Chapter Text
She’s dreading something.
Something in the deepest parts of her soul.
It hadn’t hit her until she was almost halfway home.
When they had all hiked out of the woods, said awkward goodbyes, and went their separate ways, she was still full of adrenaline.
They had survived the night.
She had survived the night.
Mae was better.
The cult was gone and buried.
Everything was okay.
And then the adrenaline began to wear off, and she was alone with her thoughts.
It first came to her halfway through a drag of her cigarette.
At first it was just a silly notion.
She brushed it off almost immediately.
No.
That couldn’t be.
He would never.
Never.
But the thought lingered, and grew and grew ever more with every step she took back to her apartment.
Their apartment.
But, what if…?
…What if…?
It consumed her now, the thought.
She picks up her pace, desperate to get back.
She has to know.
She has to see.
Her mind can’t focus on anything else now.
Her cigarette burns out and she doesn’t light up a new one.
Her legs move almost independent of her.
She doesn’t even realize where she is until she’s standing at her door.
Keys in her hand.
Shaking.
Please don’t do this.
Not again.
Not again.
She can’t go through something like this again.
Please, Lord.
Not again…
She unlocks the door.
And opens it.
The lights inside are off.
The TV isn’t on.
She can’t hear his snoring.
There’s nobody home.
Only silence.
Nothing.
The tangled ball of despair inside her roots her to the spot.
She can’t move for the longest time.
Or maybe it’s only a few moments.
It’s only as she steps over the threshold that the realization washes over her and brings her to her knees.
He isn’t here.
He isn’t here.
And the events of the last twenty-four hours hit her all at once.
There’s just an emptiness inside her.
A something she hasn’t felt since senior year of high school.
Everything is gone.
It’s all she can focus on.
And she cries.