Ink Me Insane (Book One)

Seven

"Not to rush you, but we better get going. We're already late for homeroom and they'll come looking for us soon." Michael got up and poked his red head around the corner before turning back to Rene. He gave her a nod of all clear and held out a hand to her.

Rene eyed it for a moment before sighing as she took it, more touching. Her entire body was shaking as she stood. Her body was not ready to be moving yet that was for sure. She was like a fawn on ice. Under Michael's concerned gaze, she quickly pulled her hand away and leaned against the wall instead trying to gain her bearings. "Please don't touch me again." She said with as much force and strength as she could muster which was more like a kitten instead of the roar she wanted.

"Hm?" his eyebrows quirked up.

"Don't touch me. I don't like to be touched without permission. You have touched me three times already today and only once was it acceptable and that was because you were trying to help keep me from getting in trouble."

"So don't touch you, like ever? That's kinda odd don't you think? We live in a pretty physical society plus the way your fists fly I'd think you agree."

Rene tried to keep herself from getting angry at Michael after all he'd done. He just didn't understand. Touching created a level of intimacy Rene wasn't comfortable with. It was like exposing yourself up to being hurt. She shook her head, "No, the only one who gets away with hugging me or anything like that is Cassie, and that's very rarely. Plus it only happens due to the fact I can't stop her when she sets her mind on something and she has decided she is a hugger. Now, I mean it. I don't like being touched."

Michael gave her a funny look before shrugging. "Alrighty then no touching, cross my heart and hope to die plus all that good stuff." He raised his hands to reinforce it.

Rene gave a look and then forced herself to walk past him. Her steps were sluggish and dragging but she refused to ask for more help. She needed to do this alone. Upon turning the corner, the hallway seemed to stretch and warp for miles. She was never going to make it to homeroom. Gritting her teeth, she focused on just moving. Nothing else mattered to her at the moment but making it to homeroom. She needed to stay off the radar for a while so she could mull over this latest development. Moving tattoos. How was she going to deal with this? It was like a waking psychotic nightmare if not for the fact Michael was experiencing it too. Though he could be just as, "chemically imbalanced" as she was. Rene glanced over at him. Again he had fallen into an easy rhythm beside her keeping pace. His hands behind his head and that smirk made it seem like he didn't have a care in the world. What was a guy like him even doing here? The asylum was a place for the lost and abandoned. It's a cage for those who ran mad in the world and scared society. For the toxic, like her.

"Everything alright Firecracker?" Michael inquired giving her a curious look.

Rene nodded, "It's just...I was wondering, why are you here?"

Michael gazed at her, his brown eyes locking with her green ones intensely. "Truthfully?"

Rene forced herself to nod almost fearful of his answer by how intense he was being. She needed to know though. With everything that had happened and how determined he seemed to be to remain a nuisance in her life. She needed to know what she was getting into. "Well then, honestly I'm here because I start fires. Best pyro this side of the Mississippi." Michael answered nonchalantly.

Rene stared as she felt her eyes grow wide. Fires? Was he joking? The way he kept smiling made it hard to tell. "You start fires, as in real fires with smoke and heat and stuff?"

"My, aren't we the smart one and you said I was the encyclopedia."

"Shut up. Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be in like jail or juvie?"