Zodiac Highschool

Chapter 29- Evanescence

Chapter's song: Can't Catch Me Now by Olivia Rodrigo

I swear I had two other songs in mind but this one just fits more with the contents of this chapter 😭

Leo's POV

The ambience of a serene midnight had struck quite some time ago, shy of atleast 30 minutes post-arrival and yet I still couldn't seem to shut a single eye. It was surprisingly silent during nightfall, almost the perfect setting for a well-deserved rest that I knew I'd never come close to grasping as long as the sickening feeling of internal fear continuously washed over my heart. I know I'd usually think of some sort of sassed out reply and if I were to think about this a few months after it'd happened I probably retrospectively would, but I don't know.. something just feels different. I've been a complete wuss the entirety of this trip and I'm kind of ashamed to say the least, the fact I allowed Gemina out of all people to walk all over me just confirms it all, I just know if it hadn't been for us being atleast 20 feet up in the sky I would've been fuming.. but I wasn't. The pitiful feeling of fear only ever seemed to increase by the minute the more I thought about the height different between the mainland's soil and the small entrance of cave that currently sheltered us.

I continued to rest my head against the side of the cave in an attempt to feel a little more comfortable in my position except to no avail, it only seemed to make matters worse in the long run. I glanced towards the two peacefully sleeping girls parallel to me who were currently entranced by a deep slumber regardless of the current conditions of the environment that we are in, wishing that l could switch places with either of the two if it meant I could atleast gain an hour or two of rest as a minimum.

"Leo, go to sleep.. it's late and we're leaving early tomorrow" Aries mumbled with a lack of energy as I shrieked at the sudden interaction

"Aries! You really scared me there for a second, you know a warning would've been ni-" I said midway as I looked up at the unbothered teenager, instantly regretting my actions as I yet erupted into another scream at the sight my own eyes were currently seeing, fright completely taking over me at this point

"Leo stop, it's just a kitten!" Aries snapped, identifying the stray animal that was currently nuzzled into the redhead's lap

"And how do we know that for sure?! What if it turns into another one of those ugly snake thingies we encountered earlier- How did it even get there, are you planning on dismembering this one too?! Oh my neutron!" I yelped out, completely terrified at the combination of the dried blood that clung like a stain onto the unfazed girl and the mammal coated in auburn fur

"Firstly, shut the fuck up you can clearly see it's not one of those deformed rat hybrids. It has ears, whiskers, four legs, the picture couldn't be any more clearer. Secondly, I don't know. This thing just crawled towards me. And thirdly, no, I'm not going to do anything towards it." Aries replied

"Okay geeze, I was just making sure- how long as it even been here for?" I asked

"For about 15 minutes now." She straightforwardly said.

"Oh, okay.." I sighed as an awkward silence seemingly lingered around in the air.

"..You know it's okay to be scared, right?" The redhead slowly began off

"I'm just saying that because you seem kind of.. I don't know, embarrassed by it." She continued

"It's because I am.. during this entire trip I've been nothing but a coward, I couldn't jump over a small gap, I couldn't even defend myself against some foreign forest creature, hell, you've just seen me freakout over a small innocent kitten, a kitten of all things. I can't even go to sleep anymore." I frowned to myself