Heartless

89

Colby's POV

"Did you talk to her?" Sam said as I walking into the game room. "Yeah, she said something about the fans...I don't know. I'm worried about her." I said and Sam's face scrunched up, "did something happen?" I sighed, "a fan was working the snack booth at the mini golf place and she kept giving Cora dirty looks. I was trying to not be rude and Cora was being really nice but this girl had probably seen all the comments about Cora being a clout chaser..so she kept looking at her. Cora just isn't acting like herself right now..brother I'm worried." He patted my back. "Maybe she needs to sleep it off...she's been through a lot, especially recently. The girl has been through hell and back, and now she's dealing with a change in her body, she's probably just feeling a little different." Sam encouraged.

I scrubbed my hands with my face, "I know..she snapped at me earlier. It's never happened before. I don't know." I groaned and tinted my head back.

"Don't sweat it dude, you know her and you know she loves you." He said as Kat, Jake, and Tara came into the room. "I know, I just want her to be happy ya know?" I said and looked up at Kat who was staring at me, "trust me Colby, she's happy. She loves you so much." I nodded, "I know. Okay, let's just talk about something else." I said and leaned back into the couch.

The conversation got lighter as laughter filled the air, but I couldn't get my mind off Cora. I felt like she was hiding something and was closing herself off. I felt like she was unwraveling in front of my eyes and it killed me to see that. "I'm gonna go check on her." I mumbled and made my way upstairs.

My heart sank when I opened the door and she wasn't in there. Her shoes were even gone and there was a note on my pillow. I slowly made my way over, afraid to read it.

Colby

I'm so sorry. I really can't do it anymore. I can't keep dragging you down. You're so much better off without me. I can't keep doing this to you so I'm getting away for a little bit. I don't know when or if I'll be back. I'm so sorry, I love you so much. Please don't hate me.

Cora.

My chest seized up as warm tears streamed from my cheeks. My mind raced as I looked around the room, looking for the camera. I ran down the stairs and into the game room. "Woah brother what's wrong?" Sam said showing genuine concern, "tell me it's a prank!" I sobbed out shakily holding the letter up. "What are you talking about?" Sam said seriously and held my shoulders with his hands. "TELL ME IT'S A PRANK." I sobbed harder as Sam pulled me into him. The letter fell on the ground as I wrapped my arms tightly around him, feeling my heart shatter in my chest. Why would she leave like that? It's so unlike her.

Kat picked up the letter and read it, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Colby you have to calm down!" Sam said as I broke down. My heart felt like it was put through a meat grinder, "what's going on?!" Corey said running into the room, as Kat pulled her phone out. "Cora's gone. S-she left." Kat said shakily as she held her phone up to her ear.

"She's not answering." She said grimly and sat on the couch staring at the letter. Sam gripped onto me more as I felt my knees buckle. "Please tell me it's a prank." I repeated as he led me to the couch. "It's not a prank, brother." Sam said and sat next to me as I pressed my face into my hands.

I pulled my phone out and tried to call her but she didn't answer. I kept calling. I needed her.

"Cora baby, please come back to me. Whatever is going on we can fix it. Please baby girl answer your phone..I..I love you." I sobbed out, leaving a message.

"Where do you think she went? We can go get her." Jake said looking at me with concerned eyes. "I-I don't know." I sighed but Kat stood up, "don't you do this, Brock! Get up. We are going to go find her." She said sternly, "Kat I-" "NOW!" She interrupted.

Sam, Kat and I piled in the car and started to make our way to her apartment. All three of us calling her, trying to get her to answer us. "I just...I don't know what happened." I mumbled as the call went to voicemail for the fifth time. "We were fine before the date. Everything was fine before we went up that stupid snack booth." I mumbled angrily. "Have you been reading what the fans have been saying about her?" Sam said as he drove. "Yeah, but I ignore them, they don't matter. They're just jealous fans" I said calling her again, praying she would answer. "Maybe she saw them. I don't know, those comments can really hurt someone who's not used to them." I shook my head and punched the roof of the car

"I'm so stupid! I should have addressed it...I wasn't thinking." I groaned. "Colby calm down, if she's not here I'm gonna try and call her dad. He gave me his number when he was in the hospital." Kat said from the back seat as we pulled up to her apartment.

We raced to her door but it was locked. "Cora baby please open up if you're in there." I said cringing at how desperate my voice was. Kat sighed and pulled her spare key out, "I'm gonna go in. You two stay out here." She sighed "what? No I-" I started but Sam put his hand on my shoulder, "just stay with me brother." He said as Kat walked into the apartment. It felt like so much time passed before Kat came back out, "she's not in there." She locked the door and pulled her phone out. "I'm calling her dad." She had a grim expression on her face as she found the contact.

"Hi Mr. Williams..have you heard from Cora? Okay. Yeah we will let you know. Okay yeah. Thank you, bye." She closed her eyes as tears fell down them. "She didn't talk to him." She whispered. "Okay. We need to go back to the house and figure things out." Sam said and got back in the car.

I could feel myself shutting down. Not being able to speak or move, the aching in my chest being too unbearable. We made it to the house and were greeted by everyone, "did you figure anything out?" Tara said as she ran up to us. "No. We have no idea where she is." Sam said causing me to lose it. I collapsed to my knees, feeling the sobs wreck through my chest.

"Woah woah..it's gonna be okay." Sam said as he fell to the ground with me, holding me in a hug. I couldn't believe that it would be okay. I would be okay once she was in my arms again. That's the only time it would be okay.