Chapter 27. Keep Digging

“Where is he?” I croaked, my voice barely above a whisper.

She gave a soft nod toward the door.

“He’s outside the room, leaning on the wall. He’s been there for two days straight. Hasn’t eaten, hasn’t moved. Just sat there, hoping for you to wake up.”

She looked at me, unsure. “Should I call him in?”

Why does it feel like someone just unclenched their fist from around my lungs? Like a burden was suddenly removed from my shoulders. 

I shouldn’t care but yet why do I feel a strange sense of happiness swelling in my chest that he is alive?

How did I get this attached to him without even realizing it?

I hated that he was boring. I hated that he treated me too gently. I hated that he didn’t see me the way I needed to be seen.  I hated the way he lingered in my head, even in my sleep. Titan was supposed to be a guard not someone whose absence carved hollows in me.

He is a distraction.

He had to go.

The door