INTO THE STARS
———
MALACHI
Things feel like they are imploding. Not directly in my face, but once I return to campus, it will be difficult not to face these arising... issues. I have been moping this past day and a half. There has been a voice in the back of my mind refusing to settle and shut the fuck up.
A downward spiral, you could call it.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have answered that call from the prison. It could only result in one thing and one thing only: an inevitable slap in the face and the untimely return of my past. I had escaped it for almost a week, but I shouldn't have been so naïve to believe it wouldn't come back.
From all the years Vaughn has been incarcerated, I should've known that. He is yet again proving my and Kohen's point. He is a fucking sponge. Draining us of our emotions and this time I hadn't even seen him in person. One measly phone call could suffice.
My current mood doesn't even revolve around him; I could not care less that bastard was stuck in a coma.
What is bothering me has to do with the entitlement he still holds. The power he has over me. A minuscule part of me wants to believe the best in him, despite all the heartache and trouble I have sustained because of him.
Every interaction with Vaughn, whether it's direct or indirect, resurfaces old memories and I feel... trapped. Trapped inside the mind of someone who is clinging to their trauma when I should've moved on so long ago.
My trauma—despite being my ultimate downfall—is the only part of me that refuses to leave. It has been the most loyal thing in my life for so long that I forbid to let go of it.
An onslaught of incomprehensible thoughts floods my brain, incapacitating any semblance of space left inside. Your brain is the most complicated component of the human body and, right now, I feel like mine is about to detonate from thought overload.
I need something to take my mind off of it. Desperately. But, here in the middle of the woods, there is very little I could do.
Out of all my options, I know the best solution was to spend my day on the mountain, challenging myself on some of the mountain's hardest runs and catching that adrenaline high.
But, alas, instead I wasted my last two days here holed up in my bedroom and doing anything to numb the constant ache and incessant voice inside my head.
I think the only time I have left my room in the past thirty-six hours was to use the bathroom and roam the house when there was no one else to see me. I hadn't even eaten, though. My body needs some nutrition.
I stare at the roof of my bedroom, watching the ceiling fan spin continuously. A lit joint dangles loosely from the tips of my fingers and I can't... fucking move.
Why am I letting Vaughn have this constant control over me? His health should not in any capacity dictate my life. Or affect my life. Long ago, he lost any right to be involved with me or know me.
Yet he is still in it, a tiny voice in the back of my head taunts, resulting in an exhausted and frustrated groan leaving my mouth.
I need to sleep. I need food. I need... something to numb me.
What did I do to deserve this?
A knock echoes through my bedroom that I barely acknowledge, so entranced by the whir of the ceiling fan.
"Malachi," comes a soft, familiar voice from the other side of the door that finally shakes me from my reverie.
"What?" I grumble, my voice a lot deeper and harsher than I intend. Clearing my throat, I amend my question, "What do you want?"
YOU ARE READING
Into the Stars (USC Series Book #2)
Romance⎨COMPLETED⎬ Malachi Creed has never been one to crave attention. Unlike most jocks, the title and attention around campus never appealed to Malachi. Throughout his life, Malachi has learned that no matter how much you could love or trust a person; t...
