Home. Heart. Hero.

An Empty Home

Silence was not usually how you greeted a house guest, whether welcome or unwelcome. The moment Katie saw Mike standing at her door, the only thing she had inside of her was silence. It took her a couple of minutes to come back to the situation.

"What are you doing here Mike?" she asked and the man's eyes were too sad and she felt herself take a step back. She didn't get too far as Oliver's hand seemed placed right on the small of her back.

"I don't have your phone number." he said his voice rough. He kept his eyes on her. It was a technique she was all too familiar with. It was guilt and pity all wrapped up in a look. "I wanted to call you, but I don't have your number."

"When?" she asked simply. There was no need to draw this out. No need for pleasantries or unnecessary questions.

"Katie?" his voice was practically pleading with her, but she kept her face stone.

"Mike!" she snapped. She could feel it. She'd learned a long time ago that emotions were dangerous. Letting yourself feel things not under your control was a distraction and distraction lead to the bad things. "When?"

"Last night." said Mike turning away from her. "His blood pressure dropped, and then his heart rate slowed and I-" he looked back to her. "Believe me when I say I tried to bring him back, but it was no use. Katie, I'm sorry." she didn't say anything. At this point her mind was just blank.

"Thank you." she said finally before slamming the door closed. She turned around and looked up to Oliver slight surprised as if she had forgotten he was there.

"Katie-" he placed his hands on the sides of her face.

He recognized the look in her eyes. She was fighting the feelings that were happening inside of her. He was all to familiar with the situation she was in and could only imagine where her head was right now. She pulled out of his grasp before moving passed him, climbing the stairs before disappearing from his sight. He stood there for a moment unsure of what to do. The teenagers roaming about, and music playing probably wasn't helping so he decided that's where he would start.

"Hey!" he said looking to one of the guys. "Turn the music off, you all can go now" they looked at him unsure if they should listen. He would smile if the situation called for it. Of course Twinkie would put the fear of God in them. "It's fine, you can go." they simply nodded.

Soon the house was empty and quiet and Oliver stood standing at the base of the stairs. The old Oliver would've turned around a left. The old Oliver wasn't good with emotions when it came to girls. He usually got out while he still could. And when it came to Katie he usually played dumb hoping to reduce her expectations of him. Once upon a time he thought that was a good thing. Now he sees how selfish that really was. And so Oliver did something the old Oliver would never do. He was actually going to be a good friend. He climbed the stairs and veered down a familiar hall until he spotted her room.

He pushed open her door to see her sitting on the bed, her back to him as she stared out the window.

"I'm fine Oliver, you can go." she said not breaking the contact with the window. She needed to focus on something else and the bird on the limb outside of her window was proving to be a suitable distraction. She expected him to turn around and leave. What she didn't expect was for the weight shift beside her as he sat next to her. It was so unexpected that she actually let it tear her eyes from the bird to look at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm being there for you." he said staring back at her and she had to turn away in that moment because if she didn't it would happen. She would cry and she promised herself a long time ago that she wouldn't cry anymore. And so they just sat in silence. Oliver never made a move to leave and he kept his eyes on her. After a while he reached over placing his hand over her hand that sat on her lap. "I'm sorry." she turned and looked him.