She | h.s

fifty

iv. the end

It had been the worst forty-eight hours of my life. Time didn't feel real. I couldn't get up, I couldn't go to sleep. I flinched at the creaking of the floorboards. It felt impossible to do anything. The worst part was finally getting up this morning and turning the TV on to see news reporters swarmed around my home.

I shut the TV off immediately and cried.

It had also been forty-eight hours straight of having no contact from Harry. I had texted him a whopping twenty-six times spiraling. It was a mix between apologizing for Elio and telling him how rude it was for him to say that about Elio.

.....Oh, Elio.

I haven't spoken to Elio in forty-eight hours too. I felt completely and utterly disconnected to the world, and I just couldn't speak to anyone. I don't know why I couldn't, but I just couldn't.

I had ignored his messages the first sixteen hours, and then he just stopped trying. Or maybe I disabled his notifications? Either way, the last two days have been the worst, seemingly time stopping completely as the two days blurred into one.

The guys have been so incredibly sweet to me, understanding how isolated I've been lately, and not caring a single bit that I would answer in short sentences or not at all. They understood how I was feeling, and I was so grateful for them.

I decided to get out of bed, feeling my bladder fill. Looking into the mirror, I shock myself with how horrible I had looked. I had completely neglected myself, my eye-bags prominent and my brown hair tangled and knotted. I felt ashamed of myself.

I wasn't even the one who came close to the gun, yet I acted like I was the one who got shot at.

My phone buzzes on the counter, and I answer it without thinking. "Hello?" I croak, my throat is dry. I make a mental note to grab a glass of water then shower.

"Daisy?" Elio answers, making me suck in a breath. "Daisy, it's me. It's Elio," He says.

"Hi..." I say, trying to perk my voice up. "I'm sorry that I haven't been messaging much, I don't know, I guess it kinda just... It's been really hard." I say to him and he sighs on the other end.

"Can I see you today?" He asks me, catching me off guard.

"I don't think that's really a good idea I just.." I begin to explain, not knowing how to really do so but he cuts me off.

"I really need to see you," He stressed. "We need to talk." He says, making my anxiety go through the roof.

"O-okay," I give in. "Can we... can we meet at an open space? Maybe at a park? I just don't feel like being somewhere with so many people," I ask him.

"Yeah, of course, yeah. I'll um... I'll see you soon Daisy," He says before hanging up.

I begin to strip my clothes off, running myself a bath to try to calm my nerves before having to see Elio. I was scared, tired, and honestly clueless to the urgency of his words. He needed to see me. We needed to talk.

#########

I sat in the empty park swing set, rocking myself back and forth as I toy with the zipper on my coat. It felt weird to be all dressed up, looking out together as if I hadn't just had the worst few days. I pull my phone out of my pocket, looking to see if I had any new messages from Harry.

No new messages.

I felt like digging a hole into the gravel below me and letting the earth swallow me whole. Did I just lose my friend? My friends that I am so desperately in love with? It was confusing as I tried to let the ache in my chest subside, hearing footsteps approaching me.