Chapter 17
Daisy
The apartment is too quiet.
He’s gone. Just like that. The room still smells faintly of his scent—a smoky and earthy smell with a hint of rich spice.
I stay frozen for a minute, leaning against the counter where he set me down like I was weightless.
Like I was nothing more than a problem that needed discarding.
My heart feels hollow and my limbs ache with a kind of weariness that goes bone-deep.
I stare at the spot where he vanished, my thoughts spinning around the way his eyes had changed—just before the cruelty.
That fleeting moment where he looked at me like I was something, and then he burned it to the ground.
I take a long, deep inhale, my eyes shifting to the coffee table.
The medicine, glowing in the tiny little vials sitting there like a slap in the face.
A small bit of proof that he cared about my recovery at least, despite his words and actions saying otherwise.
Aran had said he was worried about me, but all I saw was a man who couldn’t wait to be rid of me.
My eyes lock on my phone laid next to the gleaming bottles, my heart pounding in my ears.
I scoop it up, instantly irritated when I realise it’s dead.
I plug it in with shaky fingers and wait, pacing in a tight circle in the cramped space of my apartment, running one hand through the loose strands in my hair, whilst chewing my thumb on my other hand.
As soon as it powers up, the notifications flood in.
42 missed calls. 18 voicemails. 97 unread messages.
Talia. Ezra. My boss. One from Professor Doyle.
Saturday, November 18th. I blink. I’ve been away from them all for a month. Gods. Two weeks of shutting down. One week in a coma, one week begging to come home. Four weeks of the world moving on without me. My job, my classes, my life.
I blow out a breath, everything slowly overwhelming me.
I lean back against the wall, my eyes scanning my empty, quiet apartment.
Everything looks so normal, like the last two weeks didn’t even happen.
My eyes snag on the shattered bathroom door, my heart instantly thundering when I remember what had happened the last time I was in there.
I shakily walk into the bathroom, my feet dragging because it’s the last place I want to be, but I know I have to go in there and face what happened.
The light flickers, casting everything in a pale glow thanks to the lack of windows in the cramped space.
And there they are. The bottles. Still scattered around the shower floor, some empty, some not.
I walk into the cubicle, my eyes spotting the small dried-up puddle of bile and partially dissolved pills staining the floor next to the plug hole.
I lower myself slowly to the ground, curling my fingers around one of the bottles.
I hold it to my chest and sob, my head resting back against the cool tiles on the wall.
It pours out of me—ugly, loud, and broken.
I release every ounce of pain I’ve been holding on to, my cries turning to screams as I feel my heart shatter all over again.
My eyes burn, my throat raw from hysteria.
Why did he save me? I had made my choice, and he took that away from me.
All for him to then treat me like I was a burden.
It wasn’t fair, none of this was. I didn’t ask for a single thing this fucking life kept throwing at me, yet here I was, constantly broken and bruised.
Eventually, I leave the bathroom, grabbing my phone to text the group chat with shaky fingers.
Me: I’m home. Can you guys come over? Please.
Talia replies instantly: On our way.
They arrive in under ten minutes, Ezra bursting through the door first, flinging himself into my arms. His warm vanilla scent wraps around me, the familiar smell making me feel instantly at ease.
“You dumb bitch, don’t you dare scare me like that again,” he whispers against my shoulder, squeezing the life out of me.
Talia follows silently, dropping her bag and pulling me into her arms. She doesn’t say anything, just holds my face in her hands, pressing her forehead against mine gently as we both softly cry.
We collapse onto the sofa together, our limbs all tangled, our hearts bruised. Talia strokes my hair whilst Ezra sits squeezing my hand tightly like he’s afraid I’ll vanish.
“I can’t believe you summoned him,” I whisper.
Ezra raises his brows. “Summoned him? Babe, we demanded him. I think we used every method we could find. Candles, Latin, chalk circles. We were like two witchy gremlins trying to perform an exorcism in reverse.” He flaps his hands dramatically like he’s reenacting him casting some weird spell.
“And holy fuck, Daze, your demon is so hot. Like. Sinfully hot. I kind of want to die just to see him again.”
I actually laugh, a sound I never thought I would hear leave my throat again. Then I shake my head. “I’m not bound to him anymore. He gave it back. My soul.”
