The Ghost and the Shadow

Chapter 38 - Love 🌶

It's still raining heavily when I wake up and the sky is overcast. It's still thundering and lightning strikes every now and then. It feels like the weather is mirroring my mood. I'm both sad and angry. I don't really know how to feel after last night.

I replay the fight in my head. He told me to stay out of his way. I click my tongue in annoyance, does he expect me to stay in my room then?

During our shopping trip yesterday, I bought a pack of cigarettes when he wasn't looking. I groan as I drag my body out of bed and make my way to the balcony. My injuries are better, but my body feels heavy, and the slightest movement is exhausting.

The balcony is somewhat dry, and I take a seat in one of the chairs, lighting a cigarette. I don't even care about what he'll say.

I look down at my phone, I owe Pixie an update on how last night went, but I don't have the energy to type it out now.

My stomach growls, but I don't want to leave my room, I'd rather starve than see him.

It's the perfect weather for a bath and after smoking, I run myself a nice warm bath. I carefully lower myself into it, the last thing I want is to fall or hurt myself and needing him to come and help me.

I try to read a book, but can't focus, he occupies every thought.

I put the book aside and slide further down into the water, stopping once the water reaches my jaw.

If I could time travel back to last night, I'd slap my hand in front of Carol's mouth before she can even get a word out about his past. In retrospect, I should have stopped her.

My fingers run over my stitches, I took the bandages off, I'm supposed to replace them today anyway.

Once the water starts getting cold, I get out and dry myself off. Before getting dressed, I look over my injuries in the mirror. My chest is still bruised, but looks a lot better. So does my face, the bruises have mostly faded and there's no more swelling. I'm starting to look like myself again.

After getting dressed, I lay down on my bed and check my phone. It's already mid-day and Ghost is definitely up.

I decide to take this time to text Pixie and I sit up to type more comfortably. Writing it all down gets me worked up again. I can't believe he yelled at me like that, sure, I yelled too, but he started it.

After sending the message, I cross my arms and look out the door, the weather hasn't changed at all. If it wasn't for the rain, I could've gone for a walk or something.

"Fuck it," I mumble to myself. I'm fed up with looking at these four walls.

I put my boots on and walk to the door. Before opening it, I hesitate, but count to three and walk out anyway. What happens, happens.

Upstairs is deathly quiet, and I climb down the stairs slowly, if he's in his study, I don't want him to hear me.

As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I lean towards his study door and can hear faint typing. Good, he's working. I tiptoe to the door and take an umbrella from the holder. The door is locked, and I unlock it carefully and walk outside.

It's not thundering anymore, and the rain is calmer than earlier.

I walk down the driveway and to the pastures, but there are no animals today, they probably took shelter because of the weather.

After walking around for a while, my legs start hurting and I take a break on a rock under a tree.

Pixie hasn't responded to my message yet and I decide to send a text to Price. I want an update on Laswell, but I refuse to ask Ghost.