Chapter 134 – Shadows of Words
The next day began with a sky that looked as if someone had washed out all the color. Pale blue, almost transparent, much like how I felt as I walked through the school doors. Noise bounced off the walls – voices, shoes, the slamming of lockers. A perfectly normal morning. Except that normalcy sometimes cuts when you grasp it too tightly.
I had barely slept. I kept waking up, phone in hand, waiting for an "I'm here." Nothing came. Not a word from Alaric. No sign of Malaric. Just silence that grew louder the longer I endured it.
Fiona stood in front of my locker and looked at me before I could open my mouth. "He hasn't contacted you, has he?"
I shook my head. "I tried, but he was..." I searched for a word that could describe the nothingness. "Gone."
"Then let him be gone," she said softly, but there was no reproach in her voice, only concern. "When you need him, he'll come. Maybe not how you want, but he'll come."
