Shattered

Carter (e)

Carter
15.
I pulled up to my home, the drive, which seemed to have taken much longer than I would have liked, left my mind spinning and my eyes bleary with thought. With the person calling my phone every couple seconds, I figured that was the reason why.

When I finally picked up the phone, my heart began to pound in my chest at the thought of why Thomas could be calling. There was only one reason that made sense.

"I met her." His familiar voice said into the phone. The sound that was once a haunting memory, now just as real and familiar. His voice was steady and not what I had been expecting. Not drunk.

Although, when I realized Thomas's words, I sat up straighter with a sliver of anger. I didn't even have to ask to know who he was talking about.

"What did you do?" I asked, gripping the phone hard as if that would keep the bite out of my voice.

"Why do you think I did anything? All I did was talk to her."

"Thomas." My voice warned.

"She seems nice. And said you weren't terrible."

Immediately, I thought back to Hazel's conversation, the relief that I had felt in the fact that she didn't mind working for me. It's not that bad, she had said, but whoever she had been talking to had clearly thought the opposite.

Who wouldn't?

Thomas's words rung in my head, and couldn't help but snicker with the disbelief that filled me, the hand that tightened around my chest reminding me that she had ignited the same feeling in the span of only a few short weeks.

Usually, I waited until the evenings to eat because the anxiety stole my appetite most days, but today, there was no possible way I could've kept the surprise from my face when Hazel took notice.

"Stay away from Hazel." I said, a challenging tone in my voice.

Along with the surprise, I had felt the embarrassment, a feeling long since hidden and forgotten. Embarrassed that Hazel had even noticed.

"What happened, Carter?"

Thomas's voice reeled me from my thoughts, from a certain dark-eyed girl who made my head spin much too hard. Whatever it was she was doing to me, I didn't like it.

And now Thomas?

I didn't try so hard to forget the last eight years just so I could have it all thrown back into my face.

"You left," I snapped coldly. "That's what happened."

Thomas didn't say anything, but his sharp intake of breath told me he was still on the other end. It only made me angrier. I snapped before I could listen to his voice again, sure that I'd lose my mind.

"Don't think that you can just come back here and pretend that everything is fine, because it's not. I was doing just fine without you. I don't need you anymore."

I couldn't help but lower my voice on the last words, blinking back the sudden tears of disbelief and anger and fear—all of it a giant hand pressing on my chest, taunting and jeering for me to give in.

I was this close. Too close, in which I could feel my heart as it began to pound.

"Just don't hurt her," I heard Thomas tell me. "Whatever you do."