Chapter Sixteen:

It has been a month since that day. She never came back and I never tried to look for her. When I told Ellie and Charles about it, she almost fell apart. She wanted Amber to be a part of her life but it's her who pushes us away.

I had turned around as soon as I had heard the door shut. I didn't chase her, asking her to stay because if she wants to run away from me again then so be it.

What I said to her was wrong on so many levels but I'm not obsessed with her, for god's sake. I love her. I've been in love with her for the past six years.

To shake the intrusive thoughts away, I jump in to take a hot shower. I must move on because love has fucked me up. I should've known better. I should hate her. I thought I did but turns out I was just upset.

I groan again.

Sloane.

Sloane.

Sloane.

My entire life has been revolving around her. I need to get away from her as soon as possible. There's no point of me staying in Peakview and I can't go back to Brimville. Where should I go? There's no place I could call home without my mom being in one.

I turn the shower off and get dressed. I grab my phone and my wallet before storming out of the room. My face doesn't hide the fact that I'm furious.

"Caleb, where are you going?" Ellie asks. "Did you find something out about Amber?"

"Dead."

"What?" I walk out of the front door.

"She is as good as dead to me," I say before banging the door shut. I hop into my car and drive to nowhere. I need to clear my head. Everything's fucked up.

I stopped by at the park like I've been doing for the past month. I wonder, sit on a bench and watch people. The park is always filled with kids. I watch young lovers only to make myself miserable. I watch the old people stare into nothingness, like me.

I sit on a rusty old bench, watching a kid play with sand when an old lady comes to sit beside me.

"Is he your child?" The lady asks in a low voice.

I turn my head to her. "No, I don't have any."

"Oh." She chuckles. "If you make any, I'm sure they'll be handsome as hell." I laugh at the compliment. Is an old lady hitting on me? I laugh at that thought again.

"So, what are you doing here?"

I don't know what to say. "Nothing...?"

"No one comes here for no reason. Not for these many weeks." She was carrying a big brown purse. She took out knitting materials from it.

"You've been watching me?"

"Don't sound so accusatory. I wasn't watching you per se. I noticed you. I'm sure you don't want to watch us old women talk about our husbands. You don't have any kids hence you don't come here for them. And you never bring your other half so I wanted to ask you. What are you doing here?"

"To clear my head, I guess."

"You sound like my husband." She glanced up at the sky and smile.

"You don't come with him?"

She sighed. "Um, no. He is no more."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I say, suddenly feeling guilty. "Do you miss him?"

I facepalm. "Of course you do."

She chuckles. "Yeah. I miss him. I'm nothing without him, you know. I started to come here to distract myself from grief."

"If it's any consolation, I'm doing the same thing." I smile at her.

"You lost someone?"

"Not physically. She doesn't want me."

"Oh, I—" She was interrupted by a phone ring becoming from my phone. I ask her to give me a minute and pick up the phone call coming from Charles.

"What?" I ask harshly.

"Don't be mad at me when I tell you that I've been keeping tabs on Amber."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because her brother Reed that you mentioned. He is cured. Somehow, he is no more in a coma. He is awake, asking Amber to come back."

"W—what? That's impossible," I say.

"Why?"

"Because he has been dead for two years." The phone I was holding slips out of my hand when the realisation hits me.

Reggie is framing Sloane up.