Chapter 7

"Hey, what are you two idiots doing?"

Luke turned around suddenly as he heard Ben calling out to them. He saw Ben standing outside their apartment door, with Anabel leaning on his arm. Her face was pale and Luke felt his heartache slightly as he noticed the pained expression etched on her features. Despite the circumstances that had brought them together, he felt a strange urge to reach out to comfort her, to wipe the tears that were falling down her cheeks. 

"Where've you been?" questioned Anabel, raising her eyebrows at the younger boy.

"We just went out for some food." 

Luke glanced towards his friend, noticing the bags in his hand as well as the bottle of whiskey that was slung over his shoulder.

"Really? Well, do you know where my bag is?"

Luke shrugged, pointing at the kitchen counter where Ben had placed his bag earlier. He watched as Ben walked over to it and unzipped it, rummaging through various items that he had stashed there. Soon, he pulled out his car keys. Then he made his way towards the door of the apartment with Anabel trailing behind him. Once the door was shut behind them, Luke quickly rushed into the kitchen. He wanted to make sure that she was okay.

"You don't look too great," commented Luke as he poured some water into one of their water glasses. "Have you gotten enough rest lately?"

Anabel nodded slowly as she accepted the glass from Luke. She drank a little before speaking again.

"It's nothing much, honestly," explained Anabel, shaking her head. "It's just that my nightmares are getting stronger. I'll admit that I'm not sleeping well anymore. I don't sleep very often since I'm always too tired whenever I wake up."

"Oh... I see..." responded Luke softly, although he still seemed slightly sceptical.

Anabel glanced towards him, as the corners of her lips twitched.

"I know you're worried and I don't blame you. But really, I will be fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. You know that I'm strong."

Luke forced a smile upon his face, despite his worries. After all, the situation wasn't that serious. It wasn't as if the girl was actually in danger. She might be, but he wasn't going to let her know that. She seemed happy enough, so hopefully, that wouldn't change soon. Not that Luke minded, anyway. He liked seeing her smiling happily.

"That's good to hear. So.. where are you headed?"

"To meet Ben in the city centre. We were planning on visiting a few places today."

"Okay. See you later."

The young woman gave him another nod and then walked out of the kitchen, heading to the door. Before she opened it though, however, she turned around once more.

"Thanks for everything, Luke. This has helped a lot."

She smiled brightly and leaned forward, giving him a quick hug. Then, after saying goodbye and leaving, she closed the door and was gone. A moment passed before Luke returned his attention to the task at hand: making sure that Anabel was alright.

For quite some time after she left the apartment, he stood motionless in the middle of the room. He was lost in his thoughts. His mind was running wild with countless questions and theories regarding the situation that had arisen. He tried his best to stay calm, but his mind wouldn't stop spinning. It was like trying to make sense of the crazy dream that he had had while asleep. Nevertheless, as he stared blankly ahead, he couldn't manage to shake the image of Ben's bloody face from his mind.

"What's wrong with me?" he mumbled, shaking his head.

There was no point in thinking about these things now. He needed to focus on the present; on the fact that Anabel was alive, and she would be alright. He knew that this whole situation was completely ridiculous, but at the same time, he couldn't seem to get rid of his concern.

Suddenly, Luke jumped slightly when he realized that someone was knocking on the front door of the building. Although he had heard it before, he had somehow forgotten that his family and the guys had arrived and that his parents were expecting him home sometime later. He didn't know whether he should answer or not. There was a high chance that they didn't know that something bad had happened between Anabel and Ben yesterday, so it would probably be better not to tell them until they were all here together. Besides, Luke didn't want any unnecessary tension. That was why, when he reached for the door handle, he was surprised to see that it was locked. He raised an eyebrow and wondered why that was. Wasn't that the rule that one should never lock their doors? Unless of course someone broke in through a window and got in by climbing through the roof? He shook his head.

"Who is it, Mom?" he called out loudly, walking across the room and pulling open the front door. 

His mother looked up and smiled pleasantly at the sight of her son. 

"Hello, dear," she greeted cheerfully. 

"Hi, Mom," answered Luke as he stepped outside. "How's it going?"

"Everything is fine. How are you?"

He frowned slightly at hearing the note of uncertainty in her voice. Something about the question caught his attention and he couldn't help but notice that she sounded strangely nervous... As if she'd been hiding something from him. Had something happened that he didn't know about?

"Well... I think that something happened between us this morning. I haven't seen you all day," explained Luke, glancing away briefly.

A faint blush appeared on his mom's cheeks as she lowered her gaze and averted her gaze from him. In reality, she was wondering where she could have been that she had missed dinner last night. As far as she knew, she and Luke had finished eating early so she had thought that she must have skipped it. However, since the boys had been acting suspiciously ever since they had arrived home that afternoon, she couldn't help but feel concerned.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize that you waited for us!"

Luke chuckled lightly at his mom's excuse. It wasn't entirely false. While Anabel was the one who usually ate dinner every single night without fail (she didn't like cooking for other people), he had prepared it for both of them last night. Even though it would take at least a couple of hours for them to finish eating, he had also prepared extra portions, since they were both staying over the next day. His brother would probably need it more than them since he was still recovering from whatever had happened during school.

However, as long as Anabel was safe and sound, Luke figured that there was no need to mention anything about the incident.

"So... did something happen?"

Anabel sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair before turning to look Luke directly in the eye.

"Yes. We had our first disagreement, and well, it ended badly. It doesn't mean anything."

"I see..." replied Luke carefully. He wasn't convinced at all.

"Listen, I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll talk to you when we're at your place, okay? Don't worry. If I'm late, just order pizza for us. That should work."

Anabel flashed him a small smile before turning around and opening the gate. Luke watched as she made her way across the road in silence and then proceeded to close the gates after her.

"Bye, Mom."

Before he could even say goodbye himself, Anabel had disappeared within the distance. He shook his head gently at what he had heard and made his way back into his apartment. As he closed the door behind him, he felt a sudden surge of guilt wash over him. He hated upsetting his family. It wasn't his intention to make them feel guilty, and yet, he knew that it was inevitable. It was only because he cared that he hadn't wanted his parents to find out about Anabel. They weren't meant to know anything about the girl. And so, Luke felt even guiltier when he remembered the way that he had reacted earlier this morning when his dad suggested that he had asked Anabel out. He had practically growled at the man and told him off for thinking about such a horrible thing. The older man's expression seemed to sadden as he looked down at his lap.

"Is everything alright?"

Luke snapped out of his trance and looked toward his father. His eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah... yeah, everything is fine," he said quickly.

Although his father wasn't exactly a big fan of rumours, he wasn't against them either. Luke understood that his father was probably just worried about his wife and daughter, and was only asking him how he was doing. However, Luke didn't feel like talking about it. Not yet at least. Not after the events of that morning. At least, not until Anabel was home safely.