Desolation [manxman] DRAFT

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I looked at the stack of folded clothes that I had refused to put where it belonged. They had stopped filling the room with the scent of washing agent after a few hours and now you had to press your face in there to be able to still smell it. I refused to mess with it since it was one of the last things Alexios had touched before he had left the house and never returned to me. I had woken up the next day after having fallen asleep and I had instantly known something was wrong. I couldn't feel his body pressing against mine and I was feeling cold, lonely and fearful.

I had emailed everyone to ask if he for some reason had decided to stay at their place while fear was gnawing at my insides even though I knew he'd never do that. He would have let me know. Waiting for their responses almost drove me insane and the more I received the greater the pool of anxiety in my stomach became. Everyone assured me that he in fact hadn't stayed over and suggested that I'd wait a while longer for him to come home but he never did.

When my dad and Hypnos had come over to pay me a visit and to look after me, they had found me on the living room floor, hugging Alexios' shirt to my chest and bawling my eyes out. They had tried their best to calm me down and to ensure me that he was fine and that maybe he had just met an old friend at a bar and they got way too intoxicated and he was just somewhere, sleeping it off. That was two days ago. He hadn't come back yet.

My dad had taken me to his home for a while so I wouldn't have to spent the entire day alone, being miserable and instead could hang out with them for a while. I desperately wanted to go home in case Alexios would return home but they tried to convince me to stay. They even tried to hide the differences they were having and the nymph kept offering me tea that was supposed to calm me down. As if leaf water could do anything in this situation. The tea didn't even calm him down, it was the memories that were connected to it. The memories of him spending time with my dad and being happy. It would never work for me.

I left the room and the rest of the house was awfully silent. I missed hearing him rummaging around and always doing something, even if it was just cooking. Zoe was still with Nael because I couldn't even look after myself in this situation let alone a child. Defeated I headed over to the kitchen to find something to do but what was I supposed to do anyway other than wait for him to return. I couldn't even leave the sphere and help search for him since the others weren't taking me with them.

Hypnos had gotten a hold of Aether who was less than excited about the news and had sent out some of his troups to roam the streets and to search for him in different parts of the Underworld. So far they hadn't come up with anything and according to Hypnos even Aether was getting itchy. He hadn't shown up yet but as soon as he grew frustrated enough he'd pobably come over to blame me which was alright. I was already blaming myself. I should have never made him a target.

I sniffled and straightened the kitchen table for the hundredth time before I made my way over to the kitchen window to look outside. I refused to sleep on the couch or to go into my room since everything smelled like him and I couldn't stand it. I didn't want to be in there and taint it with my own scent, I wanted to preserve the memory as it was. I grabbed my laptop which was already sitting there, turning on Deathflix without paying attention. I just wanted some bankgroung noise to avoid feeling any more lonely than I already did.

I got bored after a view seconds, getting up again and letting the restlessness carry me over to the entrance door. I stepped outside, looking at the sky. I missed the stars that used to be arranged over a dark night sky but now there was just this sky that left you unsure whether it was a very gloomy day or a bright night and it barely changed between night and day. All it did was being an ugly shade of grey and reflecting my mood.