Nightfall ✓

Chapter 17

• chapter seventeen •

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked at the digital alarm clock. Next to the time, today's date was flashing in neon green. 20 July. With a smile, I threw off the comforter and ran towards my phone to see if I had a birthday message from Liam.

I wasn't very excited about turning eighteen. Birthdays had started losing their charm as I grew older. When I was ten, I would start preparing for the day a month in advance. It was probably my favorite day of the year, because I didn't have to study, and I could eat as much junk food as I wanted, and I could invite friends over.

But now the only reason for my excitement was the message from Liam. Even though he had come back and didn't really need to send me a message, I knew he had, so that I could wake up and see it first thing in the morning.

It was a long one. By the time I was done reading it, there was a huge idiotic grin on my face.

I texted him: let's go for a walk?

He didn't reply for a while, so I put down the phone and took a bath. When I came out, my phone pinged. I picked it up.

Liam: I'm still in Paris. Flight got delayed. Please don't hate me.

I stared at the tiny screen in shock.

Me: What the hell! I thought you were coming home yesterday?
Liam: Told you. Flight got delayed. I'm sorry.
Liam: I'll be home by tonight.

I didn't reply.

Liam: you there?

I threw the phone onto the bed. It pinged three more times, but I ignored it and went for my walk alone. The weather was nice. There were puddles on the pavement; it had probably rained in the night. I kicked, and water splashed everywhere. I kicked again and again till all the water in the puddle had spread over the pavement. Then I felt silly, so I went back home, got my headphones and went jogging.

On reaching Ashley's house, I stopped and lied down in the yard on my back. The sun was beating down on me; there was a thin layer of sweat on my upper lip and my under-arms were pretty wet, but I didn't budge for an hour.

Then I sensed some movement. I turned my head slightly, and Ash was standing over me with a watering can in her hands. She was saying something. A single drop from the can dripped onto my neck. The water was cold.

She put down her can. I took off my headphones. She jumped on top of me while I was still lying and hugged me. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks," I said, giving her a watery smile.

She frowned. "Something wrong? You don't look happy." She sat up.

I snorted. "What is there to be happy about?"

"You're turning eighteen! If I were you, I would be jumping all over the place. You're an adult now! You can do whatever you want and no one can say anything about it. Not even, you know, your parents." She looked down and played with the grass, knowing it was a sensitive topic. I thought about it and realized what she meant. My parents couldn't force me to do anything now. I was free to pursue art, I was free to go wherever I wanted to. I felt liberated. Then I came back to the present and my smile vanished.

"Liam still hasn't come back, Ash. I'm so angry. And I can't even blame him. But I'm angry at him."

She stood up and took my headphones and iPod. "Look, you can't lie here all day." She picked up the watering can and tilted it so that the spout was over my face, pouring the cold water all over me. I scrambled up quickly. "Oh my God, you—"