Ezra gasps. “Wait. You’re not?”
I shake my head. “Nope,” I respond, popping the ‘P.’
Both of them freeze, staring at me with open mouths.
Talia’s voice is quiet, laced with confusion. “He did?” I don’t miss the way her fists curl in her lap.
“Yeah. He told me before he left. Said I was a ‘pathetic, weak little mortal.’ Then he said he didn’t want me in his realm, or his life.”
They go silent as I look down, fiddling with my fingers, softly biting my lower lip to stop it from wobbling. I can see Talia scowling out the corner of my eye, but she chooses to stay quiet, which is so entirely unlike her.
“So… takeaway and a sleepover?” I mumble to remove the tension from the atmosphere.
Ezra nods. “Bitch, yes. We are eating, cuddling, and watching chick flicks until your serotonin levels have risen from the grave.”
Talia orders the food as Ezra loads up mean girls on the shitty TV I have in my living room.
And that night, after the food had been devoured and the second movie we watched ended, we all cram into my bed, a tangled heap of limbs and blankets.
They both demanded I lay in the middle, wrapping their arms around me, and for the first time in a long time, I fell asleep without nightmares.
They leave later the next day after ensuring I ate breakfast and got a shower, making me promise that I’ll come back to college after the weekend is done.
I promise, hooking my pinkies through theirs before they leave.
I clean up the apartment, even managing to throw away all the rotting food from my fridge that was left uneaten.
It was clear that leaving this life behind wasn’t an option for me, because apparently I had a demon that hated me so much he wanted me to continue living for as long as possible, so I could endure more suffering.
Monday comes too soon.
I dress slowly in jeans that hang a little too loose, and a sweater that hides my frame.
My reflection in the mirror looks like someone I don’t know.
Pale, tired, but at least my eyes are steady.
I pull my hair into a low bun, two blonde strands hanging down either side of my face, and drag myself to campus.
My feet are bricks and my stomach sits in a tight knot at the thought of returning to reality.
The first thing to tick off my list is my job.
Gods, I might not even have one anymore.
I walk into the cafe, scanning for my boss, spotting him behind the counter, tapping on a screen. He looks up and freezes when he sees me.
“Daisy?”
“I’m so sorry,” I blurt the apology out before I can even think. “I should have called. I know I messed up. Please don’t fire me. I need this job. I’ll do extra shifts, I’ll clean the staff bathroom for a month, I’ll—”
He holds up a hand, cutting me off, his face softening a touch. “Stop, you’re not fired.”
I stand silently, my eyes wide, trying to catch my breath from the absolute word vomit I’d just spewed at him.
He sighs. “You scared the hell out of me. Just don’t disappear on me again, okay?”
I nod, choking back relief. “Okay.”
Thank the gods for that. He even explained that he was letting me have my time off as PTO so I would still get some sort of a wage. I swear I nearly knocked him on his ass the way I dived on him to give him a hug.
Talia and Ezra beamed when they saw me, both of them telling me how proud they were of me for returning to college and managing to keep my job.
Talia winked at Ezra when I had told them that my boss had let me stay on, and even gave me PTO for some of the time I was away.
I’m guessing the two of them hooking up a few times had something to do with it, but I wasn’t going to question it when it meant I still had a way to pay my bills.
The rest of the day was uneventful, life seeming to be back to normal despite everything that had happened to me in the month I was gone.
I have a butt-load of work to catch up on, and I have to make up one of the assignments I missed.
But thankfully it was nothing too overwhelming, and something I should be able to do easily, thanks to all the notes I took before my life went downhill.
At cheer practice, the coach frowns when I show up. “Uniform?”
“Mine’s too big,” I admit. “I, uh, lost some weight.”
She rakes her eyes over me slowly before giving a soft smile, like she can see the reason for my weight loss wasn’t purposeful. “We’ll find you a spare.”
In the locker room, I catch sight of myself in the mirror. My collarbones seem slightly more visible, but thankfully, I don’t look all too different—other than my eyes, that seem more shadowed. I smile anyway, bright and sunny, typical Daisy.
“Nothing’s changed,” I whisper. “Sunshine only.”