Stay By My Side - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

She looked at him, her eyes still cold and distant.

Then she walked out of the café without looking back.

She ran into the afternoon storm as heavy raindrops began to fall.

She had always been independent, teaching herself how to be strong, like a tree forcing its roots deep into the dry, barren earth.

She could be indifferent. Stubborn. Unyielding.

But who knew that beneath that hard exterior was a weary soul, exhausted from constantly having to brace itself against fate and the cruelty of human hearts?

Staggering along the road home, she suddenly saw a familiar figure standing outside her gate, waiting for her.

“What are you doing here, Kelsey?”

“Have you been drinking? You're drunk.”

“I'm not drunk. And even if I am, so what?”

Her voice trembled.

“I don't want to keep hiding this mess of emotions inside me anymore. I'm tired of letting them haunt my thoughts.”

She took a shaky breath.

“I want to run away…”

Her voice broke.

“Why did it have to happen today? Why did he have to treat me like that? Why can't these feelings inside me disappear? Why can't I start over with someone else?”

“Why?”

She cried out through her sobs, and before she even realized it, she had collapsed against his shoulder.

Night fell.

The streetlights flickered weakly through the darkness, casting a lonely glow over the empty road.

The next morning, Kelsey called her, but there was no answer.

He went looking for her.

He searched all the places she usually went, every familiar corner where he thought he might find her.

But there was nothing.

Only silence.

Desperation began to take hold of him.

What if she left this place?

What if she left him?

Where could he possibly find her?