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It really sucked to be knocked unconscious if he was being completely honest. One moment, he was escorting Rockseeker to the location, the next, he was on the ground, barely able to keep conscious. He didn’t know who got him, but he guessed it didn’t even matter since he was barely able to stay awake. He couldn’t make out their language, but maybe it was because he felt like he was underwater and he could feel his anxiety start to take over. Even though that coin told him he liked swimming, especially in cold water on a hot day, he had a really hard time believing it. He didn’t even remember learning how to swim.
When his mind no longer could stay awake, he succumbed to the darkness. He felt himself get anxious over that too, in fact, he was just a bunch of anxious nerves. Gods, she was going to make fun of him when she found out about this. That kept his mind awake just a second longer. Who was she?
When he came to, he was in a bedroom. He couldn’t specify where he was, it seemed unfamiliar. Then again, it felt like he should know where he was and the exact location, but the knowledge was escaping him. It felt like it was behind a huge static wall that he couldn’t get over no matter how hard he tried.
He saw the back of someone dressing, and he immediately felt his heart start to beat even faster. His eyes widened when they took off their shirt and began to rummage through some drawers next to the bed. His Ma taught him better than to look at someone changing like this, especially a lady. He covered his eyes by using the thick blanket that was strangely mostly on one side of the bed. Did he kick it off in his sleep or something? No, that didn’t seem right. It was way too cocooned precisely to be just from his kicking.
“What are you doing?” Came the person. Their voice sounded like they were underwater, with a low hum of static interlaced. It made Barry panic slightly. Why did they sound so far away? At the same time, it made his heart soar. All he wanted to do was to wrap this person up in his arms so tight and keep holding them till the end of time.
He heard a chuckle from the person, and soft steps padded over to him. He felt the blanket being pulled down, and he was face to face with a face full of static. Their features were completely erased, nothing to tell him anything about them. Except, if he concentrated hard enough, he could make out their lips spread in a large smile and sometimes a flash of eyes. Nothing too concrete to be able to zero in on and pick out from the crowd, but it still made his body relax. The person tapped his nose and laughed warmly before turning away back to the dresser and grabbing a hair tie from the dresser. They began to wrap their thick, blonde hair into a bun before leaving the room in nothing but their undergarments.
Anxiety began to swell in Barry’s stomach. He wanted so badly to follow this person wherever they went, but he was rooted to his spot on the bed. Why couldn’t he go to her? He wanted to be next to her always and never let her out of his sight again. Why did she go? Where did she go? When will she return?
What felt like an eternity, she finally came back. Her hair seemed a bit more wet than before and from what he could make out from her face, it seemed slightly more shiny too. She was doing her morning routine something told him. It was extensive and confused Barry sometimes, but it was something she enjoyed doing. She was in the closet rummaging for something when he finally found his voice.
“You came back,” his voice was rough and he winced at the sound of it. The woman paused in her rummaging, her static face once again turned to him.
“Of course I came back.” There was a smile in her voice and Barry felt his heart feeling lighter than before. She went back to rummaging, pulling out a long red robe and throwing it on their bed. Their...that’s right, they shared this bed. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. The other side of the bed was hers, and she liked being warm. She would tell him how he was like gentle hearth at night. He would tell her that he just ran hotter than normal.
She started to rummage through the drawers again, this time pulling out a tight black shirt. She turned to him again. “I promised, didn’t I?”
She opened up another drawer, this one full of worn out jeans. He didn’t have to see the smile to know that it was there. She started pulling some out, putting them up against her body to see how they would look. He thought that she would look good in anything. Finally, she settled on some jeans that definitely didn’t look like she owned. In fact, he knew that they were his. She set them on the bed before going back to the closet and pulling out a belt which also met the same fate on the bed.
“Where did you go? Why did you take so long?” His voice sounded hurt. He didn’t know why he was asking these things, he couldn’t figure it out. She hummed as she was getting dressed, and this made the knot in his stomach tighten. She pulled on the black shirt and pants, setting them into place with the black belt she took from the closet.
She grabbed the red robe on the bed and slipped it on, starting to look around the room for anything she missed. The knot in his stomach was growing and tightening as a lump formed in this throat. Where was she going? Why was she leaving?
She pulled on a pair of black boots and grabbed a bag from the floor. It looked fully packed, and Barry wondered when she did all of that. He could’ve sworn that there wasn’t a bag on the floor before. She grabbed something else, something that was also covered in static. It was hanging on one of the hooks on the back of their door. What did she grab? It was long, he knew that, and he could make out a curve from where she held it on her arm. She looked to him, Barry making out her lips tight in concentration.
She walked over to him, the boots clanking softly on the metal floor. Sinking onto the bed, she held his face in her hand as her static face peered at him.
“You’re really close, babe,” her voice was low and he was having a hard time making it out. He looked into her face where her eyes should’ve been and saw a quick flash of blue. She kissed him so softly that had him tearing up. He missed this, he realized. Missed her touch and her kisses. Mostly, he missed her presence.
She stood up suddenly, grabbing his hands and giving him one more quick kiss on his forehead. She squeezed his hands before ripping her hands out of his grasp and turning to the door. He was stunned, he couldn’t do anything but watch her go. For some reason, he couldn’t call out to her, his voice was gone. He watched her as she opened the door again, hesitating slightly before turning to him.
“I love you.”
He couldn’t say it back and he didn’t know why. Why was his voice gone? Why couldn’t he say anything to her? Where was she going? He just laid there in bed looking like a sitting duck, his mouth slightly agape. She slipped out of the room, closing the door. He wanted to scream out, tell her to let him come with her. To not leave him. But he couldn’t, he just stared at the door.
A moment passed, and he realized something poking him in his hand. He opened it up and saw a piece of paper, yellowed and worn around the edges. Shakily, his other hand took it and lifted it to his face. In loopy cursive handwriting, two words stared back at him with a kiss mark right on it.
‘Back Soon’