"Astrid," someone shook me. "Astrid wake up."

"Piss off," I groaned as I whacked a hand away.

"Astrid come on you need to wake up."

"Daniel please let me sleep-"

"It's Alex," I felt him frown.

Opening my eyes, I saw Alex looking down at me. His hair wasn't in his usual man bun. Instead, it was messy and all over the place, as if he had been pulling from it. He had bags under his eyes clearly proving to me that he hasn't been getting much sleep ever since Daniel left.

But that wasn't the only thing I noticed. I realised that I wasn't in my room lying on my bed.

I fell asleep at the beach.

"Astrid we were worried sick!" Alex exhaled as he pulled me into a hug. "Oliver came back from the trip and found the house empty and-"

"Alex I'm fine."

"No you're not!" For the first time, I've witnessed another version of Alex. Not the playful one or the clueless one. No. I was seeing a frustrated and possibly angry Alex.

"You're not eating," he began. "You don't sleep and you haven't called him yet."

I looked down to the sand.

"We worry about you Astrid. And seeing you like this breaks my heart. I don't want to see my best friend like this."

I began doodling on the sand, to distract my self from breaking down as I was an emotional wreck at that point.

Alex didn't say anything as he sat next to me, watching the waves come and go.

"Do you think his dad is going to win?" I dared to ask.

"To be honest," he sighed as he ran a hand through his messy blonde mane. "I have no clue. As much as I want Daniel to gain full custody, I have a feeling his dad has a powerful lawyer to help him."

I nodded and stared back into the deep blue ocean. No one spoke out after.

***

Wiping away the steam from the mirror, I stared at my own reflection. It's incredible how much your appearance can change in a few weeks. My under eyes were prominent, and my skin tone got paler. Maybe it was by the lack of food that I was consuming, as my cheek bones were sticking out more.

I lost a lot of weight.

Well, my bones weren't sticking out, but I was obvious that I lost weight.

Sighing, I dried my hair, put on Daniel's shirt and went straight to my bed.

Once I lied down, I checked to see if I received any messages. Especially from him. None.

I checked the date and saw that in less than a week, we would all be inside the courtroom for the hearing. Just the thought of Belly leaving broke my heart, but the fact that her grandfather was capable of doing this just to torment his son...

God, he was one son of a bitch.

My stomach growled and I unwillingly got up and headed towards the kitchen. As soon as I entered the kitchen, I saw that there was a note from Oliver.

There's no food left :(

Will be back tomorrow.

I'm on a date!

I huffed and scrunched up the note. My stomach continued to growl, so I ran back to my room and put on some worn out leggings, grabbed the keys alongside my wallet and headed to buy food.

The cold wind hit my face as soon as I opened the front door and walked down the porch. I repeatedly rubbed my upper arms to create heat and as soon as I saw the local shop, I sighed with relief. Once I bought the food I needed to make dinner, I began to head back home before the wind got even crazier.

Once I got inside, I exhaled and left the food onto the table before I gathered my damp hair and made a messy ponytail and began to make my dinner.

As soon as I finished eating my food, I left the plate by the sink and began to head downstairs. But as soon as I reached for the door, I heard something move.

I wasn't alone.

Carefully, I rushed to the entrance closet to pick up a baseball bat that Oliver hides. Once I got a good grip, I slowly approached to the door and carefully opened it. Thankfully, the door didn't make any noise once I opened it and started my way down the stairs.

I felt my heart hammering against my rib cage as well as my hands shaking as I descended slowly. As soon as my feet touched the cold floor, I readjusted my grip and carefully reached for the light switch. In less than ten seconds, I managed to find the switch and I immediately turned the lights on.

Once I got a good view of my room, I dropped the bat onto the floor.

He was here.