Saving Sophia ✔️

s i x t e e n

Dear Diary,

Do you ever have that feeling where you just know your time is up? Like you hit your expiration date? That you're being called by bigger things, unseen things? Things you can't explain? Because I do. My timer is just about up. I can feel the monsters salivating at the thought. They're waiting. Biding their time. The time in which there isn't much left of.

In the world of any typical 18 year old girl, tonight would be the night she would most look forward to. Weeks of planning; what dress to buy, how to style her hair, which nail design would best suit her, who she would experience the most magical night of her teenage life with. None of that mattered to Sophia Layne. No, she spent her "most magical night" eating a tub of ice cream in her favorite pajamas, watching How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days with her mother.

Magical right?

"Oh I just love Matthew McConaughey, don't you?" Her mother smiled, patting her softly on the leg.

"I guess," she murmured in response.

"So two weeks, huh?"

Sophia looked over at her mom perplexed. Her mother simply laughed. "Until you graduate silly! My baby girl will be a high school graduate."

If I make it til then she thought to herself.

"Excuse me," she said, rising from the couch.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed. It's been a long day," she lied. She heard her mother sigh as she walked to her bedroom. Upon entering, she saw the soft glow of her phone illuminating the room.

-Unknown number
I'd still much rather be here with you .... or anywhere else as long as it was with you

She stared at the message. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it. She couldn't for the life of her begin to understand why he always came back. She pushed and pushed and yet, there he remained.

Maybe she needed to push just a little bit harder.

-Sophia
Meet me at the tree @ midnight

✦ ✦ ✦

"I'm not gonna lie Sophia, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw your name pop up on my phone."

Zane stood there so nonchalantly, dressed to a T in his tux. Leaning against the tree in the dark. His figure was softly illuminated by the lights overhead. She saw the intensity of his grey eyes as they ate away at her presence. She stood to meet his stance, adjusting the oversized hoodie she wore.

"Thanks for meeting me," she finally spoke, barely audible, and yet it echoed so loudly in Zane's head.

"Of course Sophia, I would meet you anywhere, anytime." He reached for her hand and brought her down next to him as he sat in the grass. "Is everything okay?"

She breathed in and out several times before speaking. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"What?"

"I don't need you, and yet you don't seem to get it."

"Soph-"

"Just stop," she interrupted harshly, "just .. stop. I don't want you in my life. I don't need you in my life. I just want you to stop. Just leave me al-"

"But Sophia," Zane interrupted, "I want you in my life. I need you in my life. Hell if I know why, considering all you do is push me away. But I do. I mean, fuck, I attacked my own best friend trying to defend you. Trying to protect you."

"I-"

"No, Sophia, I want you to hear what I have to say," he spoke, grabbing her hands within his own. "Please, just look at me. I want to see your beautiful green eyes with those blue specks looking back at me."

She slowly lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. "Beautiful," he breathed, "so so beautiful." He leaned in, his face mere inches from hers. "Sophia," he whispered, his breath gently washing over her face. And without hesitation, he moved in, ridding any space between them. His lips ravished her own. Hungrily, insatiably, kissing her as if his life depended on it.

Because in this moment, it did. In this very moment, he was only alive because of her.

And her? She was only minutes away from death because of him.