Solitary

Chapter 71- Nothingness and Moonlight

Sitting in the darkness of my bedroom as I mindlessly sip away at the scotch in the glass.

I no longer had an appetite for whiskey. It's been three days since I burned my father alive and now scotch is what I've been drinking.

Particularly the same brand of scotch I stole from Nik the night of the masquerade. I heard Winter knocking on my front door, calling my name from the other side.

Laid across the couch with no motivation to get up, the sinking feeling within the middle of my chest is not something unfamiliar. Winter continuing to knock, calling my name from the other side. I need to get the hell up.

I gather my strength, willing my body to stand. Once I'm on my feet I stagger towards my door. Almost slamming myself against it tripping over an empty bottle. I grab the handle but I don't open the door.

I didn't want anyone to see me like this.

"It's okay Sol." Winter whispers through the door. "It's okay. I'm here. Open the door, please."

Slowly I twist the handle and let the door open. There stands Winter in a pink jogger suit, her hair pulled into a bun and a look of sympathy on her face. But she tried her best to hide it.

"Hey." She breaths out.

"Hey." My voice raspy from the alcohol.

"Can I come in?"

Wordlessly, I step aside letting her in. Her eyes scanning the dark atmosphere of my living room.

"Where's Bubba, Baby, and Morty?"

"I put them in my room. I was smoking and they didn't need to be around that." I say and close the door behind us. She turns to me, a nervous look on her face.

"I heard about your father." She says. "I heard what happened. Natasha called me to check on you and ended up explaining the whole thing."

I sigh.

"Don't blame her. I pressed on the issue and-"

"And now everyone knows what my father did to me, then what I did to him in return." I cut her off taking a swig of my drink before falling back on the couch. "I expected nothing less."

Winter was quiet as I chugged away at the bottle like a hungry newborn. Coming to sit down next to me, moving an empty bottle out the way.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"What?" She looks to me.

"Why are you sorry?" I look to her. "It's not like you knew. It's not like anyone knew. The only two people that found out about it were Nikolai and Natasha." I say. "Then Rae."

"Now everyone else." Winter says.

"What?"

"It's on every gossip cite. It's actually made the news that confirmed you were Nikolai's mate, and that you killed your father and a Lycan."

"National News?"

"Global." She gulped.

"Fuck. Me." I say and stand. I begin pacing the room. "You sure it-I mean-"

"Sol this isn't the first time you've gone viral. Back when you were in Amsterdam a few months ago, someone took a video of you playing the piano. Did you really not know?"

"I don't keep up with social media like that." I say shaking my head.

"I'm really sorry." She whispers. I groan in agitation and fall back on the couch again. Leaning forward holding the bottle with both hands, I sigh in exasperation. "Look, how about this."