Strength I Lose

Chapter 26

After getting rejected by Seth, Alecus had a hard time trying to not let a deep depression take over him. He spent the daytime pretending everything was completely fine and when night came he'd break down in his bed. This was life for him as days that turned into weeks passed. If he was an idiot before, he was an even bigger idiot now.

A month and a half had passed since the fallout with Seth. The pain of it all never dimmed, he just learned to numb himself from it. No one suspected a thing. The only person who knew about what had happened was Melody. He ran to her, crying the day he was rejected. When he told her what happened, she was so livid she offered to strangle Seth.

Ever since then, whenever she could, she'd drag Alecus from his place to go hang out somewhere. Sometimes bars, sometimes nightclubs, and sometimes just at her house with a nice bottle of wine and a movie. He was grateful to have her as a sister, truly, but it never helped the gaping hole he felt in his chest. If anything, being rejected by Seth only solidified the fact that he would never find someone who could tolerate and love him. He knew love wasn't something that was necessary in order to be happy but sometimes waking up in the arms of someone who loves you sounded like a nice thing. Especially for someone who will live a very long life. It gets lonely after some time and Alecus has spent too many years feeling alone already. He was a fool who liked to hope.

He was lying in bed and for the first time, in a long time, he wasn't crying. He was just lying there thinking about the demon and how happy they could have been together. A knock on his door cut the daydream short. He got up and opened the door to see his sister standing there holding something in her hands.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but back when we had a fight with Artorius he found a shirt your boyfriend gave you and I tried to take it away from him but it ended up ripping. I'm guessing since you never asked about its whereabouts you didn't find out. I've been working on fixing it for a long time now and I finally managed to get it back to one piece. I know it's late but I just finished it and I thought now would be a better time than ever to come clean. I know you have plenty of clothes from your boyfriend and one shirt doesn't really matter, but here," she handed him the black turtleneck he had long forgotten about. The first piece of clothing Seth ever gave him. "I'm sorry for the damage to it."

Fighting back the wave of emotions that hit him, Alecus took in a breath, "It's totally fine, thanks for patching it up."

"No need to thank me, it's the least I could do. Speaking of your boyfriend, how are you two?" She asked in a playful tone.

Trying not to get paralyzed by the pang of sadness that spread like wildfire in his chest Alecus let out a small laugh, "It's fine, it's good," he faked a yawn, "I'm kind of tired though so I can't stay up and tell you all about it."

"Oh, alright...but you owe me!" She joked turning swiftly on her heel and making her way to her room.

Shutting the door Alecus sunk to the floor and clutched the shirt to his chest. It still smelled like Seth. Hot tears slid down his face and he struggled to catch his breath. The only true item worth remembering Seth by had been ruined.

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"God, it smells rank in here!"

The sound of cans moving with each step Vic took grew loud. She knew Seth was going through a rough patch but never thought it was this bad. After all, he's the one who rejected the Alecus.

"Ughhhh, be quiet, you're too loud..." a groggy voice came from the other side of the room. Seth was deep in a pile of blankets. This had been his life for about two weeks now. At first, he was doing fine but after some time, everything with Alecus caught up to him and he finally hit rock bottom. For a workaholic, he was taking a very long break.