Tied to My Fate

3. Moving On

The next day I make it to school on time and am early enough to have breakfast in the cafeteria. Zachariah stares at me as I shrink into a single seat in the corner, but he doesn't say anything.

He keeps that up for the rest of the day. I should be happy that today he's leaving me alone, but I find myself scanning the room for him whenever he walks away from my side. I shouldn't. But I do.

On the walk back to my aunt's house, he follows behind me by ten paces. Before I can walk inside, he finally speaks.

"You didn't notice anything today, did you?"

What the heck is he talking about?

"I think you could have friends if you wanted them. People stare at you, and I hear them wonder if they should talk to you."

He must not be as smart as I thought he was. Everyone only does that because they feel sorry for me or think I'm crazy.

"I heard some say you turned down their offer to go to prom and senior night."

Yeah, because they probably just wanted to humiliate me. The end of the school year couldn't come quickly enough. Four weeks shouldn't take this long.

"Guess I shouldn't be so surprised that you ignore me. You do it to everyone. Like you're in a hurry to stay here with your aunt and her pervert boyfriend."

I glare back at him.

"Don't follow me around anymore, and don't talk to me anymore either."

He shrugs. "I didn't ask to be attached to a stuck-up princess. You made that decision for me."

I turn away and run through the front door and into my room. How could he not understand that I thought I was saving him? I'd do anything to switch places with him, at least I wouldn't get in anyone's way anymore.

I tuck myself into my bed and two minutes later, Zachariah appears. Since he appeared suddenly, I know he tried to run away again. Now that he's here, I try to will my eyes into drying up.

My door opens. It's Scott, here only to add to my already crappy day. I wish I could have convinced my aunt to keep the lock on my door.

He shuts the door behind him and comes over to the bed. My face should be hidden behind my covers, and it should look like I'm asleep. Maybe that would have been enough to keep him away a few months ago when I was seventeen, but not anymore, not since the accident.

"Why do you live like this?" Zachariah says, still next to me.

Scott is under the covers now, pulling at my clothes.

"I heard you talking to yourself outside, your aunt is not going to like that," he says.

"You got a second chance, live it," Zachariah says. His cold breath touches my forehead. He mutters something I can't make out.

"Fucking do something already!" he yells in my ear, and I feel my bangs whip across my forehead.

"I don't know what to do!" I yell towards him. The tears are back.

Scott pauses for a moment and says, "I'll do all the work, you just lie still."

Zachariah reaches over and grabs my hand. He actually grabs it. It's cold, as if he's been left outside in a snowstorm, but it's real. I can feel every digit and even the faint quick beating of a heart. He looks surprised and then his face hardens.

He twists my hand and covers it with his. He pulls me over to the edge of the bed and lifts my hand towards my desk. I'm still too surprised to fight back his ice-cold grip, so when he forces the scissors into my hand and closes my fingers around them, I don't resist.