Inferno Part 3

~188~ Zora

Hi guys! I'm sorry I went MIA. I had to be "Ellie Freeman" the last five days or so to help a family member, and let me tell ya—It's hard!

I'm still, unfortunately, in the midst of my personal storm, and will be for a while. The plan is to continue once a day updates, but please understand if I don't do that some days.

This one is also shorter than normal, because life is real, and gritty, and hard, and I didn't feel like writing a long chapter! 🤷🏻‍♀️❤️😘

~*~

Zoe's POV

Once mom and dad leave with Raya, Ellie kisses my cheek. "You ok?"

"That was scary."

She nods. "Yeah, it was."

She then looks at Justin. "You ok?"

"Yeah"

"Ok. We're gonna head home. Zoe, Ethan, if you wanna come home with us, you can."

"I'm good," I say as I shake my head.

I really just wanna read and try to forget what just happened.

"I'll come if that's ok," Ethan says.

Taylor nods. "Zoe, if you don't want to stay here alone with him, it's fine—You don't know him. If you wanna change your mind, you can."

"I'm really fine," I say.

Justin is kinda weird, but he doesn't creep me out. I'm not worried about being alone with him.

Taylor nods as he squeezes Nolan's shoulder, and they walk out the door.

Once it's just me and Justin, he sits on the couch and his leg starts bouncing.

"Dad won't care if you take his car and go to the hospital," I say after I get motion sickness from all the bouncing he's doing.

He won't even look at me as he continues to stare at the wall, having a convulsion.

"Can you stop bouncing your leg? It's making me queasy," I say after another ten long minutes.

He finally stops and looks at me. "What's your name?"

"Zoe"

"Jake a good dad?"

"The best"

He nods as he looks back at the wall. "He can get her through this?"

"Yeah"

He nods again as he stands up and goes upstairs.

He's up there for about twenty minutes. When he comes downstairs, he's on the phone, with luggage in his hand.

"Where are you going?" I ask when he hangs up.

"Uh, home."

"Why?"

"I got a job."

"We get in big trouble in this family when we lie."

"I'm not in the family," he says as he goes over to the door and looks out the window.