Fallen

Chapter 47. Some kind of love [Caleb] THE END

It's New Year's Eve. Marking the last day of this year. And soon, we'll all be stepping into a year that hopefully promises fewer surprises, at least of the supernatural kind.

Tonight is an important night, at least for my mom. It's her special occasion. Like a kid on Christmas, opening up presents with a glow in their eyes. My mom is the same way, her eyes sparkling with any mention of tonight. I can't say I'm sharing the same excitement.

I've been zoning out my mom's constant chatter as she goes through my closet to find something presentable for me to wear tonight when the guests come.

Being unhelpful, I've just been lying in my bed, propped up on my pillows while staring into the blinding light of my phone. Eyes dry. I've been glowering at the unanswered messages I sent to Tina several hours ago. She still hasn't replied.

The truth is. Ever since M, I've been vegetating. The days after M left slowly turned into weeks, and the weeks slowly turned into months.

I just can't shrug off the feeling of having lost something important. But going from fighting vicious beasts alongside a handsome angel to just plain existing does that to someone. It sounds even more miserable thinking it out loud.

And now, I've just gone about my life as usual. Being the same ordinary and incredibly uninteresting teenager as ever.

Tina is still Tina, giggly and as great as always. School is school. And my dating life is pretty non-existent, not that I've really gotten over M to do anything about it.

The only thing that's changed ever since M left is my parents.

They admitted to being in the wrong. For not being the world's best parents. They've put a stop to their traveling. Instead, wanting to spend more time with Lucy and me. Lucy definitely appreciates it.

Although I'm still warming up to them. The incident at the house really put me in their bad grades. Tina helped me come up with an excuse, saying we held a crazy party, which explained the state of the inside. Still, the scratches and bruises obviously couldn't be blamed on that, so we told them we got attacked by an angry raccoon afterward, which they miraculously bought.

"What do you think of this shirt?" I hear my mom's voice call out to me, pulling me back into the real world. She's holding a navy blue button-down from where she's standing in front of my closet, clothes pilling by her feet.

"It's fine, I guess," I shrug, looking back at my phone, the words from my texts blurring out, becoming unreadable.

"Caleb," I can hear my mom start. The bed creaks a little from the weight of her sitting down by my resting legs. She places her manicured hand on my ankle, giving it a gentle squeeze to get my attention. "What's the matter? Did Tina cancel on you tonight?"

"No," I mutter, falling more into my pillows to avoid my mom's questioning. If Tina couldn't come tonight, she would have told me instantly, which means there's another reason she can't answer me.

"Then what's with you," She insists. "You've been like this for a while. Is it because of the house? You know we forgave you for that long time ago, right?" That does come as a surprise to me. It still doesn't feel like that entirely, but it's nice to hear it coming from her.

I shake my head. Trying to find my words. I want to come clean. To tell her what's been upsetting me. But it's difficult without telling her the whole story about angels and near-death experiences.

"I guess," I stop to think, a frown etched on my face. "When you guys were gone, there was this boy."

"A boy?" My mom's eyes widen in surprise. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"