Limitless (Journey Series) by C.A. Williams Page A

or
Caleb. I guess I couldn’t blame him for ignoring me; I had been doing the same
thing to him and everyone else.
     Chase really had been doing a good
job, when I couldn’t manage. Caleb had gone to visit Roy over the holidays, and
although it killed me to have him gone, it was the best thing for him. Besides,
I’m sure Roy loved having Caleb around for the holidays; they were always more
fun with kids.
    I opened up the fridge when my stomach
grumbled and pulled out a bottle of water. My appetite had been pretty
nonexistent and Chase was constantly getting on me about eating like a bird. I
grabbed a few crackers and headed back to the bedroom, but stopped when the
artwork in the living room caught my eye.
    Caleb must have done it as a
Christmas present. There was an oversized drawing that I could instantly tell
was his handiwork, and about a million different stick figures crammed onto the
piece of paper. Each oddly shaped figure was labeled by name in Chase’s
handwriting. A small smile curved up my lips when I saw who was all in the
picture that was titled, “My Family.”
     Everyone was in there from me,
Chase, Roy, all of Chase’s family, Ally, Remy, and even Teddy. Teddy wasn’t the
best with kids, but he and Caleb seemed to get along for some reason, really
well to the point it was almost disturbing. I really didn’t want any of Teddy’s
ways rubbing off on my sweet, innocent Caleb. If he turned out just like Chase,
I would be happy.
     I swiped a tear that had rolled
down my cheek. I suddenly felt a whole new guilt for pushing everyone away when
they were just trying to help me, but I hadn’t seen in that way. I set the
picture back down where Chase had it displayed in a glass picture frame and headed
back towards the bedroom.
    Maybe it was time to start moving
on. I knew I couldn’t be depressed for the rest of my life. Everyone would get
fed up with me eventually. I needed to start living again.
    Of course, all of those thoughts
flew right out the window the minute I turned the TV on and every channel
seemed to have a baby on it. The waterworks started up right away again and I
couldn’t control it. I slumped back into my depression quickly, pulling the
covers over my head and trying to block out the images of those sweet, smiling babies.
I would never have those memories from the baby that I had lost. I was never
given the chance.

Chapter
15
    Chase
    “Mr. O’Neil, the case against you
has been closed. I apologize that it took so long, but what with the holiday
break, it just ended up that way. We had several witnesses come forward,
stating that they overheard Ms. Taylor bragging about setting you up.
Apparently, she had the whole thing planned out and when we brought her down to
the office with our claims, she confessed to the whole thing.” Principal Mowry
pushed his glasses up as he looked down at the papers in front of him. For the
first time in a while, I felt some sort of happiness. Finally, I could put this
mess behind me.
    “We apologize that it had to come
to this. You’re a bright young man and you’re students seem to love you. I
assume Ms. Taylor was looking for some sort of attention. Her parents have been
made well aware of the situation. We also thought it would be a good idea if
she were to be switched into another English class, it just seems necessary.” I
blew out a breath and wiped my sweaty palms on my pants.
     Pretty necessary indeed.
     I was surprised it hadn’t happened
sooner and I was glad I wouldn’t have to be dodging her wandering hands any
longer.
    “Thank you, Mr. Mowry. I’m glad we
can finally put this situation behind us and I can focus more on my job.” I
stood to shake his hand, and let out another woosh of air when I shut the door
behind me.
     Hopefully, that would be the last
time I was in the principal’s office. That was finally over, now if I could
just make some progress with my wife, life would be golden.
    I grabbed my phone out of my