Heartless

Chapter 28

(A/N - This song just fits too perfectly. I recommend listening to it throughout the chapter, specifically at Reed's POV)

"Julia?"

"Jules?"

"Where are you?"

I could hear them all searching for me but I couldn't find the strength to reply.

I couldn't lift myself off the ground to go to them.

The rain ran down my bare arms and I could feel myself getting colder by the second.

My stare was fixed straight in front of me but I couldn't help but focus on the voices surrounding me.

The voices of the people I love and care for, screaming out to find me.

Memories from the time I'd known them all flashed through my brain and I couldn't help but cry even more.

I felt like they were all going to be torn away from me in a second.

"Julia? Blade, she's over here!" Ivy yelled.

I turned my face to the right to be greeted with the worried face of my best friend.

I attempted to wipe the tears from my cheeks as she ran up to me, lifting me off the ground.

"Oh Jule, I'm so sorry." she said, hugging me tightly as I sobbed into her shoulder.

"I-I'm so p-pathetic." I hiccuped. "I knew t-this was going to happen and it's s-still b-breaking my heart."

"No, no honey you're not pathetic. Let's just get you home, okay?"

Soon enough, Blade ran up to us, holding an umbrella over our heads.

"Are you okay newbie?" he asked, pulling me into a side hug.

I stood in between my two best friends as they wrapped their arms around me to guide me towards the front of the building.

As we turned the corner, we came face to face with Reed.

He was soaking wet from walking around in the rain and his face was filled with pain and regret.

"Julia please, let me explain." he begged.

"I think it's best if you leave her alone for a while Reed." Ivy said in an attempt to protect me.

"Please. I don't want this, you know I don't want this." he looked as though he was crying, but I knew that it was just the rain.

I wanted so badly for him to pull me into an embrace and tell me that none of it was real. That Evelyn's father was lying.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't tell me that I was the one he really wants or that we'd live happily ever after.

I just needed to get away from all of this.

"Let me take you home, we can talk...please." Reed said, moving towards us without taking his eyes off me.

"Reed, don't you understand what this is doing to me? I never asked for this. I never asked for any of this...and every time I think we're getting anywhere, you just remind me that we can never be together. It kills me."

"I know, but we can go home and figure something out I-"

"No Reed. I find it ironic that this whole thing is happening to keep me safe, yet I've never felt more vulnerable and unhappy than I do right now. I can't keep doing this to myself. It's been made quite clear that that isn't my home anymore...I'll pick up my things tomorrow."