Seeing as it's New Years Eve (and some readers are impatient--lanter), and I haven't given you a Christmas present, I figure that this chapter will be it for you. Enjoy!
Max's letter contained a few more goodbyes to friends on the football team, but one line struck Casey. If she hadn't been crying before, now she was in hysterics. It was a wonder that her father didn't hear. Or perhaps he had, and chose to believe that it was just homesickness.
And, Derek, I'll see you in hell.
Casey let out a deep sigh, bringing her sleeve to her eyes. She reminded herself that she shouldn't cry, it only made her that much weaker against the world. It was almost eleven, a time when most people were sleeping, but Casey couldn't. She got up and went into the living room, finding it empty. Silent. The silence scared her. Something she couldn't escape. She picked up the phone, carried it into her room., and hid herself under the covers. After dialing the numbers, her tense body eased as the ringing filled the silence. Suddenly, the ringing stopped, and Casey knew the person on the other line had picked up.
"Casey?" The voice on the other end was sleepy. Obviously being woken up by the call.
"Hi," she replied sheepishly.
"Why are you calling?" they questioned in a non-threatening way. As though they were worried about her.
"Derek, have you read Max's goodbye letter?" she asked softly, as though once the words left her mouth, Derek would start to shout.
"No," he replied calmly as ever. As though she'd asked her how his day was. But Casey knew him, inside his stomach was lurching. "What did it say?"
"He said he'd see you in hell," Casey informed him. She could just pictured him biting his bottom lip, trying to keep it from quivering.
"I guess I deserve that," he responded. Casey didn't comment, content listening to him breathing on the other side of the phone. "So why'd you call me?" Casey felt her heart beat faster, trying to think of an excuse.
"I needed sound," she explained. "And you like to talk." Derek could sense the fear in Casey's voice despite her efforts to hide it. Every since Max's death, she'd been afraid of silence. As though silence were the memorial to Max. Whenever sound wasn't present in her midst, he was.
"Your dad not a talker?" he questioned. He hoped it would make Casey scoff or laugh, any response really, but she didn't. Her voice remained unemotional.
"He's asleep."
"And you figured that you could wake me?" It was difficult for him to talk to Casey when she was like this. Afraid. He understood why she was, after reading a goodbye letter from the guy she'd once been in love with, probably reading a lot about how much he loved her. It just wasn't who he'd lived with. In the silence, Casey broke down. Became weak, and timid.
"I thought you'd be awake. But I can go now if you'd like." Her voice indicated that she didn't want to hang up the phone though.
"No, it's alright." he insisted. "I'm up now. I'll stay on the phone with you for as long as you like." Casey could tell that Derek was sincere. She was thankful, letting herself ease slowly into a comfortable sleeping position, but still clutching the phone to her ear, desperate to make sure that Derek hadn't left her.
"Derek, is there anything you're afraid of?" she asked. She knew that he was thinking of the perfect response to give her. Trying to sound manly while sensitive at the same time.
"Losing you," he admitted, expecting her to go into full "Derek, don't start this" mode, but it didn't come. Casey simply breathed evenly, intent upon his words. "I love you, Casey."
Derek stayed on the phone with Casey just listening to her breathing. He'd managed to keep the silence from eating her up that night, only hanging up once he was certain that Casey was asleep. He wasn't sure if she'd heard him proclaim his love for her, but he knew that the phone call was a step in the right direction. She was talking with him again. She needed him again.