• One Lifestand [BxB] •

25

[NOT EDITED]

Dedicated to @vixxonelkrhoh, thank you for supporting this story :)

Zale's PoV:

My whole body aches as I stand up, yesterdays events still heavily weighting on my body. Already 10 am... Tired and on autopilot I drag myself through my usual morning routine, just stopping once for the dreaded look into the mirror, only to find it worse than expected. I look even more like shit than I feel like it. My hair is stuck in every possible direction, slightly greasy and my face looks sickly pale with exception of the dark purple bags under my eyes. My red blotch nose and eyes do noting to the mix and neither does the horrible state that I find my skin in.

Whatever. Emotionless I just turn my back to the offending picture and go on about my morning, numb to everything around me. I don't want to think. At this point in my life I'm just going to give up and whatever happens happens. There's literally nothing to be done anyways, I've moved all the way to New York to hide, one of the biggest cities of the world and he still found me spot on. If I can't hide here I can't hide anywhere, ever.

I can only hope staying with Mario will keep me as safe as humanly possible, albeit I don't like taking advantage of his kindness to let me stay here. The week that we had agreed for me to stay here is about to expire tomorrow as well, and I already dread asking to extend my stay any longer after intruding on Mario's kindness for so long.

He can't hide you from me.

I freeze on the spot as Elvis words rush through my mind, feeling my stomach clenching without use, with my gastric area empty of any contents after last night's toilet session and my whole body beginning to shake. The approaching panic attack that my numb state had kept away until now now hit in full force as my legs completely gave up on me in the middle of my shower. Showers always make me overthink things- I'm starting to believe they're ill-omens.

After surviving through my unexpectedly expected episode I stand up, turning off the water that had become cold somewhen during my stay on the tile floor and caused my limbs to now shake and my teeth to clatter, thanks to the cold. I make short work of drying myself and immediately jump into the clothes that I find already laid out on my night stand, along with my glasses and phone.

Mario's such a sweetheart...
I'll have to tell him eventually don't I? He probably won't let me stay much longer without giving him a reason. I sigh deeply and with a lot of effort, move my heavy legs towards the kitchen where Linda is already bustling about, taking and cleaning things left and right in a calming manner. She doesn't sense me right away so I just slump down on the counter and lay my head on the surface, listening to the supposedly french song that she had playing from the speakers.

My heavy eyes open again to a shocked gasp from Linda, just to find her already nearing my line of vision, face a grimace of worry and disbelief. I intend to give her a small smile to wipe that expression of her face, but I apparently do such a horrible job that the frown she had going on only deepened impossibly further, as her frail small hands reach out for my cheeks.

"Oh god", she breathes, her voice close to failing on the both of us, "what happened to you baby?"
The sorrow on her face only let my numbing wall crumble once more on me for this morning, the water dams in my eyes flooding in a split second and hot tears rolling down my cheeks, right past her warm fingers on my skin. Without hesitating her small arms envelop me in a tight hug as I just cry into her shoulder for what felt like an eternity, until my eyes burn painfully and there are no more tears left to cry.

"There there, I'll make you a hot chocolate first, food for the soul is just what you need now" She declares once she loosens her death grip on me, immediately hurrying around the kitchen again.
I force myself to sit up a little straighter for her sake and wipe my nose on the hem of my shirt, just watching her form through my stinging eyes.