The Heartbroken - S01 E228

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E228

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 228

“Please.”

There was a pause, in which I continued to look him

in the eye, still completely unguarded, and I hoped

he was considering this—that he would tell me okay,

I won’t leave and everything would be all right again.

I kept waiting for him to say them, hoping to hear

those words, wishing he would stay if I just begged

him to.

But the sigh he let out was enough to extinguish all

hopes of that.

“I’m sorry,” he said and I could hear his sincerity

behind the words. “It’s not that I hate Mom—I could

never hate her for real—but I can’t help feel like…” He

shook his head and dropped his gaze. “Like this thing

with Philip ruined our family, and I know I shouldn’t

put it against her, but… what else can I do? I need—I

need some time away.”

After that, I found it hard to talk anymore, so I kept

quiet, afraid I might end up crying if I tried to speak.

As if we had an unspoken agreement, he decided not

to say anything too. Silence engulfed us, anchored

by the weight of his pending absence, until it was

impossible to even attempt having a conversation.

After that, I drove us back to the picnic ground to go

back to his car. We didn’t talk much during the ride,

but before he I let him out of the car, I made him

promise to head home and not disappear again. I

even threatened to follow him all the way to his

house just in case.

He laughed when I told him. “That won’t be

necessary. I promise I’m going straight home.”

“You better keep that promise,” I told him.

I wanted to say more, but he was already nodding

and getting out of the car before I could.

It’s been a week since that night, and while I wish I

could say I’d been spending more time with Seth

lately to make up for his absence from here on, I

hadn’t. We didn’t go back to sitting with them at

lunch and while we hadn’t gone as far as avoiding

each other on purpose, neither of us exactly sought

out the other’s company.

Tuesday afternoon, we bumped into each other after

school and it wasn’t painfully awkward or anything.

We only had a quick conversation before I headed to

the hospital to visit Cedric and Seth was heading to

his Dad’s hotel. I asked him how things were holding

up with Isabelle and his dad.

“Well,” he said with a slight shrug, “not good.

Definitely not good. But things’ll pass, right?”

Ever since the night he disappeared, he started to

seem more like the Seth I knew. He looked more

rested than he had since the night we called off the

fake relationship and started not talking. I guess he

started to accept his parents’ divorce better now.

Last night, they had another cookout. Like a goodbye

party for Seth. I was invited to go, but I refused. I

wish I could say why exactly I didn’t want to go, but

to be honest, I didn’t know either.

There had been, of course, a lot of persuasion and

even a bit of blackmail (from Alyssa, who else?), but

none of them had successfully convinced me to go,

and instead I spent the night locked in my room to

write my letter to Seth.

At first, I only wanted to write what he asked me to

—just the things I liked about him—but once I started

writing, I realized I couldn’t do that without telling

him all the other things I wanted to tell him too.

I could almost feel the weight of the letter in my bag

as we all piled up in Warren’s van. I wasn’t sure how

it was decided that we all head to the airport in one

car but I didn’t question it. I wasn’t sure if I could

even focus enough to drive without conjuring up an

illusion of Seth staying back and deciding not to leave

after all, so I was glad for the ride.