Lost in Orbit: Teaser

Here is a teaser to Chapter 26 - I Should Have Paid More Attention.

She got up then without my help and made her way into the other room. I followed right behind her and watched as she sat down on the couch. She curled her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms around them.


I sat down next to her and turned so that I was facing her. I pulled my legs up onto the chair and crossed them in front of me. She was completely silent for a full minute before I decided to break the silence.

"So, are we going to talk about this?" I asked in a quiet voice. I didn't know how to approach these kinds of topics. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what you weren't meant to do. But it wasn't as if I could go to someone for advice on how to handle situations like these. I didn't have anyone.

"What is there to talk about?" she asked after a while. She seemed reluctant to have this conversation, and in that moment, it was as if the roles had reversed. She sounded like the child, not wanting to talk about it, while I was suddenly the parent, trying to solve the situation. It was wrong to think that way, and a part of me wanted to get as far away from the situation as possible. But we had to do this. We couldn't keep putting it off, and pretending that it wasn't happening when it was.

I frowned. "How about what started it off this time?"

I watched as her eyes flickered towards me and met my own. I grimaced when I saw the pain inside them. How had I been ignoring this?

"I'm lonely, Jasper," she finally whispered. 

In case you're wondering, Jasper is talking to his mother.