SWNOVELS Chapter 28
28. Letting go of past is important.
Coraline instantly gets up from her seat and embraces me.
“I’m sorry, Jace,” she says, squeezing me.
I let her friendly warmth comfort me and wrap my arms around her. I do not like the fact that my mother’s death makes me feel
so out of depth. I feel like I’m weak for still getting this emotional over it after so many years. The rational part of my brain
understands that losing a parent, especially a parent who entirely raised you is going to be hard, and that kind of wound cannot
be healed easily. But the smaller, illogically macho part of me that still reels over the fact Stone managed to send me to the
hospital urges me to man up and bottle all my feelings inside. It’s a constant battle to not give into that voice because I’m well-
read enough to know bottling up feeling ultimately leads to a nasty climax. So, I force away those feelings and focus on the
present, on the tickle of Coraline’s hair on my cheeks, and the pleasant smell of her body wash that still drifts.
“It’s alright,” I say, “I mean, it’s sad and all, but I’ve come to terms with it. It was a hit-and-run, and the driver of the car didn’t even
stop to see if she was okay. She had been crossing the road, you see,” I feel the old anger rise, “that bastard left without even
slowing down.”
Coraline breaks away from me to give me a calculating look. “No one even saw the number plate?”
“Nope, no one did. Everyone was too busy trying to help my mother. She was...it hadn’t been pleasant. There was a lot of
blood.”
Coraline covers her mouth in her sympathy. “What happened to you afterward?”
“Well, I was nearly eighteen, so I was given a choice to stay out of the foster system and get emancipated. Mom had a little
money saved, and my father was willing to help as soon as I let him.”
“But you did not let him,” she guesses, and I can’t help but huff a laugh.
“I was angry, so angry at everything,” I whisper, “so I told him that I wanted nothing to do with him. I could live alone; I could
survive alone. I didn’t need his money. Deep down, I blamed him for not choosing my mother over his wife. I irrationally thought
that if we had been a family, mom would’ve never had to move away from him, and thus get killed by the hit and run.”
I drag a hand over my face, my emotions tumultuous, “I wasn’t in a good headspace, so naturally, I came up with convoluted
logic. In my hurt, I lashed out all around me.”
“I remember the funeral,” Coraline says, “I didn’t visit because I was out of state at the time. But my mother and father did.”
“I honestly don’t remember much about it,” I confess, “I was under this sort of haze throughout, watching everything as I was
underwater. School gave me some time off to get my head straight. It took me a month to gain a semblance of normalcy again.”
“What did you do afterward? How did you survive?”
“I made a plan. The apartment my mom paid for was too much for me to afford on my own, so I moved to a smaller, more
affordable one. Used up some of my mom’s savings until I could find a decent job. It wasn’t easy, the first few days. I was so
worried about surviving that I only had two meals per day. But somehow, I found a balance Had to work two jobs, though I also
freelanced on the internet, writing academic paperc and such. After I graduated, I applied to a bunch of schools. King’s College
was not my choice, but Gerald always called me despite my protests and encouraged me to apply for the scholarships there. I
did it almost as a joke. I was going to go to community college.”
“But you got the scholarship,” Coraline provides, “I’m not surprised. Your grades were awesome back
then, as I remember.”
I manage a smile at that, “Thanks. So, yeah. Moved to Empire city, got a job and an apartment, and started college. And then
Stone happened, and here we are.”
“Here we are,” she repeats, “why did you come back?”
“I don’t know,” I murmur, “maybe I got too tired of running and hiding. It was a particularly bad day when I decided that enough
was enough, and I was letting my past anger ruin my life. So I sort of let go.”
By now it is lunchtime, so Coraline and I decide to take a bit of a break and stretch our legs. We have an adequate cafeteria in
Zelt Tech, but there were little cafes and food joints strewn all around, so most of the time we went out to eat. Today, we decided
to visit a pizza joint we were both fond of
As we wait for our order to arrive and chat amicably. I ask Coraline what happened to her after graduation.
“Well, as you are aware, I’m still attending university as well,” she says, ” got selected to an accelerated business studies
program at the state university, and it’s going great. I only got one more year to graduate.”
“Really?” I raise my brows, impressed, “and you manage to do this job while also studying for an accelerated course?”
Coraline shrugs with a smile, “I like keeping busy Besides, you’re the same as me ”
“Not really, my program is a normal bachelor’s degree.” I point out, 1 got plenty of downtime compared to you.”
Then almost hesitantly, I add, “how did Aiden happen?”
She sighs, “Our college did this joint club fair with a bunch of other schools King’s College was one of them. Aiden was there,
and he had the handsome, bad-boy thing going on I’m ashamed to say I fell head over heels almost instantly. At first, he was
gracious, smart, funny, and sexy. But then things got rough, and he became aggressive.”
She is interrupted when our food arrived. Coraline was trying out a new topping today, her half of the pizza comprised some sort
of mushrooms and meat. I’d opted for good old cheese and pepperoni for mine. With a sigh, Coraline takes a bite out of the
pizza slice she picked, and chews.
“The first one was after my birthday. We had a party, and I danced with some of my friends. One of these friends was a guy, and
he didn’t like it. And then-”
Her eyes narrow into slits as a blush rises to her cheeks.
“It’s okay,” I assure her, “you don’t have to go into details...”
But she’s shaking her head, her expression distressed.
“No, I...I...something...” she chokes, and her eyes widen. Her hands fly to her neck, and she begins to gasp for breath.
“Coraline, what’s wrong?!” I screech, gaining the attention of the pizza joint.
Coraline chokes, “ALLERGY!”