Heartless

93

"Hey squirt! Your foods in the microwave!" Dad yelled from the other room. "Umm can you come here for a minute?" I said as Colby grabbed my hand. "Are you-oh..you must be Colby." He said and smiled cautiously. "That's me, it's nice to finally meet you." Colby said and held his hand out to my dad.

Dad looked at it for a second then stepped forward and gave him a hug. "It's nice to meet you son, thanks for taking care of my daughter." The gesture warmed my heart so much I had to rub my chest to sooth the tightness. "I try, but sometimes she slips away from me." Colby said with a laugh and looked back at me. Dad laughed, "looks like you found her though, let me guess, McMillan?" I nodded sheepishly. "I knew it." Dad said then turned to the fridge, "you hungry Colby? I made beef stew but if you don't like that we can whip something else up for you." He pulled out the rest of the stew that he had saved, "that sounds delicious." Colby said as I walked to the microwave, to heat up my food. "I got it squirt, sit down." Dad said and kissed my head.

"So I know you do YouTube but what kind of things do you do on there?" Dad said as Colby and I sat at the table, "well we are taking a break for the time being due to...circumstances but usually we go to haunted places and try to get paranormal evidence." Colby said causing dad to nod, "and you convinced Cora to go to some of those places?" He said in shock, "yeah, it doesn't take much to convince her" Colby said and grabbed my hand. "My daughters a badass." Dad said as he put our food in front of us.

"More than you think..." I mumbled as I stirred the food around the bowl with my fork. "Maybe we can watch some of those videos after dinner." Dad said causing me to slightly choke on the food I had just put in my mouth, "maybe not." I said and took a sip of water.

My dad didn't know I was arrested and he would definitely find out if we watched the videos I was in. "No I think he can watch some of them, come on Cora it could be fun."I shot him a look, "Don't worry we will only show you the fun ones." Colby said and winked at me.

We finished up dinner and made our way to the living room, I still was having this feeling of utter dread, but was trying to keep my composure. "You're okay." Colby whispered and kissed the side of my head causing me to smile slightly. On top of it all I wanted to throw up all the food I just ate. Dad looked at me with suspicion but didn't say anything as he turned the tv on. "Okay Colby, you're probably better at tech stuff than me." Dad said and handed Colby the remote.

"Alright this one is the latest one we did, we went to Kansas to explore an abandoned warehouse, Sam and I used to go there all the time. This one gets pretty intense and is the reason we are taking a break from YouTube." Colby said and leaned back, wrapping his arm around me.

I had never actually watched myself on camera before, so it was weird to see how I was. My mind drifted off as Colby and Dad made comments, I couldn't help but admire the way they were getting along. I watched as they laughed together at funny parts, and the way both of their faces hardened when I was getting scared in the video. My dad would ask Colby questions about how he got into doing stuff like this, causing his eyes to twinkle. My two favorite people in the world, finally met and my heart soared.

Then my mind took a turn for the worst again.

I watched as the video got more intense, we were huddled in the corner of the warehouse, worried that someone was downstairs. I looked absolutely terrified, they think you're a baby. They think you're just using Colby to be in his videos. They think you're the reason they are taking a break from YouTube. It's all your fault.

I shook my head trying to make those thoughts go away, causing Colby to tighten his grip on me. He was still in a conversation with dad, but I couldn't hear them. Thoughts were just swarming my head as I watched the tv. I watched as my leg went through the floor, they think you did that on purpose. That you're an attention seeker. That you only want to have the spotlight.

I felt my stomach churn as tears brimmed my eyes. I kept my eyes focused on the screen as the blood curdling screams filled my ears of a woman being attacked in the same building as us. My chin trembled as I felt stomach bile rising in my throat.

They are going to think you got pregnant just for Colby's money and for attention.

I got up quickly and sprinted to the bathroom, hearing Colby and my dad screaming for me. I threw myself on the ground and let the contents of my stomach out, as I sobbed.

"Hey...it's okay." I heard next to me, as Colby held my hair back. "I'm sick of this." I cried out and threw myself into his chest. Grasping onto him as if I would die if I let go. "I know...I know." Colby said as I heard dad walk up to the door. His face was full of concern.

"Cora....a-are you pregnant?"