The Other Side of the War (Tobias Eaton X OC)

Chapter 18

"So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become."

THE ONLY WAY Storm could forget about the weekly turmoils of events was to poison herself with better-tasting hand sanitizer. She took shot after shot, each representing a dark secret she was fighting to keep. Just for one night, she didn't want to worry about being discovered as divergent or having to kill the very group she newly joined. Her entire reality had been shattered in a mere amount of days. Storm had believed herself to be one thing her entire life; her mission being the only motivation for saying alive. Now she didn't even have that.

After two hours of excessive, non-stop drinking, Storm found herself on the dance floor pushed up against two men with no recollection of how she got there. Her body was freely moving without the burden of a troubled mind, and it was strange. Storm had never done something like this in her entire 16 years of living; she had never been so careless, so risque, and she certainly had never danced before. She didn't like it, in all honesty she rarely liked anything, but more importantly, Storm didn't hate it. And that was considered progress.

"Who is she dancing with?" Four casually asked Zeke, who he now stood next to. The girl he was previously talking to was pretty but dreadfully boring. He was decently boring on his own and he needed a more interesting partner if he was going to keep himself sane.

"Uh," Zeke squinted his eyes. The normal lights were off and the strobe lights were the only help he got in identifying the unknown boys. "I think that's TJ and maybe....jake? I don't know, I can't see the other dude's face."

"Hm. TJ," the distaste rolled off Four's tongue. The familiar rumble in his heart that occurred when Uriah winked at Storm was back, but ten times stronger. Lately, the man found himself feeling oddly protective over the initiate. Even to the point where he physically assaulted a leader (Eric was too prideful to report the attack). Four had managed to stay calm and collected for most of his life, but Storm was beginning to corrupt his emotions.

"You look like you're about to murder someone," Zeke snickered.

"About to? I'm going to."

Storm, who decided she had enough of uncomfortable dancing, squeezed through the large crowd with a dazed look. The crowd had even gotten bigger since Storm first came, and she couldn't find Ember anywhere. The small redhead had disappeared as if she disintegrated into thin air. Storm wandered around the apartment in search of sanctuary, eventually finding an empty bedroom.

The room was painted dark blue and decorated with posters; though Storm's vision was too blurry to read what the posters said. The bed looked inrcedibly comfortable, what appeared to be a white fuzzy blanket laid on top of it; but, Storm was not an idiot and knew better than to lay in strangers bed drunk. Instead, she sat on the floor and huggd her knees to her chest.

Despite Storm hiding away from the crowd, music still pounded in her head as if a band was excusilvey playing in her brain. Her social battery had been drained until there was nothing left. It felt nice to be a normal teenager for once, but Storm could only take so much of it before her body started to reject in like a bad drug.

Just when Storm felt herself about to doze off, something wet gently brushed against her elbow. Storm's eyes immediately snapped open and she was ready to take out the possible threat. Much to her surprise, what she previously thought was a blanket was actually a large dog (she could smell its terrible breath).

"Go away," a grumpy Storm mumbled to the animal. "I want to sleep."

Her protests went unanswered when a heavy paw was placed onto her arm. A whine followed in suit.