Painkiller

21

Elena missed her friends.

The conversation she'd had with Olivia the previous day was playing on repeat in her head. She had enjoyed talking to someone her own age so much, and she hadn't spoken to her friends in almost four weeks.

In fact, she hadn't even sent them a message to tell them she was okay.

Elena sighed as she lay in her bed - what could she do? Her complete and utter neglect of her friends will have only led to their hatred and hurt. There was no way they would speak to her now.

She stared at the screen of her phone, her human hovering over the keyboard. What could she type? Should she even type at all?

    "Lena?" Luke poked his head around her bedroom door. "You alright? You were quiet and I got worried." He grinned.

    Elena stuck her tongue out before sighing. "I'm fine."

    Luke frowned, walking over to her bed and throwing himself down upon it. He put himself in the cliche teenage girl position - in his stomach, his chin in his hands and his feet swinging behind him.

    "You're obviously not. Tell me what's wrong."

    Elena sighed, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "I haven't spoken to them in weeks, Luke."

    "Who?"

    "My friend."

    Luke's brow furrowed. "How come?" Wouldn't they be the first people she turned to?

    "I don't know. Everything was so busy, Luke, and I didn't know what I was doing, and I kinda forgot about them. I didn't mean to, I just-"

"I get it, Elena." Luke nodded, his voice soft. "You were tired and confused and stressed."

"Yeah." Elena sighed. The room was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke again. "They probably hate me." She whispered.

"No, they won't." Luke said. He pushed himself up off the bed and into a sitting position. He learnt forward, wrapping his arms around his sister and pulling her into his chest. He leant his chin on the top of her head. "I know it's scary, but you've gotta call 'em. They'll be so happy when you do."

Tears pooled in Elena's eyes. "I don't know how." Her voice was quiet, and Luke could barely hear her.

    "What you're going to do is pick up your phone and call them." Luke spoke. His voice betrayed no signs of giving in, and he was completely serious. "Just, do it soon. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

    Luke let go of Elena. He stood up off the bed, before walking out of the room. He paused in the doorway, a small, reassuring smile on his face. "You'll be fine, no matter what happens." He said, before closing the door, leaving Elena to stare down at her phone.

~~~

a.n ~ i'm not gonna be updating for, like, 2 weeks, so i'm giving you guys an early chapter (even if it is only a day early).

thank you for loving this book (even if it's chapters are unnaturally short) and staying with it, even when my updates are inconsistent.

i love y'all very much.