Gehenna's Gate

Distraction

"You ditched? What do you mean you ditched, Vena?" Rae's voice was high-pitched, disbelief obvious in her tone even over the phone, trying to figure out where her best friend had gone.

"I need some time to myself, that's all. I should have just stayed home from school today." Vena made sure to word her sentences correctly, always riding the line between speaking a lie, especially to Rae.

"Do you want me to ditch too? I don't mind-"

"No, stay. You miss enough school, Rae. I just need some time to relax. I'll call you later?"

Vena had gotten good with keeping her voice steady, the time spent practicing both her poker face and vocal control starting to pay off.

Yet, this was dangerous. Anger wasn't an emotion that came to Vena often, and she was especially bad at controlling herself whenever she did happen to experience it.

Hanging up with Rae, the girl immediately dialed Xiao's number, biting at her lip with a mixture of anxiety and annoyance as she drove without a destination in mind through town.

It rang all the way through, going to his automated voice mail before she hung up to try again.

To her dismay, the process only repeated, her blood beginning to boil at the possible thoughts of why he wouldn't be answering.

He was with Maya, why? She literally tried to end Vena's life not too long ago, and had even assaulted Rae and risked her safety. She was also his ex. Sure, Vena wasn't exactly sure what their official title was, but she assumed it was a pretty common thing to avoid your exes when you're attempting to get into a relationship with someone else. It never looked good to be caught hanging out with your ex, especially when you send other people to lie about it for you.

'Call me, now' her fingers tapped the text out angrily, tossing her phone over into the passenger seat now as she struggled to keep her focus on the road.

I need to find a way to keep myself busy, or I'm going to explode.

Her eyes drifted to the signs and billboards along the streets she drove past, trying to see if anything sparked her interest. Maybe a crafts store where she could pick up more drawing supplies, or a book store, hell even a donut shop or something would suffice at this point.

She desperately needed a way to remove her mind from the situation before she did something drastic like always.

Finally, azure eyes drifted to a neon sign, a smile spreading across her face as she read it, taking no time in debating the decision as she turned to head into the nearby parking lot.

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"What do you want, Scara?" Vena grumbled, finally deciding to pick up her phone after about two hours of him spam calling her.

"Where are you?" If she was smarter, she'd think that was the faintest hint of worry in his voice.

"Answer my questions and I'll answer yours." Vena hummed devilishly, refusing to budge.

"I can't. Stop being a brat and tell me where you are." The indigo haired boy really tried again, thinking he would be able to talk her off the ledge she was currently on.

"You two aren't very good bodyguards if you already lost track of me that fast." Oh, she was going to have fun with this.

Everyone wanted to play games and keep secrets?

"Vena, I'm not playing around, tell me where you are. There are some seriously dangerous people after you and Xiao made me promise I'd keep you safe until he could come back."