Siren Call

Honesty

I drove away, not even paying attention to where I was headed, no destination in mind as house after house passed by and I wove through the streets in a daze. The image of her and Travis kissing was imprinted into my mind, making my heart ache as though someone was ripping it in half. I could feel my phone vibrating like crazy in my pocket, pulling to a stop at some traffic lights, I pulled it out. Kat's name was flashing on the screen before it faded to black, a small message remained there:

5 missed calls: Kat

Before I could move, it began again. I ignored it, switching my phone to mute and throwing it onto the passenger seat. Usually I would have headed to a bar or a club when I was stressed, but this was different. The instant that I thought about getting lost in a whiskey bottle, I remembered the baby. I couldn't do that. It would prove everything that Kat had been talking about. Kat... the woman who I love, who was kissing her ex. I clenched the steering wheel so tightly that I thought it might break. A horn sounded behind me, dragging me back to the present. I put my foot down, lurching forwards and speeding off along the road. I should have gone home, but I knew that would be the first place anyone would look. I didn't want to be found. I wanted to just get lost in a crowd, disappear from view and not have to face any of it right now. I'd never felt this type of pain before, and it was getting more and more intense as my anger began to subside.

Eventually I found myself parking near town, and after leaving my phone in the glovebox, I locked up and walked away through the busy streets. Everyone bustled along, people on their own were lost in their thoughts, whilst others in pairs or groups chatted amongst themselves as they drifted along the sidewalks. Every so often I caught snatches of conversation, but none of it meant anything to me. I walked around for about an hour, just mulling over the whole disastrous evening, before returning to my car. I slumped in the seat, one thing clear in my head. I had to face this. No matter how hurt I was, there wasn't just my feelings to take into consideration. I took a deep breath, and opened the glovebox, picking up my phone and unlocking the screen.

23 missed calls

7 Voice Messages

6 Messages

As I scrolled through the drop down lists, most were from Kat, but the last two or three calls and messages were from Rox. Clearly Kat had reached out, imagining I was with her.

I typed out a quick text to Roxy, telling her not to worry, and that I would talk to her later, then skimmed through Kat's messages, and listened to her voicemails. All of them were pretty much the same, begging me to answer the phone, to let her explain, asking where I was. She sounded on the brink of tears in a couple of the voicemails. Her voice made me ache as I recalled how we were together just a few days ago, everything was good and happy. Now the sadness I could hear made me feel like I couldn't breathe. I hit the reply button on the text messages, and typed a brief and measured reply:

I'll be home shortly, meet me there.

The drive back to my place felt shorter than it should have, given how far away I'd been. When I turned into my road, I saw Kat's car already parked in front of my house. I passed by it, pulling into my usual place and cutting the engine just as she closed her door. When I saw her face I noticed her pale skin and the redness around her eyes, she'd clearly been crying and it crushed me to see her so sad. I remembered the night that she turned up at my door and I comforted her, I wanted to again, but the vision of her lips pressed to his held me back.

"Please, Evan I-"

"Let's go inside." I said, cutting her off mid sentence.

I could tell that my interruption disheartened her, but I had no intention of discussing things on the street.