Chapter 30
Teddy
New York is fucking weird. It’s incredibly overcrowded, and the traffic is a literal nightmare. I almost regret coming here, but I won’t. I’m here for Ariel.
It’s been hard not getting to really talk to her. She stays in her room and just lays there. At least she started eating. I know with time she’ll finally get to a place where she can heal. That’s why I’m doing everything in my power to earn her forgiveness. If I’m in her life again, I can help her. I can make sure she has that hope she lost.
I follow the GPS to Ariel’s old building. When I get to the front desk, I waste no time.
“Is Herald Parker here?” Ariel told me all about Herald, and how he was the one that helped her over and over again. It’s obvious she loved him like a father, and I’m betting he loved her like a daughter.
“That’s me.” The guy- I guess Herald- says.
“I’m a friend of Ariel’s, and I think she can really use you right now.” I sit there and tell him everything that’s happened including how badly I messed things up with her. He agrees to come back with me, and I feel triumphant. “Before we head back, there’s one more stop I need to make.”
Ariel
A couple days after Teddy’s last letter, there’s a knock on my door. When I open it and see Herald, everything that’s happened catches up to me and I break down. Herald catches me and his arms, and I sob into his chest, “It’s okay Honey.” He whispers into my hair, and it only causes me to cry harder.
Everything I’ve kept bottled up just spills out of me. All the pain, anger, and despair comes out of me. It almost feels like an exorcism. Like there’s demons being expelled out of my body.
Herald rubs circles on my back as he holds me in his arms. I feel him murmuring something into my hair, but I can’t hear him over my sobbing.
When I finally calm down, I back up so I can stare at Herald.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“Your friend, Teddy came to get me. He said that you needed me.” Teddy made this happen? He’s making it more and more harder to stay mad at him, but I refuse to let him in again. I already learned my lesson there.
“He’s not my friend. Not my anything really.”
“Oh he let me know everything, Sweetheart. But let me tell you. Someone doesn’t drive hours to New York to bring an old friend to comfort you if he’s nothing.” Shock fills me. Teddy told him about our break up? If it can even be called that. Herald laughs softly. “I see your gears turning. I’m not telling you to forgive him. Just saying that maybe you should hear him out. But we don’t need to talk about that right now. I heard about what happened, and I’m so sorry you had to endure that.” I just nod because how do I just talk to anyone about how I lost my baby.
“I heard he’s being charged with assault and murder. I can only hope that he goes away for life.”