Hollow Veins

Chapter Twenty Seven; Regrets

Ari saw her parents laughing faces. A surge of anger filled her. "Ari." They reached out their arms, unusually wide smiles cut into their faces. "Come here." Ari tried to scream, but she couldn't. Their faces blurred and she felt herself walking towards them. No, she didn't want to go. "Ari." Their mouths were gaping holes with jaged teeth. She pushed, kicked, screamed. "Ari." They were grabbing her arm. She swung her other fist. Smack. Prince fell back in the grass. "Oh my goodness!" Ari put her hands to her mouth. Prince groaned. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" He sat up, hand on his bright red cheek. "Uhh... yeah." Ari looked around, "It's early morning. Why are you up?" He grunted, "You woke me up." Ari frowned, "I did?" "You were... sort of whimpering and kept saying no. So I wanted to check on you..." He winced. He must have grabbed her arm. Ari's cheeks burned. She reached for a bag and found water. Ari poured a bit onto a ragged piece of cloth. "Here," She carefully pressed it to his cheek. "It's the coldest thing we've got." He gently held it, and she pulled her hand away. Ari turned her gaze to the sunrise. Orange streaked the sky. Pink and blue marbled with the swirling clouds. She smiled a little. "You sure you're ok?" He smiled, "Yep. Don't worry, you hit like a girl." Ari nudged him. "So I hit harder than you?" He laughed softly. "How would you know?" Ari yawned, "Well I've seen you before so it isn't hard to tell." Prince laughed again. He didn't really look weak, if not a little underfed, but it wasn't like she would pass up the chance to insult him. Ari looked back at the sky, "Its pretty, isn't it." "Yeah... it is," His words were calm with a sense of realization. She glanced over at him. He was staring at her, with a slight smile on face. Ari caught his gaze and couldn't help a smile back. Prince always seemed to be laughing but there was a sadness in his eyes she hadn't noticed before. For a long minute, they looked at each other. Slowly, Prince rested a hand on hers and her stomach churned. Ari felt suprised at this. She was usually completely aware of her feelings but now she was completely taken by suprise. Prince leaned towards her slightly. Ari quickly pulled her hand away and stood up, "We should wake the others." Prince looked hurt as she turned. Ari didn't look back as she went over to Jasper's sleeping form. Ari knew she had hurt him and it wasn't because of the punch. She felt a terrible sadness. But there was no reason for someone to like her like that. That was unless they could use her. No matter how kind Prince seemed, Ari knew he wouldn't do that for no reason. She couldn't go through that pain. She'd only be used again. Ari repeated to herself over and over. He's faking it. He's lying to you. You'll only hurt yourself. You'll only hurt yourself. Don't let it happen again.

As they started walking once more, Jaden felt the soreness of yesterday's walk. For once, Prince was quiet. Ren and Alice talked quietly. Ari walked over to them and not looking at any of them, handed Jaden some pills and quickly turned away. Last night she'd changed his bandage and now his wound hurt a little less. Alice slowed a little to talk to them but Jaden was unable to answer, and Prince mainly answered with shrugs so she drifted away. The sun beat down on them unbearably. Finally Jasper took his turn. He kept up a general chatter. The day was a blur of short conversations, heat and pain. After a while they finally took a break. Jaden exhaled as he lay back. Alice fell back next to him, "Long time no see." He grunted in reply. Ari called, "Careful!" Though Alice could tell it had hurt him to lay back like that, Jaden lifted his hand and mimicked her. "Fine but when you bleed out don't blame me." He continued the hand gestures. An impatient huff emanated from Ari. Alice closed her eyes, "I am never moving again."