Dome → Isaac Lahey

6.2 : company

"Carmen, I brought you some pizza!" Eva called from beyond the bedroom door. She held the plate in her left hand, waiting for Carmen to answer the door. After a minute of no reply, she repeated, "Carmen?"

"Just leave it on the ground." Her muffled voice floated through the bottom crack.

Eva sighed deeply and shook her head, "It's been a week, don't you think you should come out?"

"Just leave it on the ground."

Eva pressed her lips into a thin line and determined that there was no point in attempting to reason with the girl. So, as she had done everyday over the last week, she bent down and set the plate of food in front of Carmen's door before walking down to her own room and shutting the door, leaving the house unusually dark and quiet.

Carmen's heaving and crying became a familiar sound. Each evening, she would turn off all the lights and curl underneath the blankets, breathing in Isaac's lasting scent on them. Each morning, she'd do the same but shut the blinds- The sun's exposure was too bright because of how much time she spent sleeping in stark darkness.

Sometimes she decided move, but only to grab her phone that sat on Isaac's pillow beside her. With tears running down her face and her hot, shaky breath hitting her pillow and the covers, she would maneuver her trembling hands to send Isaac a text, telling him how much she missed him and how terrible she was doing without him.

The beep that sounded from his phone on the nightstand in response killed her every time she did.

Soon enough, she'd run out of tears. Her heart still yearned and reached for him, but now every time she thought of him, the only thing that escaped her eyes was a single hot tear before they shut to sleep through the day once again.

People had attempted to visit her after what happened, but she always declined their company. Casey, Allison, Lydia, Scott, Stiles, Eva, Derek, and even Seriena- But every time, she never moved an inch to answer the door. And they respected her need for isolation. The only person who hadn't visited was, of course, Harrison Woldand- God forbid he dared to show his face here again.

Carmen breathed shallowly as she pushed off from the bed and wobbly sauntered over to the door, opening it to the plate of pizza. She bent down to grab it and slammed the door closed, loud enough for Eva to hear so that she'd know that Carmen accepted the food. Or, at least, she thought. Carmen walked over to the window and hastily dumped the food out, setting the plate on the floor next to her bed. She glanced at her pile of accumilating pile of dishes from the many other times she'd done this.

Losing Isaac flung her into a vicious cycle that she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to escape.
Sleep, cry, repeat. Sleep, cry, repeat.

Her friends began to worry. The day that Scott decided enough was enough was the next morning when the entire pack went over to the house to visit her and unintentionally sniffed out the pile of food on the ground outside her window. It was obvious that she hadn't been eating properly and she hadn't been taking care of herself. So,  they took it upon themselves to do something before she drove herself insane.

The doorbell downstairs rang throughout the house and startled her, but she remained still. She knew what this was, and she wasn't in the mood for consolation from anyone.

The pattering of Eva's feet running past her doorway and down the stairs made her roll her eyes and bury her face further into the pillow. To her dismay, as she suspected, the pack's voices floated up the stairs and through the crack of her door. Except this time, they seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Next thing she knew, her doorknob was being jiggled until the lock broke, revealing Scott standing in the doorway. Upon hearing the noise of the metal drop to the ground, Carmen shot up, eyes wide in a mixture of disbelief and fear.