Reflection (Book #2)

Chapter Ten

"I'm leaving to get Alex from school. Do you want to come with me?" Ben asked as he loaded the washing machine.

"No, but thank you. I think I'm just going to go lay in bed. Maybe some extra sleep will do me well," I answered.

He kissed the top of my forehead. "I'll be back soon. I'll put him to bed, and then I'll be in to sleep with you for an hour or so before work."

"Okay." I listened to him leave the room, then the house, and felt my body relax once his emotional vibrations were out of reach.

"Delilah, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to upset you. I do love you. I always have, you know that right?"

"Go away, Dion! Please."

"I can't. You're the only one I can reach. They're going to kill me! You have to help me!"

I sighed. "I'll call Kyle. I can't deal with this. I have to live my life."

"I want you to do that. I want you to be happy. You aren't done with me, yet. I wouldn't be able to keep doing this if you were."

"I miss you," I admitted. "I didn't think I would, but I do."

"You're a part of me, and I'm a part of you. We were never meant to be separated," he complained.

"Just get out of my head!" I shouted.

"It's just me! It's just me!" Ben said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I need to call Kyle," I said, sitting straight up. I was in the kitchen with the phone in my hand in the next second, dialing the number Kyle had given me.

"Hello?" He rasped.

"Kyle, I'm sorry for waking you up-"

"Liles, what's wrong?" He interrupted with a clearer voice.

I sighed. "You're going to think I'm crazy. I have to tell you this so I can get some sleep. I keep having nightmares where Dion tells me he's still alive, and that I have to save him. He says someone is going to kill him soon."

"You think he's alive?"

"I think if he's not, then I have a bigger problem. Every time I fall asleep, he's there."

"I'll check it out."

"Don't tell me what you find, okay? Please? I'm trying to move on. I just... If he's alive, and he's trying so hard to reach me, I can't be the reason he dies," I explained.

"I get it. It's okay. I'll check it out. How's Alex doing?"

"He's doing really well. He's in school. He's so intelligent. I should have never left him."

"He will be okay. You should get some rest. If Dion talks to you tonight, or you dream of him or whatever, tell him I'm working on it."

"Thank you so much!"

"Goodnight, Liles. Let me know if you need anything else."

I turned around to head back to bed, and realized Ben was standing right behind me the whole time. "I'm sorry," I said, stopping in my tracks.

"It's okay. I'm not upset. Let's go back to bed."

"I'm not ready to let him go," I whispered, halfheartedly hoping he wouldn't hear me.

His body tensed, and he stopped for a moment. "I know that. I'm going to get ready for work. It's almost time for me to leave anyway."

I sat on the floor in the living room, watching him walk up the stairs away from me without turning around. I wrapped my arms around my knees, and pulled them up to my chest. 'You aren't done with me yet.' Why can't I let you go?

"Come here, baby," Ben said softly. I turned to see him walking closer. He picked me up under my arms until I stood, then he picked me up and carried me up the stairs. He kissed my cheeks.  "It's okay to be upset. You're grieving. You have to do what you have to do to deal with it. I'm not mad. I might get jealous, but I don't mean anything. I hate to see you so sad. I thought you grieved him before we moved. I didn't realize you were still heartbroken."

I squinted at him as he sat me on the bed. "I wasn't... Before we moved, it wasn't about him. It was about you. I thought I had lost you. I thought I had ruined it all by lying to you, and not telling you about Dion."

He scoffed, unable to fight off the smile, as he shook his head. "I love you. You can't ruin this. I'm here for you, and I always will be. Well, as long as I'm alive."

"I don't know why this is happening to me. I left him, so why am I so upset now?"

Ben kissed the top of my head. "I think subconsciously you probably always thought if you needed him, you could always call and he'd be there. Now, he's really gone."

"But he's not," I said.  "He's terrorizing my dreams. Every time I close my eyes, I hear him talking to me."

"So talk it out," Ben said. "Tell him what you need to tell him to let him go. I have to get to work. I'll see you when I get home."

~ I switched dup the plot a little bit (yet to be written) and got myself excited about this again! I might end up combining my ideas for 2 books into this one so they don't end up being super short and boring I'm 2 separate pieces.