Filling The Void | ✔️

Filling The Void | Chapter Forty - Three | Ghosts

"Alright everyone welcome to our Bachelorette auction!"

My heart beats anxiously as I watch the screen set up backstage, biting my lip as all the people filter in. Most of them are guys from our school but some are from other highschools across town.

"I guess this is big!" Squeals one of the girls behind me as her and her friend touch up their makeup.

"I know!" The blonde one says, "I hope I get a date with that guy...what's his name?"

I roll my eyes and turn away from the Hollywood style mirror to search for the lipstick in my purse, but my heart stops at her words.

"Ryder Nicolson?"

Anger surges through me as my eyes connect with hers in the mirror.

"What are you looking at?" She snarls, coating her mascara.

I scoff at her, "How old are you?"

A smug smile appears on her face, "I'm seventeen, in the junior catagory."

I nod my head, "Ahhh, so you think your gonna get a date with him? Cause I'm pretty sure he bought all of his tickets for his girlfriend in the senior section."

Her brows knit together and her open mascara begins to leak off onto the end of her dress, "What do you mean?"

The fact that she's totally oblivious to whats happening nearly makes me bust out laughing but instead I smirk back at her, "I'm his girlfriend."

Both girls freeze and stare back at me in the mirror.

"Oh-..."I continue, gesturing to her lap, "You have something on your dress."

The next few seconds are filled with screeching and then both girls are fumbling to dry off their dresses.

I know that was kind of bitchy for me to do, but I'm territorial, and no girl is going to steal Ryder away from me.

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"Okay, you ready?" Kaitlyn asks as she fluffs up my hair.

I swallow and tap my foot nerveously, spreading my hands across the beautiful purple fabric, "What if I don't get him, then what?"

She smiles at me softly as her hands grip my shoulders, "Then it isn't fate."

She winks and pulls me into a hug, "You're going to be amazing."

I take a deep breath and hug her back, "I've never done anything like this before."

"Just try to be the one with the most votes...then they'll crown whoever wins."

I bite my lip, "Okay but-"

"And now for the Senior catagory, Ms. Aspen Waters!"

My eyes widen, "I thought you said it was by last name?"

Kaitlyn chuckles and shrugs, "I lied?"

I groan and just before I can turn around and run she pushes me out onto the stage.

For a second everyone's quiet, but then I hear my name being shouted and when I squint to look out into the light to find Ryders face coming into view and I smile at him, my heart warming up immediately.

I'm fine. I can do this.

As I stand in the line of what seems like ten girls we wait for the numbers to be pulled.

For the past month people have been buying tickets for each girl.

Since I was very aware of my social status being not so high, I was fine with having full faith in the fact that all the tickets were Ryder's ders.

As the womens voice rang through the speakers i noticrd that a lot of the girl's numbers ranged from around five to ten considering a vote was a dollar.

But, when they called my name, my number was so huge that even the announcer lady, known as my chemistry teacher Mrs.Laney, was quiet.

"Aspen Waters with one hundred and tweleve."

I invisioned the number in my head and all of a sudden my brain went to the numbers on my fathers hospital door.

Tears stung my eyes as I thought of every memory I'd ever had with him...including the one where he left me forever.

"Aspen?...Aspen?"

I snap my head up to meet Ms. Laney's as she hands me the microphone and it's only then that I realize I have to speak.

I wasn't expecting to win. I wasn't expecting to have to speak to the four hundred and three people who had came.

I swallowed and reached up to retrieve the microphone, suprisingly my hand wans't as shaky as I thought it would be and as I stepped forward everyone watched intently.

However,  I had remembered the trick Kaitlyn taught me...and no, it's not to think of everyone naked.

She said that if I win and feel nerveous to look out behind the people, it will feel like no ones there.

So I did...and I couldnt believe what I saw.

Both of my parents holding hands be the entry doors.

This is wasn't real...it couldn't have been real.

"I-I..um..."

Keeping my eyes trained on the two people I loved the most I watched as they stood there smiling at me.

It had been a long time since I'd seen them together, and seeing my mom was a sure sign that this wasn't real. I was imagining it all.

So with a deep breath I continued to look out into their eyes, "This past year I lost the most important person in my life. My father. I thought I'd be broken without him, because he helped me heal after loosing my mom, and I was...I was broken. But his final words to me were something I'd never forget..."

I swallow and continue, looking out at their still but very transparent faces.

"He told me that I had to be ready in my heart, in order to know what was really in front of me. While he might not have said it directly, I know that's what he meant."

As I switched the microphone to the other hand I watched my mother wipe a tear from her cheek.

"I know now...I know what I have in front of me, but only because my heart was ready to see it."

With my final words everyone claps, but something weird courses through me as I watched my parents turn and open the doors into a bright light.

Happiness. Maybe it was mine...but maybe it wasn't.

Perhaps it was theirs.

Hopefully, I did it right. Hopefully, I lived up to their expectations.

A smile crossed my face as I realized what I had just witnessed.

They're at peace, and so am I.

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