{"id":2852,"date":"2016-05-06T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T04:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2016-05-05T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T23:09:07","slug":"thirty-one-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2852","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-one – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

It was only a few minutes of silence before she exhaled quietly, burying her face against his neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to let you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt stiffened. She straightened, looking at him and smiling a slight, pained smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping you here isn\u2019t fair,\u201d she whispered softly. \u201cWe both know that. You should be here because you want to be here, not because I made you come. Not because I\u2019m making you stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

His heart was in his throat. \u201cWhat if I want to stay?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve completely lost my mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then again, maybe I\u2019ve lost it in a good way.<\/em><\/p>\n

No one had ever needed or wanted him like this before\u2014not his sister, not any of his previous girlfriends, no one.<\/p>\n

Do I want to stay because I feel like I\u2019m needed, or do I want to stay because I actually feel something?<\/em><\/p>\n

No. He cared about her. He cared<\/em> about her and it had nothing to do with what he could remember of someone else\u2019s life\u2014it had everything to do with the way she\u2019d treated him the past few weeks and what he\u2019d seen of her in that time.<\/p>\n

Her needing him was incidental.<\/p>\n

She smiled weakly, tears gathering in her eyes. \u201cThat would make me really happy. This house has been way too lonely. I always hoped it would be a real home. It never really has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long have you lived here?\u201d Matt asked, reaching up to wipe away her gathering tears.<\/p>\n

I hate seeing her cry.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFifteen years,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI built it myself. Designed everything. The basement\u2026the basement came later. It came after I\u2014after some things happened and I realized that I felt safer underground than in the room that I\u2019d worked so hard to make just perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d wondered,\u201d Matt said, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her tightly against him. \u201cI\u2019ve been all through that house and I wasn\u2019t sure\u2014I\u2019d hoped it had been your home, but I wasn\u2019t sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded against his chest, tucking herself into a ball in his arms. Matt rested his chin against her head and held her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

Matt closed his eyes. \u201cI think I love you, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] It was only a few minutes of silence before she exhaled quietly, burying her face against his neck. \u201cI have to let you go.\u201d Matt stiffened. She straightened, looking at him and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,206,14],"tags":[171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-31-book-5","category-story","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-K0","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2853,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions\/2853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}