Fallen

Chapter Eleven

The days went by slowly as if the world were coming to a stop. I couldn't get myself out of this feeling of sadness. Each night I'd lie awake praying that Blaine, Carter and Jason were safe. I kept reminding myself that they were trained in what they did. Whatever danger they faced, they were prepared. Then, once the job was done, Blaine was going to walk back through those café doors with a smile and a cheeky comment. I just had to be patient.

As I was wiping down the tables at the end of the day, I heard the bell ring above the door. Instinctively I looked to see if it was Blaine - a habit I'd quickly formed and was unable to get out of - but the familiar face wasn't Blaine's.

"Hey," Maria said. "Is this a bad time?"

She had her nurse's uniform on with white plimsols and her hair in a tight bun. She looked tired around the eyes.

"Of course not," I said. "Take a seat. We're about to lock up so grab a drink or something before we do."

She nodded and picked up a bottle of water from the fridge as the last family thanked us and left. Danielle served her before going into the back room.

We sat together at one of the booths. Maria took a sip from her bottle.

"How have you been?" I asked.

"Okay some days, others less so. I'm trying to keep myself busy with my course and my shifts, but at night when I get lonely its much worse."

"I know what you mean," I agreed. "I miss Blaine like crazy."

She nodded and looked down at her drink. "Do you think we could meet up sometimes? So we can be lonely...together?"

I smiled. "I'd like that. Let me put my number in your phone."

She gave me her phone and I tapped in my number.

"Thank you," Maria said once I'd given it back to her. "I really appreciate it."

"We've got to stick together us girls," I said with a wink. Maria smiled and said her goodbyes before leaving, almost bumping into Mark on his way in.

"Who was that?" he asked once she'd had gone.

"Maria. She's knows Blaine," I replied.

"Is everything okay?" Danielle asked, sitting down in the booth opposite me.

"She's just a bit lonely being in that house all by herself now the guys are away. She wants to meet up for some company."

Danielle tilted her head slightly as Mark sat next to her. "That'll be nice."

I nodded with a smile. "It will be."

*****

That night, I was tucked under the covers reading the last few pages of Dracula. I had so many questions and I couldn't wait to pick Blaine's brain about it when he got back.

After a while, I felt my eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion. I closed the book and placed it on the bedside table to go brush my teeth. I could hear the TV from the top of the stairs as Nick watched one of his Netflix shows in the living room. Ellie was passed out in her bed as usual.

Once I'd crawled back into bed, I reached out to turn off my lamp when I noticed the front cover of Dracula was curled up slightly and on the very first page was some writing where a message had been left on it. I'd never seen it before. Quickly, I sat back up in bed and grabbed the book to read the handwritten words.

Dear Blaine.

We know how much you loved this book so you now have your own copy! Have a great 16th birthday.

Love from your family at the D.I Institution.

I read the message once more. The D.I Institution? Blaine had never mentioned that before. After rereading the message multiple times, thinking back to any conversation we may have had about it, I only grew more curious and soon I found myself typing it into Google on my phone. Nerves bubbled in my stomach at what I might find. Blaine and I had very few conversations about him growing up. This seemed like an important part of his life and yet he never spoke about it.

I scrolled through the links that came up, but there were only institutions that had a similar name or random YouTube clips unrelated to what I'd searched. Why did an institution not have a website or any form of social media? Maybe they'd gone under. I looked at the message one more time, but after a few more searches with Blaine, Carter and Jason's names, I finally gave up.

Lying in the darkness, I tried to sleep with a mind was full of questions, but there was nothing I could do to find the answers. I just had to wait for Blaine's return.