "But I know you. And you know me too, more than anyone really."

What the actual funk was that supposed to mean?

"Ever heard of soulmates? Or contemplated the idea?"

I was dreaming. Yes, I fell asleep while talking to Hunter on the phone, and I was dreaming that whole thing. Sure, I liked Theodore a lot, but we weren't soulmates or whatever he was on about.

My coffee cup lay cold as Theodore left once again without me noticing he did.

I wondered if Stephen King had anything to do with how my life was going.

I went back to bed, closed the window and made sure it was tight shut, before making sure all the doors were sealed. For some reason I had a slight paranoia.

The next morning when I got up, it was a little after the break of dawn. Everyone was still asleep. I left my room for yet more coffee when I noticed something strange.

Theodore's coffee was on the table right where I served it, untouched.

I could've sworn I saw him drink more than a handful of swigs.

More soon x