All For Not

Page 34

My shoes were practically soaked, sloshing through the puddles of mud, water and leaf litter as I traveled through the woods to find her. My dear sister had of course departed by herself after ignoring me, just so she could hunt down her leads on the monster that roamed and slaughtered.

"Morella?" I stopped in my sinking tracks and turned, "Xavier. Are you following me?" He stopped before me with furrowed brows, "I was looking for you, you weren't at the shop when I got back, didn't even say anything or leave a note..." I blinked a little confused, just as the rain began to pour around us harder and he cursed under his breath, pulling his umbrella closer to him and letting it cover me as well as he took a step closer, "I've been trying to find you for like twenty-five minutes," his phone check gave me the time as he looked back up at me, "I found your sister already... She's on her way back to town, said she saw the monster, followed his tracks until the rain washed them away," I looked away, thinking for a second, everything boiling up inside only the rain keeping me freezingly calm, "I needed only a moment, it was getting too hot." His brows knitted together as he shook his head, "you're lying..."

"You hate being cold, so why are you out here in the rain?" He looked like he was suspicious of me, "why are you out here in the middle of the woods looking for Wednesday?" His hair shook with his head, "I wasn't, I ran into her. Thought maybe you'd be looking for her but clearly you weren't. So what is it?" A single brow raised on my face and I frowned, the sudden hostility and the look in his eyes a bothersome occurrence, "I went for a walk, simple as that. Since you and Tyler decided to leave me in the coffee shop by myself without any semblance of technological knowledge I couldn't man the stations on my own, hence my reason for leaving, without a note." I turned on my heel and continued my walk, the rain instantly pelting against me as I made my way away from him, "wait hold up, Tyler left you at the shop alone?" I nodded keeping my mouth closed as I breathed heavily through my nose trying to keep my bloodstream oxygenated as the sluggish feeling coursed through my legs.

"Okay well, why not stay in town then?" He started to follow me, his shoes splashing in the muddy puddles to get to my side, "Kent showed up to apologize again right after Tyler left, and our Principal was nowhere in sight so after he left I went for a walk with no further distractions, now I am heading back into town before the rain stops so as to not get into trouble for being absent at the ceremony." He seemed sourly unsure, even after walking with me all the way to the town square where we sat on the freshly dried off bleachers, the sunny sky having replaced the rainy weather surrounding us.

"I think your sister thinks I'm her monster," I side eyed him as the ceremony started, the speech of the mayor filling the background before the band began to play, Wednesday on her cello. "She very well may, Xavier," I paid painful attention to her as she nodded to the side of the bleacher, unable to see just what she nodded at as I watched the events play out, Xavier watching me in return, complete confusion, with that cautious stare. A flame to the side as my eyes followed a sparking line of gunpowder along the ground as it circled to the back of the statue, the eyes against my face sharply shot towards the statue. It exploded into fire, the stands in fear, my smile in awe. The crowd watching fled from the statue almost instantaneously as a hand grabbed my arm, "Morella?!" The fire rolled from the fountain with the smell of gasoline, a roaring warmth pushed from the pop that burned the statue into flames and my eyes shut, the smile soft on my face as I sighed contentedly.

The hand dropped from my arm as the fire got hotter, burning the strays away from the stands with heat as the wind blew it straight towards me, it was only my sister and I in the center left. My eyes opened slowly and shifted over to the cello playing girl, matching her smile as she caught my gaze with her own. The offer was clear, whereas my sister preferred the cold temperatures and the hot, I was only forced into the cold, the heat was a craving that burned brighter every second I laid wake.

At times like this I truly loved her... and the heat she supplied me at random times.

.....

The comments on some of my books make me giggle lol