Hunted

Secrets

*Aura's POV*

     It's been about a week since the last time Sam and I have talked. Things just haven't been the same between us and I don't like it. I don't want to keep ignoring her, but every time I look at her, all I see is the image of her and Chester together. To be fair, I also slept with Oliver, but that's different in my opinion. I mean, he did start it. I wished it never happened though, because I feel like I lost a friend. Maybe I'm just being too prideful, I thought. "No that's not it." I grumbled, shaking my head. I know what it is but I don't want to admit it. After sleeping with both Chester and Oliver in the same night, I realized that I had feelings for both of them. Chester was wild and spirited, and there was never a dull moment with him. I could feel his passion while we were together and it drove me crazy, but Oliver was completely different. When I slept with him,  I felt complete. He made me feel like no one ever has, and that's not a good thing. Sam is one of my best friends and I could never do that to her. It's bad enough that we both slept with the same two guys at almost the same time, but the fact that as a result I began questioning my relationship with Chester made it even worse. Lost in thought, I didn't hear Samantha walk in. "Hey.." she said hesitantly and sat on the couch across from me. "Hey..what's up?" I asked. "Is something wrong? You've been distant lately and we hardly ever talk anymore." I looked at my feet and replied, "I don't know..I just..haven't been myself lately. I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." I looked up at her and could see she didn't believe me. "Look Aura, I can't help but feel that what happened the other night is the reason you're acting this way. I mean, we were fine until then, and ever since, you've been different. What happened that night didn't mean anything. We were all messed up, and just having fun." she said.  "I know that. I'm just really emotional lately. I don't want us to stop being friends just cause of that, so how about we start over? I don't want to lose you Sam." I replied, my voice thick with tears. She jumped off the couch and hugged me. "I don't want to lose you either. You're my best friend." I couldn't stop the flow of tears, no matter how hard I tried. I cried out all the frustration and guilt that had been burning inside me, and for the first time since that night, I actually felt hopeful.

*Lacey's POV*

     I still can't get that night out of my head. I know it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but deep down I know if I hadn't got away, it would have been much worse. I can't believe he would do that. Tyler has always been kind of quiet, and not one I could imagine hurting even a fly, much less what he tried to do. He tried to apologize, but I'm just not ready to deal with it all right now. Instead, I've been keeping to myself a lot. Rose and the girls have tried to get me to go out and have fun, but I just haven't wanted to. It doesn't help the fact that every time I do leave my room, there's Tyler. He's taken to always staying nearby, so he can bombard me with apologizes and this and that, hoping I'll say I forgive him, but that'll never happen. I just can't. A knock on the door interrupted my inner monologue. "Can I come in?" asked Rose. "Yeah sure." I replied, not bothering to turn over so  to face her. "Hey, I just wanted to see how you were. We're really worried about you." I sighed and replied, "I'm fine Rose. I just want to be alone right now." She walked over so I could see her and sat down on the floor. "You're not fine, so stop lying. You've changed and I don't like it. You're always shut up in here and you barely speak to us anymore. I've been patient and not pressured you to tell me what happened last week, but this has gone on long enough. You can't keep isolating yourself. You need to talk about what happened." I rolled my eyes and turned over. "I said I'm fine. Nothing happened so just drop it." "Why won't you talk to me Lacey? We used to tell each other everything and now you've just closed yourself off from me and everyone else. Do you know how much that hurts?" she replied, her voice rising in pitch with each word. "Look, I'm not trying to hurt you and I don't want you to worry about me okay? I just..don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe in time I will but you need to just let it go. I promise you I'm fine and I'll come to you if I need to talk. Can you please just stop?" I pleaded. She sighed, defeated but replied "Okay hunn, I'll leave it alone as long as you come in here and hang out with us. You've been locked in here for too long." Just to make her stop worrying, I smiled and said "Okay I'll come out. I'm sorry if I scared you guys." I thought for a minute then added, "Just give me a sec to freshen up and I'll be out." She squeezed my hand and happily replied, "We'll be in the living room when you're ready." Once she left, I went to the bathroom and locked the door. I pulled a baggie out of my pocket, took one of the few remaining pills out, and began crushing it up. I found them hidden under the bathroom sink a few days ago and figured it belonged to  Aura or maybe Chester, but so far no one has said anything about it being gone. I didn't mean to start this, but it's the only thing that's been keeping me sane this last week. No one can find out though. This is my secret, my coping mechanism. Leaning down, I snorted the powder and smiled as every thought and bad feeling disappeared, leaving behind nothing but bliss.