Dan awoke from his slumber, blinking in the bright, sudden sunlight that was now streaming in through the gap where the curtains didn't quite match up. The corners of his lips twitched upward to form a smile at his optimistic outlook on the day, how productive it could be…just after he'd had five more minutes sleep. His whole being rolled over to try and shield his face from the glare – disappearing underneath the covers.
The scent that still lingered there was Alice. He pushed himself up to momentarily look around the pig-sty of a room, rubbing the morning-bleariness from his eyes. Everything in here still had Alice's mark on it.
No. Not Alice. She wasn't Alice – she was just some…some…liar.
Liar.
The word echoed in his mind. Liar…liar…liar. The smile slid from his face and a blinding fury to built up inside his mind and he drove his fist into his pillow multiple times until it was satisfied. At this point, he slumped down onto his back, staring up towards the ceiling and blowing out a defeated sigh. Of recent times, she was all that he could think of – as much as he tried not to.
She's gone. She's not coming back…he kept telling himself over and over, but it didn't seem to make any difference; the memories of her kept replaying like a stuck CD. He had often fantasised about going to the States in some hope to track her down, but he knew that it would be in vain. He didn't even know her real name, for Christ's sake.
This thought drove home the hopelessness that had kept his body rooted to his bed for days on end once she'd upped and left, yet he still wouldn't, or couldn't, accept that they'd never see each other again.
Suddenly, the sun didn't seem to shine so bright nor the morning seem so hopeful; the usual crease reforming between his eyebrows and stress lines re-etching themselves onto his forehead.
His arms wrapped themselves across the front of his chest, as though he were holding himself together and looked towards to slithers of sunlight and out at the sky above knowing that somewhere, Alice was out there. What was she doing? Was she thinking of him? Did she miss him?
"Of course she doesn't. Get a grip." He scolded himself with a gruff murmur. Though, no matter how many times he pushed her from his mind, he knew that a part of him would always have the false hope that she still loved him.
"Come back, Alice." He murmured in a slightly softer tone this time. "Please, come back…I need you."