𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 & 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵

Chapter 28: Friends...?

(I beg y'all, please please pleaaaaseee read this chapter with an open mind. Enjoy!)

3rd Person POV:

   Simon was left bewildered as he watched her slam her door shut with brute force. A part of him wanted to just shrug it off, and ignore whatever had made her upset, but when he heard her deliberately screaming- he guessed into her pillow, his sudden urge to make things right kicked in. After all, that's why he'd been upstairs in the first place, to properly apologize. It turned out, ever since that one day he learned the full extent of what happened to her, he just couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of guilt that had been cast over him like a permanent cloud.

   He spent weeks just dwelling in his room, thinking about what would've happened if he didn't say the things he did. He was mostly out, and about everyday- and when he failed to follow his normal schedule- both Soap, and Gaz caught on to the fact that something was truly wrong with him, and wouldn't let him be. He ended up cracking one day, and told them what he said to her. Both men took turns shunning Simon for what he did, and afterwards all three of them came up with a plan for him to apologize. 'Unfortunately, that didn't seem like that would happen any time soon.' He thought to himself, as he listened to the deafening cries of Belle.

   After a while, he noticed that her cries seemed to dial down just a tad bit, and he took the opportunity to make his way over to her door. After fighting with himself for a good while, he mustered up the courage to try her doorknob, and much to his surprise it was open. He genuinely thought he'd have to speak to her through her door like they did in the movies. He gently twisted it, and hesitated every few seconds to make sure that there were no pauses in her crying- signifying that she may have heard him. He exhaled, and pushed the door open as quietly as it would go, before shutting, and locking it.

   Once he was inside, he noticed her consistent sobs were coming all the way from her bedroom. However, just as he was about to make his way over there, he stopped, and began second guessing this entire thing. 'Fuck...what the hell am I even doing?'  He asked himself, pinching the bridge of his nose, while squeezing his eyes shut. It was only when he heard a loud commotion come from her room- did he bother to move, and it was mostly out of fear that she was maybe attempting to hurt herself.

As he made his way down the little hallway that led to her room, he couldn't help but continue to curse himself. This time for not taking off his boots as they were making way too much noise. When he got to the source of her dreadful crying, he paused at the doorway. Her room was dark, but much like the entirety of her house, it was still dimly lit. In fact, it was light enough that he could see her- well, the large lump on the bed, that he could only assume was her- dramatically shivering. Taking in another breath to calm his nerves, he stepped inside her room.

Immediately, he was hit with a damp smell that was just lingering in the room like a low cloud. He let out a low grunt as he struggled to breathe through the thick air, as it was causing his mask to stick to his face. 'Just how long has she been crying?' He asked himself, rolling up the bottom of his mask so he could get air. As he neared the edge of her bed, he wondered how he'd make his presence known to her, but little did he know, he didn't have to wait long. As he stared down at her siezing body, she suddenly threw the covers off of herself, and sat up; her head nearly hitting him in his stomach.

   Her crying had stopped completely now, and she was staring up at him with weary, concerned eyes. "How did you get in here...?" She croaked, her voice sounding everything but demanding. Simon froze as he didn't know what to do or say. All he could manage to do was to stare down at her disarrayed state with his mouth slightly ajar. However, the longer he stared at her, the more he began to notice the tears still running down her face. He knew he couldn't bullshit his way out of this, and so he told the truth, or at least he tried. "Came to apologize-" he started, and before he could even finish, she completely broke down in front of him. He stood there in literal shock, as the one woman other than Laswell cried like an actual human being.