Tangled With My Roommate

Chapter-17: My Listener

|| Arabella ||

"The destiny which has been written by the devil cannot be changed. Whatever the devil has predicted shall come true, come what may," said out loud a voice out of nowhere, freaking me out more than I already was.

"That's bullshit, Annabelle," Theo said, dragging me out of the haunted house by my hand.

"Bu-but you were the one telling me scary stories about it before coming—"

"I was joking, okay? I don't believe in such things."

"I don't either, but its predictions are never wrong. I'm going to have a car accident tonight. I'll die."

"No, you won't. The ouija board is all science, nothing paranormal," he reasoned.

I yanked my hand from him once we were out. "I'm going home alone tonight."

"What?" Theo looked at me incredulously.

"I don't want to risk you getting involved in my accident." My mom died in a car accident too, and just the word alone was freaking me out.

"Annabelle," he sighed.

"You know what? I'm going home right now. I don't want to stay here any longer," I said and started making my way towards the school gate.

But Theo followed after me.

As he now walked on the pavement beside me, I asked, "Why are you tagging along?"

"It would be pretty shitty to leave my roommate, who recently went through a traumatic experience, alone on a night when crime rates spike up ridiculously," Theo said casually, and my chest warmed up.

A smile formed on my lips as I lightly punched his chest. "Hey, you have a heart in there."

He rolled his eyes. "I thought you figured that out in the last few days."

I nodded and kept smiling as we strolled through the dimly lifted pavements. The night was mildly cold and the sky was full of stars. It was beautiful. Somehow, the unexpected company of Theo made it even better.

There were tons of drunkards on the way who tried to hit on me, but when Theo glared at them and pulled me into his chest to make it look like I was his girlfriend, those men walked away in defeat.

I went back to gazing at the sky and many thoughts clouded my head, totally forgetting about the ouija board's prediction. Subconsciously, I blurted out, "They say Halloween is the night for the dead to come to life. I wonder if my mom will come to see me."

"What?" Theo looked at me weirdly.

I shook my head, realizing that I was creeping him out. "Sorry, that was a weird thing to say."

"No, it's fine. I have accepted the fact that you're a weirdo a long time ago," he said.

I chuckled. "It's alright. I have just got a lot in my mind. You will only be bothered by my random thoughts."

"I won't be bothered if it's you," he said so confidently that I almost spilled out whatever that was going on in my head instantly.

But I wasn't comfortable enough. I had no idea how to talk about myself and my grief. I didn't know how to put them into words for someone to understand. So I resorted to teasing, "Why, because I'm the hottest girl you know?"

"That's exactly why I don't want to be nice to you," he grumbled, increasing his pace.

I caught up with him and said, "Okay, okay, sorry about that." He gave a grumpy glare and slowed down. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. I just..."