on the fifth day, without her, he arose still as frantic and restless as the other days. he had not slept properly since she left.

he had not done anything except call her and think about her.

and hate himself, more every passing day.

-

on the fifth day, without him, up came with the sun, and into her blinking eyes as she rubbed her itchy nose; so much pollen.

this morning she did not wake with his name on her lips, but only with an odd taste of morning breath.

"eva, come for breakfast, we have to talk to you" the smooth voice of nonna karenina sifted up the stairs and to her bedroom.

evangeline hesitantly drew her legs out of the heated covers of the bed and onto the floor, her fingers tracing the door of her bedside table.

should she check her messages.

she didn't want to see harry's texts. not today.

her sock-clad toes treaded down the stairs and into the kitchen where she was greeted but the smell of fresh fruits and warm coffee.

"g'morning" evangeline's smiles softly up at her grandmothers.

"how are you feeling, bambina?" her nonna questions her

"better i suppose, what did you need to talk about?"

"well" she chides, drawing out a seat at the table for evangeline to sit.

"your nonna karenina and i were discussing your situation this morning, and we know you are doing well in all your classes and you aren't feeling up to it, but you've already skipped a week of school."

evangeline quirks an eyebrow, humming for her nonna to continue with what she was implying.

"next week, you have to go back to school. you are still welcome to stay here as long as you like, we love your company. however, mia caro, we do not want you missing anymore class."

evangeline sighs, looking at her toes, knowing that her nonna is right. she was just hoping to escape everything for awhile longer, even though nothing terrible had happened to her. it sure felt like it.

"you're right, i do have to go back" she mumbles sullenly.

"you still have the weekend, flower, don't be so sad"

evangeline stands, and pushes in her chair, "i suppose i'd better prepare for monday then"

and with a slight smile, she turns on her heel and begins off towards the room she would not be staying in for much longer.

in that moment, she decided that if she only had two more days left, she would use them thoroughly and finish the week by relaxing and reinvigorating.

once inside the room, she jumbled up her clothes and slipped them all into her suitcase leaving out only a partially sheer pink sundress and her pyjamas with the little cloud pattern.

then she collected her cluttered books and her study journals, sliding them into her handbag. she left out the novel she was currently reading, 'the collector' and left it lying on her bedside table. she would get time to read once she had finished her packing.

next, she tidied.

she cleaned the room from top to bottom. even though most of the mess was not her own, evangeline thought the least she could do was make sure everything was clean.

emotionally satisfied with the condition and cleanliness of the room, she picked up her novel, dusted off her short blue dress, and skipped out of the house and into the front garden.

for a little while she wandered around the large property, until she found, what looked to be, a soft patch of grass.

she lay down, basking in the sunshine and flipping to page 33, she was ready to spend the whole day reading.

but,

when she reached the conclusion of page 72, she heard the soft crunch of the grass.

she froze a little, her grandmothers were inside doing sudoku and chatting about that article in the newspaper, the one about the funny man and his little dog.

she settled upon the idea that it was just the wind, and to turn her head around to check would be, not only a waste of effort but also a waste of her precious reading time.

so when a large body sat cross legged on the grass beside her she was unsure of whether to be scared or excited.

probably neither,

after all it was nearly the last person she expected to be sitting beside her, in her grandmother's garden,

where nobody really knew the exact location of.

even sometimes evangeline forgot it's whereabouts.

___________________