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Chapter Thirty Nine

A/N Congratulations on 300 reads!

Besides that, shit's about to down. Hold onto your souls and happy endings before they slip away in this chapter.

I'm so glad I could escape from that nightmare.

Sighing in contentment, I threw myself onto my bed, feeling the mattress weigh down because of my body. After roughly three hours of dinner, laughter, and socializing, I was left pretty low on my extrovert gas, but Mom thankfully let me go back to my room. I was so glad to get out of there— not because I hated my family and their friends, but because I couldn't handle being out of my own comfort zone for too long. I felt my heart still thumping from the adrenaline pump of rushing down the hall to get to my bedroom. Rolling over lazily, I placed a hand on my chest, letting out a soft sigh at its fast rhythm.

Being in my room just gives me more peace and quiet than outside in that calamity of a gathering.

Just then, my computer pinged, and I sat up straight. I squinted my eyes to read the words on the screen, since it was too bright to look at in my dark and unlit room.

Miss_Massacre would
like to video call you.

[Accept]
[Decline]

I clumsily dragged myself over to my desktop and clicked on the accepting option. Suddenly, a bright light flashed in my room, and I covered my eyes, which I deeply regretted because Meredith came tumbling on top of me, squealing. She and I fell to the floor, and I felt her hands pulling my arms away, leaning over to kiss my face all over in a loving manner.

"H-Hold on!" I exclaimed in a stutter, feeling my face flush red. She continued on for a few more seconds before hugging onto me, her cheeks puffed out. My hand went up to my hair as I pulled it away, sighing. "You really need to work on your landings when you come to my world, Meredith."

"I missed you soooo much!" She said, her eyes sparkling as she ignored my criticism. She suddenly stopped when she looked up at me, a confused expression on her face. "How come you look.. different today?"

I realized I still had yet to change out of the clothes Lyra picked out for me. "Oh. The reason I look like a fucking modern Mafia boss is because my parents invited friends and family over for a weird celebration about something. Lyra made me dress well." Meredith let out a small laugh at my comment, and I felt my heart pounding. Her laugh.. is everything. Sitting up straight and holding onto Meredith so that she wouldn't fall, I asked, "Anyways, what brings you here?"

"Oooh— I have so much to tell you!" She exclaimed, and I noticed her eyes sparkling even more than before.

Helping her sit comfortably on my lap as I leaned against the wall of my bedroom, she started to rant about her parents and a few of their friends giving her more of a story about the Atlas Bomb incident that happened in her world. Moreover, she talked more about how they explained and shared memories of the criminal mastermind of the plan: William Kei. The name itself is almost intimidating. He's the real modern Mafia boss around here. I listened to her as she recalled the information and passed it on to me, throwing in a few cute little hand motions.

I learned a lot about her world, and for a moment, I also wondered what the possibilities of William Kei still living were. If he's alive, won't that mean his next step to exact revenge would be to terminate the Tanner residents? But they claim the title of that world's most powerful. Then again, William Kei also boasts the title of the world's most notorious villainous outlaw/criminal. A hand held mine, and I looked down at my lap, seeing Meredith curling her body up into a ball as her hands played with my fingers. My jaw clenched, and I almost cried at how small she was.

"How was your night, Lukas?" Meredith asked softly, her eyes taking a short glance up at me.

I started to explain my own family history, starting with the moment my grandfather— father of my father— kidnapped my mother and her friend Bri. We learned the whole story when they decided to explain it to us today instead of leaving us in the dark. The whole story itself was so complicated for them to speak of because it seemed to really mess with my parents' brains, but our uncles and aunts helped them to explain to us. Meredith understood quicker than I did, and I assumed it was because of a futuristic characteristic of her.

"It seems both our families have some sort of history that twisted their love lives," she replied, letting out an almost empty laugh. A sad look crossed her eyes, but she smiled and looked up at me, "Whatever they did, I'm glad they pulled through. Whenever I see my parents being romantic towards each other, I kinda wonder how lucky they are to have each other."

My head rested on hers as I closed my eyes, letting out a low huff. "Yeah. You're right. Though, it's almost unsettling to me. They did anything for each other, but where do they draw the line? What if they had to place a boundary somewhere and didn't chase after each other then?" I heard Meredith inhale slowly. "It really makes me think— what about you?"

"Well, for one, we both wouldn't be here," she said, pointing out the obvious. Her fingers let go of me, and instead, her hand went to clasp mine. She smiled up at me tiredly, saying, "Their love stories are beautiful nonetheless though. They're lucky not to be so far apart from each other."

I was about to respond to her claim and agree, but I was suddenly interrupted when her hand's presence disappeared from mine in a cluster of purple sparkles. I looked down at it and saw that it had become opaque, making my eyes widen.

"Meredith?" I asked, trying to grab her hand. My fingers swiped through her as if she were an apparition. She had the same panic in her eyes. "W-What's happening?"

Her breathing became heavy, and she looked up at me. "I-I don't know." She started to float, and the opacity began to travel throughout her body as an oddly yellow glow surrounded her. "I don't know!" She repeated, trying to grab my hand. Her eyes started to water up as she yelled, "Lukas!"

I was on my feet now, holding onto her torso. My legs trembled as the situation's density settled in. "Hey, hey," I said, trying to calm her down as she began crying hysterically, terrified out of her mind. Her hair brushed against my face, and I held her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes.. are irresistible, even when she's crying. Her jaw was clenched as I whispered, "It's okay. You're going to be okay, Meredith... You're just being sent back to your own world for now."

Meredith nodded, but she gulped and continued crying, breathing heavily. I stood on my toes, kissing her gently to calm her a little more as her lower body began to disappear. She held onto me desperately, and I decided to let her go so she wouldn't be held back by me.

"I love you..." I whispered in her ear, feeling the blush rush to her face as I let go of her and watched her fade away into nothing more than a speck of purple glitter.

It fell into my hand, and I looked at it as a shiver ran down my spine.

"For now"...

Something doesn't seem right.