Don't Forget Me ~ Emblem3 Fan Fiction

Chapter 5~ Hazel

Keaton POV

I saw Skyler’s startled face and followed her stare. I found myself staring at a fuming man. He smelled of alcohol and looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. So this must be Carl.

As much as I wanted to punch him in the face, I shut my mouth and stayed sitting. I looked back at Skyler to see if she was going to give me a signal, or some kind of message to tell me what to do, but she just stared wide-eyed at Carl. Should I apologize? Keep my mouth closed? Tell him to back off? Protect Skyler? Aggravating him even more would just make the situation worse, so I decided to stay quiet.

Carl seemed to be calming down a little bit. It was extremely quiet for what seemed like ten minutes when he finally opened his mouth. “Just this one time, boy. Next one you’ll get a good beating for the tone of yours.” With that, he staggered away.

“Who is he, my father?” I whispered to Skyler as soon as he was out of our sight.

She showed no change in her expression. I guess she didn’t get it. “You know it was a joke, right?”

Skyler looked me in the eyes. They were so big, and the color was like a chocolate-brown…. Man, I could really go for some chocolate. “I realize that, Keaton,” she interrupted. “But I think you need to realize something as well.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“You need to learn how to control your temperature around Carl. I know it’s hard, but staying on his good side is so much better than getting on his bad side. It’s a matter of life or death, literally.” 

I took a deep breath. She actually had a good point. But I had to make one of my smart remarks. “So you’re saying that even though he’s drunk, if he likes you he won’t kill you. That’s awfully considerate of him to do.” 

“I’m serious. Keaton, you’ve only seen the guy like one time and you’re pissed. All of that anger is going to build up inside you, and even more will come when any of us gets a beating. Let me put it simply: you cannot- and when I say cannot, I mean cannot- let yourself get to that stage of anger when Carl is around. He will beat your brains out. You need to work on it. It'll require a lot of work.”

“Oh yeah? And how would you know?”

Her face was completely solemn when I looked up. “Can we…not go there?” She whispered quietly. Her tone had turned from serious to scared in a matter of ten seconds.

“Nah, I really wanna know. Tell me, what are your experiences?” I didn’t really understand why I was digging so far. I was probably delirious or hallucinating or something like that. I sighed. The normal Keaton wouldn’t have said or done any of that crap. And now I look like a complete ass whole in front of Skyler. Great…

I glanced at her, not sure of a reaction. She seemed to be struggling for words. "Um..." Her voice sounded hoarse and it trailed off. Tears began to form in her eyes. She wiped them off quickly and sniffed. I knew I should have stopped her right there and apologize. But I was truly curious about what happened, and I may as well take this opportunity and let her talk. She was already pissed at me.

"There was another girl here- Hazel. She was about my age, and came about a year after I did. We were really good friends." She swallowed deeply. "One time, when we were thirteen or so, we made plans to escape. We'd always wanted to before, but we had never actually made a plan of it. This time we did. We both knew it was a bad idea, we'd seen what happened to others who had tried. But I convinced her too."  She looked up at me, making sure I was listening, and continued.  "Well... the plan was that Hazel would run out when Carl gave us food. He would chase her, leaving the door open, and I would run and grab is gun, which he kept on a hook over there." She pointed to an empty hook far away at the end of the cells. "That way, no matter what happened, he would let us leave. We carried out the plan one day. She ran, and Carl went after her as expected. When I went to get the gun, it wasn't there.... and..." Skyler took a deep breath, and there were tears in her eyes. "He had Hazel, and the gun was in his hand. I tried to tell him it was my idea, but that only made him angrier. I wanted him to kill me by saying that, but... he told me he was going to make a point, so that I would never try to escape again. And he...he..." She cried out, and covered her mouth quickly. I realized she didn't want anyone to hear her; she was supposed to be the strong one.

"You don't have to say it. I get it, Skyler," I say quietly. She nodded and started to sob, covering her face with her hands. I could tell she was trying to hide it from the younger ones. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Pat her on the back? Hug her? Tell each other everything's going to be okay? No. It's wasn't going to be okay. We barely knew each other and I practically forced her to tell me one of her most personal, emotional memories. I shouldn't have made her bring it up. "I'm sorry. I feel really awful."

She attempted to stop crying, and after a minute or so she did. "You have no idea what it's been like, Keaton," she chokes out. I put my hand out comfort her, but turned away. I understood. She didn't want to be bothered. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here, okay?" I said. No response. I left her alone after that.

Skyler POV

I felt like crap. Telling the story to Keaton made my head throb with more pain. I just wanted to forget it all. I could have been a different person. Hell, I could have dead right now from trying to escape again. Wouldn't that be nice. No one else knew that I was responsible for a death, besides Carl, and now him. 

I hated talking about her. I never wanted to go through that again. I thought about her every day, and that was enough. I thought about how we used to talk about the stupidest things, like boys, horses, our favorite foods, the mansions we would own next to each other when we'd escape. She was my best friend. And she died trying to get us out of here, all because of me. 

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I'm back! It's been like a year... 0_0 Whoops. 

I was bored with Thanksgiving break and all, and decided to start up again. Who knows if I'l get to post another chapter before the year ends. (Sorry)

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