"There are a few moments in life that are perfect and surreal; like a beautiful dream you don't want to wake up from, but when you do, you can't seem to remember what it was about. Then there are the terrible moments, absolute nightmares that nothin...
The following day, Atlas had just one class which got cancelled as he made his way to that same class. Will met him outside the department and they headed to the library to get an hour or more study time in before they went about their day.
The problem with sitting at the library was that it was too silent, which hadn't been a problem before but, he was getting really distracted by his thoughts. He found himself thinking about the previous day wondering if Thea's deductions about Makenna had misled him to believe that there was something more behind all that...
That what? He couldn't even figure out what to call it.
Dark exterior of hers?
Makenna was black and white, simple. But Thea had decided to use her art degree to blend in the colours and make him think she was grey. After yesterday, he had been able to revert back to see just how black and white she was.
"You ok, man?" Will asked when he looked up from what he was reading and caught Atlas staring at a spot on the table they were seated at.
Atlas looked up at Will, "Hmm-hmm, yea."
"You look...lost."
It took Atlas half a second to come up with an excuse as he smiled at Will, "Just thinking of the places I'll be visiting soon with the new motorbike."
"Ahh, Tacoma is beautiful." Will said, "Lots of serene places, you just have to know where to go."
"And do you know where to go?"
"I do. But I'll let you roam and discover places yourself." Will smiled, "It's much more satisfying discovering those places by yourself than having someone point you towards them."
"Now, I can't wait to go for a ride."
"We have nothing else today, you could go after we're done here."
"We have that assignment..."
"It's due at the end of the week. There's still time."
Atlas looked at him as he thought about it. Will watched Atlas and knew the second he decided to listen to Will which made him smile,
"That's the spirit."
Atlas smiled his small smile. He'd lost his smile after the accident and since he came to Tacoma, he'd gotten a bit of his smile back mostly because of Thea. "We should get back to studying then."
Atlas and Will went back to studying, another thirty minutes later and they were packing up and heading out of the library.
"Are you heading out now?" Will asked as they walked down the stairs outside the library,
"I'll drop my bookbag at my apartment."
"Alright. Have fun."
"Bye, mate." Atlas said just as they reached the end of the stairs. Will headed in the opposite direction and Atlas headed to where he'd parked his bike.
Atlas did as he'd told Will; he stopped by his apartment to drop off his bookbag and thought about packing a small lunch to take with him but instead ended up deciding to find a new place to try out if he go hungry.
Atlas got on his bike and hit the road, glad that Tacoma didn't have a helmet policy because he enjoyed the feel of the soft breeze hitting his face. His motorbike wasn't slow and it wasn't crazy fast which he loved.
Atlas went north-west towards Ruston taking the scenic route with the sea view and he loved it he couldn't get the smile, which was plastered on his face, off his face. He took the right turn heading towards the edge of Tacoma leading to a beach of the docks, he hoped. He arrived somewhere he could see the docks and pulled his motorbike off at the parking lot with a few cars present. He hopped off his motorbike and headed in the direction the boats and yacht were docked, and couldn't help but agree with Will.
Tacoma is truly beautiful. He thought as he walked towards the edge of the dock and came to a stop.
Staring out into the ocean he inhaled deeply shutting his eyes as he did so. He held his breath and images flashed behind his closed lids making his chest tighten. His lungs started to suffocate with the lack of oxygen, and he slowly let out the breath he was holding and opened his eyes.
Atlas had caught himself on multiple occasions drifting to the memories of that night. Even though he was grateful for the constant reminder from his brain, he didn't like the interruption in his study time which was mostly when he drifted. When he lay in bed at night, he didn't mind the fast flood of memories as well as emotions that came with those memories, emotions like complete exhaustion, a little bit of anger, probably more than he'd let himself admit there was, and most of all, guilt.
He couldn't quite place most of his feelings. Sometimes they were too much and sometimes he felt staggeringly numb. Either of those times, he always tried to take a deep breath and let go of that insane amount of emotions and lack of emotion as he exhaled. But then it always felt like he was breathing but not getting enough oxygen.
He felt hollow on the inside.
Dark and empty. That was a constant, something he took everywhere with him since he'd woken up after the accident.
Now, it was already a part of him that went unnoticed most times.
The churn in his stomach, which he was starting to feel, and the tightening in his chest were the two things that reminded him of the darkness and the emptiness in him. Reminded him that he was simply just a more broken version of the broken person he used to be.
Atlas tried again and inhaled deeply trying to fill the hollowness with something but it was no use.
He was breathing; alive on the outside, but dead on the inside.
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Hey you,
I want to give you all an update. If you haven't figured it out already, Broken is a slow-paced story. I wanted it to feel more real than fictional. Making these characters as human as possible brought all the complications that we as humans face daily. What might seem straightforward just somehow becomes more complicated by the second.
I'm about to begin writing a new chapter of Broken that feels like I've finally reached the middle of their journey. I'm uploading weekly because I want to have enough time to write chapters for you guys. My job is 10 to 7 every weekdays and two Saturdays a month (I'm working today). And if I'm not working, I'm undergoing Wattpad Ambassador training, editing 'Fixed At Her Teen' or writing a chapter for Broken.
It's a lot for me to do with the little free time I have. But I am hoping that once it feels like I'm nearing the end of the story, I'll upload more frequently. So, this is me being super grateful to every single one of you for being so patient with me. It means a lot to me that you've stuck around this far. I cannot thank you enough for your support.
