If the Sky Falls ➳ Hal Mason

Chapter 43

     Hello, I'm finally out of school so expect to see new chapter more frequently. Thanks for sticking by, you guys are amazing! <3

     There was silence, too much for my liking. It felt like someone had pressed the 'mute' button and the whole world went silent. 

     My eyes scanned his body, but he stood frozen on the spot. Not a single muscle moved, except for his chest as it rose up and down as he exhaled heavily. I could feel my extremities trembling against my orders. My hands were slightly shaking and not five seconds had passed when my legs joined in.

     "What is it?" I did my best to seem confident even though it was impossible for me to ignore those furious brown eyes burning my skin.

     "Really?" Hal snapped. His sarcastic laugh filled the hallways as he ran his hands through his hair.

     It hurt, him acting that way. I could feel his frustration, but I didn't mean for anything like that to happen.

     "I'm sorry, okay?" I stared down knowing that if I looked at Hal, tears would start coming out in no time. "Derek just came back to our lives, and so many devastating things have happened, that I just didn't want to bombard him with meaningless stuff."

     His expression shifted and instantly talked once again, but this time with his voice filled with anger and hurt, " Meaningless? You don't think our relationship is important?"

     "Yes, no, wait. I didn't mean it that way, Hal." Of course, I had to say something stupid like that. I wanted to tell him that I loved him and that he was the most important thing in my life after my siblings, but I was confused. The sentences wouldn't form properly.

     "It sounded like you did," He said, anger was all that filled his words now.

     I forced my eyes to look up and found Hal's face, along with his ears, was bright red. His fists rested beside him as they slowly turned white from the strength he was putting on them.

     "Hal-" I began, but he cut me off.

     "No, I get it! You used me for protection, you can't even take care of yourself, let alone two little kids. Now you have your big brother to do that, you don't need me anymore."

     "It's not like that, Hal." I moved my hand up to his face, but he took it carefully and let it go.

     We stared at each other, not talking only gazing, and even if he didn't talk I knew what he was thinking. That little action, made me realize what this meant for us.

     Hal sighed and mumbled, "I knew it."

     I didn't dare to ask, I was too busy downing on my own tears to even think straight.

     "Hal, please don't do it," I managed to tell him.

     "I'm sorry, Em," His voice was quiet, even fragile.

     "Hal, I love you, please-" By then I was sobbing. I knew I looked ridiculous and desperate, but what else could I do? I needed him in my life. I was pleading him not to break things off, but I should have known better than to beg.

     "I know you do, but I love you far more, and that's the problem." And with those simple words he left me crying in the middle of a hallway.

——————

     Five minutes it's a very short period of time that goes away almost instantly, and there are no exceptions. For me, it felt like a blink of an eye. It took only five minutes for me to destroy everything I had with Hal.

     My mind kept repeating the scene from over thirty minutes ago in my head, without my consent, and it was killing me. His raging brown eyes and his hurtful words were the only things in my head, making it very hard to stand up from the floor and stop crying. 

     After some minutes of torture, I finally got up on my feet and walked to the only person, apart from Ben, who I could talk to at that moment. I took a deep breath to control my crying and knocked on the door in front of me.

     The door opened, exposing a very sleepy Anne. She was wearing pj's and her her hair was up in a ponytail. "Emily, are you alright? What are you doing up at this hour?"

     "I, Hal, I-" I tried to explain to her that part of me had just crumbled, but my emotions won. The crying started again, and it felt good to have someone there for me.

     "Oh, come here." Anne hugged me tight against her body as I sobbed.

     It was one of those times I would have done absolutely everything to spend some minutes with my mom so I could cry on her shoulder and she could tell me guys were stupid.

——————

     Everything was dark, but there was a voice, repeating my name over and over. The voice was charming, almost motherly. I heard my name once more and out of nowhere a bright light blinded me.

     My head pounded, but after a few seconds of adjusting to the light, I was able to see my surroundings. I sat on the bed I was laying just instants ago and spotted Anne beside me.

     The memories of the night before struck back. After the 'talk' with Hal, I asked Anne if I could stay with her since Tom wasn't going to sleep there. We talked for a good three hours until, I guess, fell asleep.

     "Hi, how're you feeling?" She smiled and handed me a glass with juice.

     I took a quick sip. "Honestly, not good."

     She sighed and got up the bed. "Well, the kids are with your brother and maybe I've mentioned you have the flu, so you can stay here all day long if you want."

     "Thank you, Anne." I nodded. That sounded absolutely glorious. I didn't want anyone talking to me, apart from Anne, and I definitely didn't want to face him with my puffy eyes and fragile voice.

     "Remember what I told you yesterday? I know I'm not your mom, but if you ever need anything you can count on me."

     My eyes became watery for what it seemed like the billionth time and I smiled for the first time since yesterday. "You don't know how much it means to me, thank you."

     Anne came closer and kissed my forehead. She waved and exit through the door.

     When I thought I had no more tears left, they started streaming out again. I let them out, feeling all the emotions I had tried to avoid feeling from the second time around.

     "It fucking hurts."