‹ Prequel: We Come Out At Night 4
We Come Out At Night 5
Chapter 11
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Shadows
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My eyes fluttered open to greet the early morning darkness and within seconds of opening my eyes, my back started aching from falling asleep against the headboard sitting up. Izzy was resting on my lap with her cheek against my chest just under my shoulder blade. She’s stayed there all night long sleeping soundly and now, as I looked down at her, I could tell she was awake by the way her finger was tracing one of the tattooed letters on my chest.
It was only 6:30am and the morning chill hung in the air. The sun hadn’t come up yet, if it were going to come up at all today. It seemed to be hiding behind the black cloud that was following me wherever I went lately.
“Cold?” I whispered against the top of Izzy’s head and she nodded in response. I reached for the comforter and pulled it over the two of us to give her the warmth that my arms couldn’t provide. She was calm now. No shaking, no tears, just quietly calm.
“Do you want to lay down?” I asked her but she moved her arms around my waist and held on. I guessing that was a no. My back was killing me. I had to lie down.
While Izzy held on to me, I slid down and laid back flat on the bed.
We fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until three hours later. Well, at least I did. I laid there with one hand on the small of Izzy’s back and my other arm behind my head while she slept on my chest. The time was ticking by so slowly and all I could do as I lay there was think. Izzy finally woke up and lifted her head to look at me. When she saw my eyes open she sat up on her knees and looked away from me.
“Are we going to let him win, Izzy?” I looked up at her and she brought her gaze back to mine looking completely confused.
“What?”
I contemplated keeping my mouth shut and not furthering the conversation, but we would have to talk about it sooner or later. “Don’t you see what Marco is doing?” I put my other arm behind my head and continued to look up at her. “Izzy, when you left him, you came to me, the one person whom he despises. Ever since you’ve been here, he’s gone out of his way to make me miserable.”
I sat up and leaned against the headboard. She must have still been cold because she took the blanket and wrapped it around her. “It’s no secret that Marco has been trying to get back at me for years. He came damn close with Kiera and then you come into the picture. The one person he actually loved only you love me and not him. So, he found the one way to get the ultimate revenge on both of us. What he did hurt, I won’t lie, it nearly killed me. I can’t say I know how you feel right now, because I don’t know what you are feeling, all I can tell you is that Marco did what he set out to do. Tear us apart. So do we let him win?”
She took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall. I know she was hurting as well as me, but I didn’t know how badly. “I don’t know how to move forward after this.” Her hand covered her mouth at the sound of her voice cracking.
“Me either.”
“I don’t even know what to say sorry for. I don’t know what I did wrong. I didn’t know what I was doing so how can that be my fault?”
“I’m not blaming you, Izzy. I feel the same way. I don’t know how to apologize for something that I did based on something that I thought you did. It wasn’t my fault either. So, we have to put the blame where it belongs. On Marco.”
She looked down at the blanket and after a minute, looked back at me. “I feel so ashamed, Matt.”
“Me too.”
Izzy looked so pale and even though she slept, she looked so tired. My guess was because of all the crying she had done. “We can just pretend it didn’t happen, Matt. It hurts too much.”
“I know.” I nodded. “Honestly, it’s really hard for me to be sitting here with you right now. I know you weren’t yourself, but every time I close my eyes I can see you with Marco so clearly and every time I see it, it’s like my heart gets ripped out all over again.”
She was biting down on her bottom lip nervously. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and glanced over at the clock before looking back at her. “I was hoping to have all the answers after we had a good night’s sleep, but I woke up just as empty as I was when we fell asleep.”
I didn’t want her to cry, I hated that sight, but she did cry. “Izzy, I think for now, we should just try taking things one day at a time and see what happens.” It was the only thing I could think of. We were both broken and the only way I could think of to put us back together was to just take it slow one day at a time.
Shadows
--------------
My eyes fluttered open to greet the early morning darkness and within seconds of opening my eyes, my back started aching from falling asleep against the headboard sitting up. Izzy was resting on my lap with her cheek against my chest just under my shoulder blade. She’s stayed there all night long sleeping soundly and now, as I looked down at her, I could tell she was awake by the way her finger was tracing one of the tattooed letters on my chest.
It was only 6:30am and the morning chill hung in the air. The sun hadn’t come up yet, if it were going to come up at all today. It seemed to be hiding behind the black cloud that was following me wherever I went lately.
“Cold?” I whispered against the top of Izzy’s head and she nodded in response. I reached for the comforter and pulled it over the two of us to give her the warmth that my arms couldn’t provide. She was calm now. No shaking, no tears, just quietly calm.
“Do you want to lay down?” I asked her but she moved her arms around my waist and held on. I guessing that was a no. My back was killing me. I had to lie down.
While Izzy held on to me, I slid down and laid back flat on the bed.
We fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until three hours later. Well, at least I did. I laid there with one hand on the small of Izzy’s back and my other arm behind my head while she slept on my chest. The time was ticking by so slowly and all I could do as I lay there was think. Izzy finally woke up and lifted her head to look at me. When she saw my eyes open she sat up on her knees and looked away from me.
“Are we going to let him win, Izzy?” I looked up at her and she brought her gaze back to mine looking completely confused.
“What?”
I contemplated keeping my mouth shut and not furthering the conversation, but we would have to talk about it sooner or later. “Don’t you see what Marco is doing?” I put my other arm behind my head and continued to look up at her. “Izzy, when you left him, you came to me, the one person whom he despises. Ever since you’ve been here, he’s gone out of his way to make me miserable.”
I sat up and leaned against the headboard. She must have still been cold because she took the blanket and wrapped it around her. “It’s no secret that Marco has been trying to get back at me for years. He came damn close with Kiera and then you come into the picture. The one person he actually loved only you love me and not him. So, he found the one way to get the ultimate revenge on both of us. What he did hurt, I won’t lie, it nearly killed me. I can’t say I know how you feel right now, because I don’t know what you are feeling, all I can tell you is that Marco did what he set out to do. Tear us apart. So do we let him win?”
She took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall. I know she was hurting as well as me, but I didn’t know how badly. “I don’t know how to move forward after this.” Her hand covered her mouth at the sound of her voice cracking.
“Me either.”
“I don’t even know what to say sorry for. I don’t know what I did wrong. I didn’t know what I was doing so how can that be my fault?”
“I’m not blaming you, Izzy. I feel the same way. I don’t know how to apologize for something that I did based on something that I thought you did. It wasn’t my fault either. So, we have to put the blame where it belongs. On Marco.”
She looked down at the blanket and after a minute, looked back at me. “I feel so ashamed, Matt.”
“Me too.”
Izzy looked so pale and even though she slept, she looked so tired. My guess was because of all the crying she had done. “We can just pretend it didn’t happen, Matt. It hurts too much.”
“I know.” I nodded. “Honestly, it’s really hard for me to be sitting here with you right now. I know you weren’t yourself, but every time I close my eyes I can see you with Marco so clearly and every time I see it, it’s like my heart gets ripped out all over again.”
She was biting down on her bottom lip nervously. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and glanced over at the clock before looking back at her. “I was hoping to have all the answers after we had a good night’s sleep, but I woke up just as empty as I was when we fell asleep.”
I didn’t want her to cry, I hated that sight, but she did cry. “Izzy, I think for now, we should just try taking things one day at a time and see what happens.” It was the only thing I could think of. We were both broken and the only way I could think of to put us back together was to just take it slow one day at a time.