~ Chapter 26: Days in the dark. ~

        The next morning, I woke up early and got dressed. I even put on some makeup for the first time since my “date” with Sam. I took some pancakes and knocked at Damon’s door. No answer. I decided to come in but couldn’t, it was locked. Well, that was the first time Damon was locking his door. Maybe he was seriously tired… Or maybe it was more serious than sleep. I started to worry that he was very sick and was trying to hide it from me so I tried harder on the door. Of course, it wouldn’t open. I gave up, hoping Damon was just asleep.

I waited for him but, by the time it was one pm, he still wasn’t there. What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t have slept for seventeen hours right? It almost scared me when I saw him out with a suitcase that he was putting at the back of his car. I went out, frowning.

“Damon? What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

He jumped with surprise and bit his lip.

“What’s that suitcase for?” I inquired, pointing at it.

“I’m going to Australia.”

“Cool! I’ve always dreamt of…”

He put his finger on my mouth.

“Leah, I’m going. You’re not coming with me.”

I frowned again, more confused every second that was passing.

“What? But you said we would do…”

“I know what I said.” He cut me again. “But I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Do what?” The realization of what he meant hit me. “Are you… Are you breaking up with me?”

I felt tears running down my cheeks. I didn’t understand a thing that was happening.

“Look, Leah, I need to go. I’ll see ya’.”

I felt rage inside of me, replacing pain or adding itself to it. This was a nightmare. My head was spinning and I couldn’t see clearly anymore.

“That’s all you got??!! See ya’??? Are you fucking kidding me? Or is this a joke? Did Seth put you up to this? Cause it’s really not funny.”

Damon looked so sad. I kept shouting then stopped, out of breath.

“Bye Leah. Take care of yourself.”

“Damon! Damon what are you doing?” I screamed while he was taking his suitcase and turning his back on me. “Damon!!!”

I felt tears in my mouth.

“Damon!! Please, tell me it was a joke! Please!!! Damon!!!”

My knees were shaking. I didn’t know if I was going to fall or if I would still be able to stand for a few more seconds. Long hiccups and sobs kept me from screaming again. Damon hopped in his car and, next thing I knew, he was gone.

I had never really fallen in love before. It had always been little love stories that didn’t really mean anything, except for Lucas, the guy with whom I slept for the first time. I was eighteen and it was the end of high school. We had been dating for like two months and I had promised myself I wouldn’t go to college as a virgin. I know, it’s a stupid promise to make to yourself but, what can I say, I was (and I still am) an idiot. I’m not saying I regret it now, to have lost my virginity to Lucas. But I would lie if I were saying that I wasn’t wishing I had waited for somebody else, more important, like maybe Damon.

I liked Lucas a lot and he was really hot. He was on the soccer team and had always been around cheerleaders, so, imagine my surprise when he asked me out: me, the average girl that was usually sitting on the bleachers. But I said yes, and discovered he was actually pretty nice. I didn’t fall in love with him right away; it wasn’t love at first sight (I didn’t know such a thing existed at the time. If it even does) but we got along pretty well and he kissed me and, things led to another, we started dating.

I already knew Jenny at the time. She wasn’t my very best friend but we were still pretty close and called each other a lot to talk mostly about boys. Most of the time, she was doing the talking and I was listening or responding cause she had a life and I didn’t. But when Lucas came along, I was excited to finally have things to talk about on the phone, it felt so good!

I never talked to Lucas about the car crash. I don’t know why. I guess we weren’t close enough. Whatever. We did it one night, when his parents weren’t home. He was sweet. But I realize now that I wasn’t really in love with him. More like… admiring or something. You know, he was one of the popular ones and getting this kind of attention got me head over heels for him. Like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, to be with someone like him. I had some sort of self-confidence issues at the time. I still do I think but I guess I stopped making myself feel so lesser worthy than others now.

So, yeah, I had never fallen in love before. Which made this sort of breakup or whatever it was hurt even more. Like someone was reaping my heart and squeezing tight, non-stop.

I had the longest cry of my life. It’s like it was never going to stop. You know, these cries where you can’t catch your breath, you can’t even stand on your legs. And when you think there can’t possibly be any more tears coming of your eyes, a new wave of desperation washes over you and you bawl all over again.

I think it lasted for days, or weeks. I had no idea what day or what time it was. I was falling asleep, then crying, then falling asleep again. Everything was just a blur. I couldn’t understand anything that was happening.

It was pure desperation. I couldn’t do anything about it. Which made it even harder.

Why the hell had Damon broken up with me? Had I done something wrong? Was he tired of me? It didn’t seem like it when we were in the Lake Powell. Completely devastated and bawling my eyes out again, I fell asleep, praying to stay in my dreams as much as possible.

I tried to call Damon billions of time but he didn’t pick up so, with rage, I threw my phone at the opposite wall. Luckily it didn’t break and I went to pick it up hours later to call Jenny, crying and hiccupping.

“Hey Leah, what’s up?” My best friend asked with a happy voice. “Where on the globe are you right now?”

“Home.” I answered, sniffing.

“Still? It’s been weeks!!”

“I… I know.” I hiccupped.

“What’s going on, are you ok?” She asked, sounding worried.

“Damon… Damon…” I couldn’t place a word between my tears.

“Oh my god, Leah, is he… gone?”

“No. Um… I mean, yes, but he’s still alive and he’s…”

“Leah, I can’t understand anything you say. Try to breath slowly and start over.”

I did and tried to wipe my tears.

“He left me.” I managed to say.

“What do you mean he left you?”

“He left for Australia without me and I… I think we broke up.”

“What? No, I’m sure you made a mistake, he adores you!”

“He said see ya’ and to take care of myself then he left.”

“When?”

“I… I don’t know, I think it was a week ago or so. I lost track of time.”

“Honey! Look, I’m coming right home tomorrow after my exam ok?”

“No, I don’t want to bother you, I just wanted to talk to you…”

“Leah, I’m your best friend and as so, it’s my duty to be there for you at your weakest times and I think we’ve reached rock bottom now. So I’m coming tomorrow. Try to take a shower before I arrive ok?”

How long had it been since I had last passed the bathroom door? Disgusted, I said “ok, thanks” then hung up. And when I saw the picture of Damon and me on my phone in the desktop background, I started crying again.

(Hey guys! Happy New Year!! Ok, I know this is a depressing chapter and we're supposed to be happy, yay it's 2015 and everything but I wanted to upload it today, I hope you won't mind :S Also, I wanted to know if you’d be interested in a Damon’s POV at this point of the story because some of you might be confused here as to why the hell he left like that and all so let me know in the comments if you do. You’ll get a tiny explanation but maybe a POV would be better, I don’t know, let me know what you think. Please keep voting and commenting, I really love all of your comments and they all make me smile or laugh so thank you for reading/voting and commenting <3 Anyway, happy new year again and I hope you'll have the best 2015!! :D)