Love is Liz (LiL, #2)

3 - Love is Frigid

Reality seemed elusive while I clung to Logan, the warmth of his form attempting to mingle with the freezing temperature of my skin. It did little for the aching cold inside. Nonetheless, I pulled him tighter against me, around me, in an attempt to crawl inside his body heat like a cocoon that could hide me from the truth.

"Liz! Did you walk all the way here? You are drenched."

He grasped my shoulders to pry me off him, but I tightened my grip like a boa constrictor, burying further into his torso.

"Bunny, what happened?"

My head shook against his chest, muffling the pathetic whimper escaping my throat.

"Are you okay?"

I stilled, conflicted. I had little desire to make him worry. Simultaneously, however, I did not care for there was nothing left inside me but the icy vacuum surrounding the black hole known as my heart.

"You should really change your clothes, shorty, or you might catch a cold," I heard Jack say from somewhere behind me.

Numb and unmoving from the cold, I let them usher me into the basement of Jack's house. We'd always hang out at his place whenever there was a team bonding event or we just wanted to spend time together and play video games or for a movie night. It was then that I realized Sam had never been here. I was fiercely grateful for the small mercy bestowed upon me.

When the other half of my friends came into view they greeted me with surprise and foreboding. My gaze was pointed to the floor, unresponsive as their questions flooded my ears. Their voices, all of them mixed together with the same questions, blurred together into one. White noise in my moment of shock. Unsuccessful to absorb the truth.The why always lingering in the back of my head.

Taunting.

Brutal.

With no mercy to spare.

I was given clothes and was guided to the bathroom. The door shutting behind me with a soft thud. And then I stood there. My gaze centred to one spot at a time. I took a great deal of time to observe the neatly folded clothes on the sink countertop. Seeing unseeingly. I stared for so long that the deep red color of the shirt was the only thing in my sight when I lifted my gaze to the mirror above.

Without my knowledge my feet moved forward sliding against the tiled floor, unable to lift even my legs. Strength elusive as well.

The girl staring back at me was a stranger. A familiar stranger that came along whenever. I'd seen her before. Many times. I was yet to have a conversation with her. Then again, she looked so fragile I was afraid she would break if I talked to her. I could picture it. Her bursting into tiny, little pieces if I wasn't careful.

Her eyes were rimmed red, black splotches underneath. Brown hair matted down, wet and falling in her face like a curtain drawn shut to hide the sunlight. Cheeks and nose flushed. Eyes so sad they could make you cry. Skin and clothes alike wet with tears and rain.

I held no sympathy for the familiar stranger facing me. She was hideous. Hideous and weak.

My left hand reached for the counter to steady my shaking legs. That's when I saw the black out of my peripheral vision. I tore my gaze from the strange girl and focused on my left wrist where Sam had previously drawn a Celtic symbol with a sharpie.

What did he say it meant?

Longevity. Trinity.

Eternal love.

The triangular shape glared back at me with a taunting fierceness, haunting the reality I was forced into. My hand reached for the tap lever and turned on the water. My wrist moved to greet the liquid.