Don't Go Into The Woods

Chapter 44

The morning came quickly and before being woken up by the sound of my alarm going off to signal a start to a new school day, I was already up and ready for the day ahead of me. This may sound crazy to most, but after everything I had discovered and had been through over these passed few weeks, all I could think about right now was how it had brought me to this day. I was exhausted yet determined to report for class today after I had already skipped school yesterday. One day was enough to get detention and seeing that I was actually keeping a good track record at this school with staying out of trouble, I really did not want another bad smudge on my school record. Fortunately Carmen managed to cover for me yesterday, explaining to all my teachers that I was running a major fever and will be just sleeping in bed whole day to recover. She added if I didn't get better than I will go see the school's nurse, which by now we had concluded that she was probably working with Ms.Hatch and the rebels.

I dressed and headed for breakfast. The day was surprisingly too normal for me. Candice was her usual bitchy self. She managed to toss a bowl of her porridge over onto a freshman's lap and make it look like an accident. Clearly her incident with a werewolf had obviously not phased her one bit or taught her any life lessons on how to be a better person towards others. She still believed the world owed her everything. Carmen informed me that Candice was going for counseling. The school had brought in a shrink just for her. Probably all a ploy to ensure she didn't see what she had seen that night and that she was far too drunk to believe otherwise. I actually felt bad for her. This whole act she claimed was her life. If only she knew the truth. Perhaps that is what made this day feel far too normal for me. I knew the truth that this entire town was striving to keep hidden. Perhaps not every townie knew the entire secret about the woods, but they knew there was no way anyone should enter it.

As I sat in my English class that morning, I realized how changed I was ever since finding out everything. I knew something that not most townies knew. I stared down at my notes I wrote in my book and I asked myself if my life would ever feel the same again? It was then that I managed to steal a stare at the back of Dimitri's head. It was definitely a gorgeous back. He had been pretty distant today. After everything that happened yesterday, I suppose I could not blame him. It was why I could not wait to see him after classes were over. I wanted to clear the air between us. I wanted to find out where I stood with Dimitri and if he had come searching for me so early in the morning simply because of duty or because he wanted to make things right with me. Trying to focus on classes were difficult for me as each class I found myself staring at Dimitri. Catching sneak glimpses of him here and there as the day progressed.

Finally when the bell rung to signal the end of classes for the day, I practically leapt out of my desk to leave. I said goodbye to Carmen who was going to head up to our room to dump our books before heading back down to the canteen for lunch. I decided that lunch could wait. I knew where I had to be and that was in the school's garden which the terrace over looked. My heart was racing and my knees felt like jelly as I approached the garden, still dressed in my school uniform. I could not believe how nervous I was. The snow had been cleaned off most of the garden's statues by the grounds keeper, revealing the true beauty of the garden as I approached. I did not immediately see Dimitri waiting for me. He could be running late. I was not worried. I knew he would be here. I trusted that gut feeling of mine. I took a seat at one of the benches in the garden near to the fountain which had been turned back on and was gushing water. The sound of the water flowing felt tranquil and peaceful. It was disturbed by the sound of footsteps. I looked up to find Dimitri stopping there a few feet from me. He froze the moment our eyes met.

I sprung up to my feet to greet him. Though my voice was a little more nervous than what I had expected it to be. "Dimitri. Uhm. Hello." I said nervously.

"Savannah. Hi." Dimitri said. He sounded just as nervous as what I did. I was relieved in a way to know that I wasn't alone in this. A moment passed before Dimitri spoke up again. "I'm glad you came." Dimitri said. "I was worried you might change your mind after everything that has happened. Everything that you have found out."