Chapter 23 Chapter 23
Violet
“I am sorry that I suggested you meet…” she began and I instantly threw my arms around her.
I wasn’t even sure why was I crying exactly but the tears started to flow.
“I got you, Violet. You are not alone” Mom brushed my hair lovingly and patted my head.
I sniffled and held her for a while, crying until I had almost soaked half of her blouse.
When I pulled away, Mom’s hand cupped my cheek.
“I told you, you have to get out of your room.”
“Mom!” I groaned and she instantly corrected herself. “Dont meet new people. But maybe find something other than work to engage in. Go out for a walk, maybe catch up with old friends. I hate to see you sad and crying in your room like this.”
I wiped my nose with my sleeve and shook my head.
“I am okay. Don't worry.”
“Do you remember you used to find so much joy in your old hobbies? You used to sketch and paint. Maybe try doing that, "she offered.
As a kid I would spend an unhealthy amount of time sketching and painting. Girls had already progressed to buying expensive jewellery and makeup while I would beg my mom to get me a new set of crayons or art supplies.
“I’ll try” I offered and she kissed me on the cheek.
“Maybe we can watch a movie later tonight if you want like old times.”
I smiled at her. “I’d like that”
She ruffled my hair and mumbled. “Well then I’ll go ahead and cancel today's kitty party with the bratty old ladies to spend some quality time with my daughter.”
I chuckled and was already feeling a lot better when I opened the old drawers that held all my childhood memories.
For a second, nostalgia punched me square in the chest.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a fashion designer. Or an artist. Someone who made beauty out of chaos. I used to spend hours painting sunsets and sketching gowns, dreaming of color palettes instead of spreadsheets.
But life had a way of beating creativity out of you one practical choice at a time.
I picked up a small sketchbook, the pages yellowed at the edges. My old doodles greeted me- a half-finished portrait of my mom, a clumsy attempt at drawing my childhood toys, a few dress designs that looked like the result of a sugar rush.
But I had been super proud of a wolf portrait I drew later, a fierce one with glinting eyes and massive jaw.
I smiled, faintly. “Guess I wasn’t that bad, huh?”
Boredom and maybe loneliness made me grab a pencil. I flipped to a blank page, twirling the pencil between my fingers.
What should I draw?
For a few moments, I stared at the page, but my hand seemed to know before my mind did. The pencil moved almost on its own.
Sharp jawline. Firm mouth. A shadow of stubble.
Before I knew it, the blank face of a man was staring back at me from the paper.
I froze. “Oh, no. Nope. Absolutely not.”
I flipped the page. Then flipped it back again.
I hadn’t drawn in years, so maybe I could count this as practice. A way of enjoying my solitude.
The pencil scratched softly against the paper as I shaded the angles of his cheekbones, the dark fall of his hair, the slight furrow in his brow.
I wasn’t as good as I used to be.
My lines were shaky, the proportions slightly off and it took me quite a few attempts to get his nose right.
But as the drawing took shape, something inside me unclenched.
I stared at the rough sketch of Elijah Lockwood. It still needed perfecting but given that it had been years since I had last drawn something that were not charts, I felt pretty impressed with myself.
I held the sketchbook at eye level and stared at the sketch.
“Why did I draw you of all people?” I asked the face that didn’t answer.
But as if on cue, my phone suddenly rang, dragging me out of my thoughts. Elijah’s name flashed on my screen.
‘Think of the devil and the devil calls’ I mumbled, reaching hastily for the phone.
“Hello?” I answered anxiously.
Elijah hadn’t called or texted me before, certainly not so late at night. I looked at the time and realized I had spent the entire day drawing his face.
Not that I was going to tell him that.
I was sure he wanted to talk about the project. Maybe he had made a decision already.
But he skipped hi and hello and got straight to the point.
“Is Cassie with you?”
The tension and panic in his voice made my stomach drop.
“What? No.”
“You haven’t spoken to her all day?”
I straightened, the worry in his tone contagious. “No, not since last night. What’s wrong? Is she okay?”
He exhaled, the sound sharp. “I can’t get hold of her. Her phone’s off.”
“Have you checked with…” I began but the line went off.
Shit. Was Cassie in trouble?
My phone slipped from my fingers the moment the line went dead.
“Elijah?” I called into the emptiness, staring at the screen.
Did he just hang up on me?
Furious, I dialed again. Once. Twice. The third time, he finally picked up.
“What do you mean you can’t get hold of her? Where is she?” I asked, breathless.
“I wouldn’t give you a call dead in the night if I knew the answer, smartypants.”
Another nickname.
I would have chuckled if I hadn’t noticed the tension in his voice.
As if he was trying to tell himself that she was okay, that everything was fine.
“Did you check her room again? Maybe she just needed air—”
“She’s not here, Violet.” His voice was clipped, tight, the kind of tone that carried the weight of someone fighting to stay calm.
“Did you guys fight again?”
There was shouting in the background that sounded as if he had woken up the entire neighborhood.
“No and I don't have time to answer your stupid questions.”
The line went dead again.
“Elijah?” A frustrated cry left my lips as I hit redial.
This time, he didn’t answer at all.
My pulse spiked. I stood there in my room, phone pressed to my ear, listening to the sound of my own heart pounding.
Cassie had stormed into the room without a word. I had asked her if she wanted to talk and she had pushed me away.
I should have shoved the door open and talked to her instead!
I dialed her this time and the call went straight to voicemail.
“Cass, it’s Violet,” I said into the phone. “If you get this, please call me back. We are worried about you. Just… call me back, okay?”
I left another one. Then another. Nothing.
Why the hell was she not answering her phone??