Broken

Chapter 60

Atlas followed the same route Makenna took, making sure to stay far, far away from her. He didn't want to alert her of his presence for obvious reasons. He also could've taken another route back to his apartment, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Makenna on her own at that time of the night.

He was a few buildings away from her when she turned and went into one of the buildings. He walked past the building a minute later realizing it was one of the University's Dorms. He headed to his apartment with the vulnerable look he'd seen in Makenna's eyes replaying in his head.

This is why we can't be friends.
Her words replayed.

It was not that he'd uncovered that side of her, it was that she'd willingly let him catch a glimpse. His conscious thoughts yelled at him that she'd done it only so he could understand the 'why' in the sentence that followed.

She could have just screamed 'Beware!' and he would have gotten the message. But that look was worse and he knew it was going to haunt him for the next few days. After giving up on trying to uncover this side of her, because he thought it was all in his head, he was finding it really hard to believe that he had been right.

Technically, Thea was the one who was right. But it had swept him clean off his feet.

It's that feeling when someone tells you that you've finally gotten something you've wanted. Then you discover it's a lie and your heart sinks to the pit of your stomach. You push away the disappointing feeling and soon, you're back to not caring about it because it's gone. There's no hope of getting it ever again. But suddenly, the candle of hope flickers and you're standing in a brightly lit room. That rush of adrenaline the moment you realize it's real, and you've got it, is what he was experiencing.

Unbelievable.
He thought. It was going to take him a while to come to terms with it.

Atlas walked into his apartment and locked the door behind him. He tossed the keys into the bowl as he headed into the kitchen. He washed his hands and poured himself a soda before he sat down at the kitchen island to try out his meal.

One bite and Atlas was starting to see why Americans loved it. He took his time enjoying his meal because he knew he still had a lot of reading material to cover before Monday. With the new courses, he knew he would barely have time for anything else. He also knew after his long hours of sitting and studying he would have to get out there and discover new places to help him unwind.

I should probably reach out to Will and ask for any reading materials he might have for any of the new courses.

Sometimes he forgot that Will was a semester ahead of him because they had a lot of classes together. But there was a chance Will had taken one or both of those new courses in his previous semester. Atlas was certain Will's notes would be a huge help since he knew how in-depth Will's notes were from studying together.

It was pretty late so Atlas decided to wait till the following day before he messaged Will.

Atlas balled the wrapper in his fist as he took a big swig of soda. He got up and cleared everything and then went back to studying. But the second he sat down, he knew he wasn't going to study for two reasons.

One; he had just eaten, the next logical thing was to take a nap. Two; he had a feeling he was continually going to get his reading streak interrupted by thoughts of what had transpired not too long ago.

Atlas fell back against the couch with his head thrown back against the top of the couch so that he was staring at the ceiling.
She is quickly becoming an enigma.

Makenna blinked as she stared at her ceiling with music playing through her headphone.

Sighing, she hoped that the bright night had revealed the darkness she carried within. She had opened up as much as she could just to give him enough reason to back off on the friendship thing.

At least she hoped it was enough.

Makenna sat up, with her arms keeping her upright. She glanced at the door that she'd locked as soon as she'd walked into her room knowing too well that Hee wasn't going to return.

Makenna lifted her legs from the bed to the floor and got up. She turned around to face her bed then went down on her knees, bum to calf. Reaching underneath her bed, pulled out a shoe box among all the other things that were in there. She opened the shoe box and sifted through to the bottom where her journal lay. She stared at it for a few moments before she pulled it out of the shoe box. Setting the shoe box aside, she turned to sit with her back against the frame of her bed. Knees raised, she placed the journal on her lap and took a deep breath before she opened it.

Of course, she opened it up to where she'd marked it which happened to be her last entry the day of the...

The marker was customized with a picture of her and Rachel and her heart ached just looking at it. Sharply inhaling, she plucked the pen from the strap next to the pages. She popped the cap open and placed her hand on a new page like she was going to write.

But she knew.

She couldn't.

The thoughts were there swirling in her head but there seemed to be no beginning, a point where she could start from. She simply couldn't put her thoughts on paper anymore. Just when she was ready to pen her feelings or thoughts down, everything became gibberish.

The pen shook in her trembling fingers. It was like her body was catching up, yet again, with where she mentally was. Her body was acknowledging the wall that she'd placed between her old self and the person she'd chosen to become.

But that was fine. Because this way, she was keeping Rachel's dream alive.