The Beacon [h.s]

25

Nyla West

I've barely slept.

The image sent to my phone has caused me to go into a state of constant anxiousness. I couldn't stop overthinking on what this might mean and who could be doing this. I'm not a social person, I didn't come up with anyone who'd be out to get me, the small number of people I knew in high school, I don't speak to anymore.

I even asked Louis to stay the night on Saturday to which he excitedly agreed to, he already had clothes at my house anyway. We spent our entire Sunday locked up inside my room watching movies, we even ordered pizza again. And to my surprise, Mother didn't bother us once.

I stayed mostly awake both nights, staring into the darkness of my room while Louis slept soundly as he held my arm in between his. He's a cuddler when he sleeps, even if he isn't aware of it. I kept checking my phone throughout the night, wondering if I'd receive a picture of me in bed, I was scared whoever it was that sent those pictures might show up to my house too.

So after my sleepless weekend, I packed up my duffle bag again for the start of the new week. Louis left a couple minutes ago after squeezing the life out of me in a goodbye hug. I quickly got ready to leave for work, changing into a brown v-neck shirt and cream colored jeans, both of which I got on Saturday with Louis, I paired it with my white sneakers.

Throwing my duffle bag over my shoulder, I leave my room and head downstairs and to the kitchen. I hear some commotion, Mother must be awake.

"Morning." I greet her, opening the fridge to grab the iced coffee I made yesterday.

She turns around from the counter, a tight lipped smile as her response.

With my coffee in hand, I take her silence as a cue for me to leave. But right as I was about to reach the end of the kitchen, I turned around to face her again. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She looks at me.

"How are you? I mean, how are you doing with the, um, no drinking?" I cautiously ask.

Her eyebrows raised slightly, she wasn't expecting me to ask, but of course I did. I still cared for her even after the hurtful words she spoke to me on Friday night. "It's going alright." She slowly nods.

"Good." I pull a small smile. "And it's okay if you have bad days and slip up a little, it's part of the process. I'm only a call away if you need someone to talk to on those bad ones." I assure her that she isn't alone, ever.

Her face has a look of surprise. "Yeah, sure, I will." She clears her throat, both of us awkwardly staring at each other. "Have a good week at work."

Now I'm smiling. "Thanks, you too. I'll see you on Friday." With one last look at her, I leave the kitchen and head outside to my car.

But I pause right outside the house door, scanning the front yard and down the sidewalk for anyone that looks strange. Still, I don't see anything abnormal. I clutch the duffle bag in my hand, speed walking to my car and throwing it into the back seat and finally getting inside myself. I lock the doors and start the ignition.

It's 5:30 in the morning. I made sure to get up extra early this time, knowing I seriously could not be late with having both my chances used up. But the last person I want to see right now is Harry, I don't even want to drop my bag off at his place first, I'll just take it with me when I go there after work.

I arrived at work after an hour of driving. After parking my car and making sure my surroundings are normal, I head inside the building. And with the new information I was told about this place on Thursday, I can't help but look through the lobby with a different view. Everything here just looks too normal to be having such a big secret behind it. Then again, I guess that's the point.