Don't Go Into The Woods

Chapter 21

The next morning I awoke to find myself laying on the floor in front of the door of my bedroom. The door had remained locked throughout the night so I could not get out.

I could not get out to go sleep walking as much as what my body clearly wanted to.

The fact that this was still happening to me yet I was far away from the school and the woods. Well not very far from away any woods all together. There were woods nearby to where the mansion was. Was I now being drawn to any woods in general no matter where I was? I tried not to think about this too much in fear that I was going to end up like my dad. A clear memory of mine was hiking with my dad through the woods nearby when he started to become obsessed with talking about woods and the many animals that lived in them. Especially the wolves.

I stood up and dressed myself in a pair of jeans, black boots and my favorite large black winter coat. Once I was done brushing out my hair and spraying some Paco Rabanna perfume on me, I unlocked the door and stepped out. I wasn't sure where my mom and Rick were, but I didn't feel like either of them. I headed downstairs and charged for the front door. I didn't want to spend my day here with them so I decided to spend my day at the mall. Maybe go and watch a movie or something. Even hang out at the internet cafe and see what else I could pick up there. I just didn't want to be at this place I was forced to call home. Not after last night. I needed some more time to cool off from it.

A bus ride and an hour later and I found myself wondering around in the local mall alone. The place was packed with people who were here doing their last minute Christmas shopping. So many happy expressions etched over the faces of the kids while most parents looked stressed or miserable. Maybe it was just me who had noticed that. I was not sure. I didn't really feel like I had any Christmas spirit this year. A couple of hours spent surfing the internet at the internet cafe, I left with not much more knowledge about woods and wolves than what my dad had originally taught me before he was classified as crazy and locked away. As I walked through the mall mindlessly, I found myself stopping before a very familiar little coffee shop. It was the very same coffee shop that my dad used to take me to each time he would take me to see a movie. I sort of froze and just stood there in the middle of everyone's way who were passing by. My eyes remained locked on the front of the windows of the coffee shop. I was surprised to see Kacey seated in there at a circular table with all the girls I used to consider my friends. It didnt take them long to notice me and start whispering and snickering into each other's ears while obviously pointing at me on a occasion. Dain was fortunately nowhere in site. I wanted to run away, but before I could, my eyes suddenly spotted someone else the inside of the coffee shop. It was Dimitri! I almost choked on the pure air around me which I was breathing in. I could not believe what I had just seen. What the hell was he doing here? Was he possibly following me? Stalking me? I started to panic. I could not believe what I any of this. I struggled to comprehend all of this. Was he following me? The questions kept repeating themselves over and over again in my head. I tried not to have a full on panic attack here. My heart skipped a couple of beats when I believed Dimitri had seen me standing there. This was by far worse than being seen standing by here Kacey. I did the only thing I could think of doing and spun around to face another direction and pretend like I had not just seen him. I thought about running away and hiding, but I believed that would look really bad. Like I had seen him. Plus, I didn't want Kacey to think that I was running away from her or any of the other her girls she was seated with. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped around from sheer fright to find Dimitri standing there. I stopped breathing all together than. My mind went full on defend my life mode.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low so that I don't cause a scene and attract any unwanted attention from strangers around us. I noticed Kacey and the other girls staring at us in the corner of my eye. "Are you stalking me?!"