DogBird

Chapter 13: Roe

They never stopped talking, everyone had something to say to someone.

Teddy, Lev and Wolfgang were talking about working out. Kyrie, Shiloh, and Yonah were talking about classes and already setting up study sessions for their more advanced courses. Henry and Yuki started conversing about recitals. What for, I had no idea. Ren and Taylen were joking around with Jasper, using words and actions they knew would trigger a tic. Jasper didn't seem bothered by it, though. Instead, he acted as though he were playing along with some energetic toddlers and had a tickled grin on his lips.

My eyes widened in shock when fingers wound around my bicep, pulling me in an unknown direction. My heart leapt into my throat, memories flashing past the lids of my eyes and out of instinct, I reached out  with a balled hand to protect myself and my fist landed on the strong and hard chest muscles of none other than Teddy. I blinked, feeling the blush creep across my face as Teddy let out a spout of light laughter, rubbing his chest in faux pain. "Sorry, Roe, didn't mean to yank you that hard. But this is what I mean," he said, wiggling my arm around like a noodle in his hold, "he needs to build up some muscle. Whaddaya say, Roe?"

My head tilted in confusion. In an attempt to listen to all of the conversations going on, I hadn't heard anything that was actually said. It was Lev's turn to bark out a rough laugh. "We're setting up a workout schedule. Wanna join us?"

I pointed at myself in perplexity and the guys chuckled, nodding. My eyes fell to the side, the emotion fading as my mind wandered to what Curt would think of me spending more than my mandatory eight hours away from the house. "I...don't know if that's a good idea," I mumbled, my hands moving subconsciously with the corresponding hand signs.

Wolfgang waved his hand in my field of vision to get my attention. Once my eyes were on him, he began signing. "Why isn't it a good idea?" He asked me. It seems the other two understood as well, because they both looked at me once Wolfgang finished signing, their eyes expectant.

I scratched at my eyebrow, flinching subtly when I accidentally picked at the still healing gash. It's not like it wasn't already obvious that my life at home was shit, but I wasn't about to admit that it was shit. Last time I tried that, I was brushed off as being mentally unstable by Curt and that was the end of that. With a sigh, I used the next best pathetic excuse. "My parents are really strict."

Teddy's face screwed up in sympathetic annoyance. "Ew, that sucks. So they don't let you do anything?" He signed as he talked, almost as fluent as Wolfgang. I shook my head softly, but when I locked eyes with Wolfgang, my body froze. His golden irises seemed to reveal the truth behind my pitiful excuses, showing me my broken reality from the reflection of shattered glass. But his eyes weren't condemning me. They weren't pitying me. They only observed, taking in what he found and storing it away. I couldn't tell if I felt put off or comforted by his stare, but I still looked away, scared that he would uncover more of my ugly truth.

I seemed to have escaped one trap only to fall into another as I locked eyes with Lev. His dark irises were cold and strong, reminding me of obsidian as he examined me. He didn't bother hiding his obvious scrutiny, something I'd noticed he hardly bothered with.

It was strange, I felt as though I could hear the thoughts spinning through his mind. Why can't you leave your house? Why won't you leave your house? What's keeping you there? When will you ask for help?

I felt my face harden and I turned away from his gaze, refusing to answer questions that I'd had the answers to for years. I'd tried countless ways to escape and to become more normal, but every attempt just drug me deeper into hell. Even this path that I was on right now was miserable, but I'd discovered it was the most tolerable. That was all I could hope for.