Ditching Greek | editing

25| Pick a Side

Maybe I was seeing things. That made sense...right? First it was Clyde manipulate clouds into moving images, and now it was Monica killing our best friend and roommate.

She wouldn't have killed her, I tried to convince myself, drawing in slow breaths. Monica wouldn't have killed her. Hazel was our best friend...is our best friend.

Before I knew it, my legs took on a mind of its own, pushing me away from the car and toward where Gideon and Monica--or whoever that person really was--stood. I picked up my pace, feeling my legs kick higher and higher. Blood pumped through my body and the crisp night air pinched at my flushed cheeks as I sprinted at the two.

I was out of control, moving on impulse and rage. Rage I hadn't felt before. All I wanted to do was stop, but my heart and mind were on two different wave lengths, unable to communicate with one another.

Gideon was the first one who noticed me racing at for them at full speed. "Nabela, it's not what you think."

Not what I think? I know what I saw, and I know what they did. As much as I'd love to fool myself a bit longer, I knew that would do no justice for Hazel.

Hands stretched before me, I jumped the short distant to Monica. Using all my weight, I dragged her down to the floor, pinning her down on the asphalt.

"Get off of me," Monica wailed.

"The fuck I will," I spat back. Despite the harshness in my words, my voice still wobbled in places I wish it didn't. "H-how the hell could you do that, Mon?"

Monica lifted her head up, but the second she did that, I lifted my hand and slammed her skull on the ground, hard. A twig of regret crashed into me after I sent that blow and heard her wince in pain. Monica was still my dearest friend.

A set of hands flew to my shoulder and snatched me off of Monica's back. Gideon's voice rang above my head.

"She didn't kill Hazel."

Those words hit me at once, slowing the world around me into a dull noise coating my outer vision. Had I heard him right? That couldn't be.

"No." I shook my head, "I saw her kill Hazel with my own eyes." My head scanned the lot and connected with the dead body of my best friend.

Keeping my breathing at a regular speed, I began to inch closer to her. She still hadn't morphed yet. Blood stained scales were wrapped around her body. I hoped she didn't stay like that. Her parents would want a body, and so would the officials if they caught word of her death. We couldn't just send them over a dead beast-like creature and explain she was once a human.

"That's not her. You've got to believe us." Gideon went on to say. "If it was her, your ring wouldn't have burned her."

I hit my eyes at him over my shoulder. "How do you know about that?"

"Didn't Clyde tell you it was a protection ring?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Did you ever stop and think how it protected you?"

I shook my head, "Not really."

"Basically, whenever the stones within your ring sense danger, or a being that wants to put your life in danger, it burns them in order to ward off the threat. The second the first burn happens, it sounds out an alert to whoever has the matching ring." He stepped forward, "that ring comes with a pair, and only other person has it. Clyde. And the second he felt the alert, he told us to come help."

"Why didn't he come?" I asked.

Monica raised both her brows. "You know why he didn't, Nabela. You've been ignoring him for a long time now. He knew that if he came, you wouldn't want his help. That's why he asked me to do it."