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Chapter Fourteen

Unfortunately, I had to go to the therapist tomorrow. What a drag. Mom had gotten a fever yesterday from crying so much while accidentally using her weather attribute, and it was my fault. I was assigned to take care of her by Papa, it being Saturday today. I had cooked up breakfast quickly using my time attribute to help me. Putting the bowl of soup on the tray, I walked upstairs and into her room, kicking the door open. Mom was resting in bed with her pajamas, a blanket over her. She was staring at her lap, her hands in fists.

She's probably thinking of all the things she could have done to stop what Dexter did from happening.

"Mom.." I whispered.

Mom looked up, and when she saw me, she smiled wearily. I saw the bags under her eyes, making me frown slightly. "Breakfast?" She croaked quietly, her throat scratchy. I nodded. "Thank you, dear."

I pulled a chair from Papa's desk and sat beside the bed, putting the tray on her lap. She grabbed the spoon and began eating. I stood up and grabbed a wet towel and a bowl of water from the bathroom. Putting the bowl on the nightstand, letting the towel rest in it, I let Mom eat while talking to her about my grades and school and Lukas. She pointed out that I seemed to enjoy Lukas's company, and it made me realize it too. Even though she was sick, we still had our own thing, with her teasing me about Lukas, and me denying anything and everything.

~~~

Mom was now sleeping, and I was in my room, scrolling through Skype. I kept the lights off because I didn't like being blinded by them, so it was dark. The curtains on my window were shut, and the only sound in the house was the clicking keyboard. Lukas has called me just a few minutes ago, and I saw that he was still online. Pulling on my headphones, I clicked on his user and called him. Not even a second had passed until he picked up.

"Meredith! Oh my god, I called you so many times yesterday but you didn't pick up, so I thought—"

"I know," I responded quietly. He silenced himself, perplexed by my tone and words. "Lukas... you were right. About Dexter. About him. About his stupid fucking intentions. I couldn't talk to you yesterday because I couldn't bring myself to."

The silence kept us tied together to each other, both of us not knowing what to say after I spat out my confession. Maybe it had been five minutes now, but we knew that the silence would keep us awake, awake to each other's presences. I couldn't help but cry when the memories came back to me, and Lukas heard me.

"Meredith.." he called out.

I felt tears running down my cheeks as my fingers tangled in the wires. Putting my face in my arms, I shook my head and leaned over onto the desk, sobbing. Though I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me, I almost felt his hand on my head, comforting me as the screams followed after my name. He let me cry. He let me pour out my emotions as they scrambled into a hot mess.

I was thankful for that.

For him.

"Lukas, I feel like such a fucking idiot..!" I exclaimed, my voice cracking as I sat up, clenching my jaw. Tears streamed into my mouth, salty and burning in my throat. "You were right, dammit!"

"You're not an idiot," I heard him whisper on the other side, "Please don't call yourself an idiot."

I ignored him, shaking my head once again. "You were right about him." I hugged myself, feeling my icy fingers grip onto my shoulders as I pulled my legs against my torso. "No one would ever like a depressed freak like me. What the fuck was I thinking?" Leaning back in my chair, I wiped away a few tears with the back of my hand, my eyes closed to burn away the tears stinging them. "I hate this feeling of him always touching me..." My vision began blurring as my eyes glowed intensely. A hallucination came into mind of a shadow's hand reaching out for me. "I fucking HATE it!"

I heard Lukas jolt in his seat when I pulled off my headphones, chucking them onto the floor, the cord detaching itself from my computer. It took a moment or two to stop crying, and I pulled my hood over my head. The audio readjusted after unplugging, and I leaned over in my seat, my head in my arms. My eyes stared wearily at the screen, seeing Lukas's username blazing in a blue font.

Lukas..

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled, apologizing to him. "Please forgive me. You probably don't want to hear me crying. I just don't have any other person to cry to." I let out a short laugh, though it wasn't out of joy. It was out of pain. "How pathetic, right?"

My hands gripped the sides of my head as I shut my eyes, choking on my sobs.

"I don't think it's pathetic," Lukas replied gently, wary of his words. "It's okay. Cry if you want. I won't make fun of you." I heard him breathe evenly as he whispered, "It's enough to know you're safe. And I promise everything will be okay."

"And how do you know that..?" I murmured, my eyes burning as I stared at the screen, waiting for his response.

I could hear Lukas's small smile in his voice as he said, "Because I believe you're stronger than the ghosts that haunt you."