{"id":2854,"date":"2016-05-09T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2854"},"modified":"2016-05-08T20:39:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T00:39:47","slug":"thirty-one-06-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2854","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-one – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

They were both silent for a long time and Matt just held her. Hecate leaned against him, hugging her knees against her chest, leaning against him, her forehead against his neck.<\/p>\n

At least the tears that had threatened were still being held at bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou traveled a lot,\u201d Matt murmured. \u201cTook classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like the thing to do,\u201d she said softly, reaching up to tangle her fingers in the soft knit of his shirt. \u201cI\u2019d seen so much in the past, but everything changes with time. It had been forever since I really traveled. I\u2019d been in the States for centuries, barely left. It was time.\u201d She titled her face up until their gazes met. \u201cIt was nice. It was really interesting, and I enjoyed it. It…in some ways, it helped me focus. Helped me find me<\/em> without the drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDrugs?\u201d Matt echoed. His brows knit.<\/p>\n

Hecate bit her lip and nodded. \u201cYeah. Yeah, for a while I actually managed to find a shrink that didn\u2019t think what was telling her was some kind of delusion and diagnose me based on that instead of all the things that were really wrong. Before that I\u2019d always avoided that kind of thing. The last thing I wanted was to become some kind of drooling idiot locked away someplace.\u201d She closed her eyes for a moment. \u201cEven though I probably deserve it. To be locked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHecate.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head, smiling wryly. \u201cIt\u2019s all right. I know what you\u2019re going to say.\u201d Her fingers brushed his cheek. \u201cAnd thank you for even thinking it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt exhaled a sigh, arms tightening slightly. \u201cIf you\u2019re\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stopped and shook his head. \u201cOkay. Okay, I won\u2019t argue the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d she said, and meant it. \u201cIn any case, after she was gone, I was pretty sure I\u2019d never find anyone who would believe me the way she did, so I picked up the other ways that I\u2019d used to cope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sketchbooks?\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled faintly. \u201cThose were more than trying to keep myself together, to keep myself me<\/em>. Those…I just liked it. I liked drawing, painting. I\u2014I\u2019ve always liked creating things more than destroying them. And seeing things, things that other people don\u2019t notice.\u201d She looked away. \u201cThat\u2019s how I knew that C\u00edar needed help all those yesterdays ago. I could see it when I first looked into his eyes. I could see the real him trapped back there, caged by the thing that had taken over him. I like to think that\u2014that he found some peace when we were together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did,\u201d Matt whispered. \u201cBut you knew that he did, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I did,\u201d she said. \u201cBut sometimes I would doubt it. I hated that I did, but I couldn\u2019t help it. There are some things that you just can\u2019t help, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved you,\u201d Matt said. \u201cNever doubt it, Hecate. Not for a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

He kissed her, then, and felt her lean into his lips. Her arms snaked around his neck and held on.<\/p>\n

And I love you, too. I really do.<\/em><\/p>\n

He picked her up and carried her back to the house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] They were both silent for a long time and Matt just held her. Hecate leaned against him, hugging her knees against her chest, leaning against him, her forehead against his neck. At … 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":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-31-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","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-K2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854","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=2854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2855,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions\/2855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}