Vicious Cycles

Chapter 3

           I opened my eyes, anger that I knew was apparent in both. Glaring at the man in front of me whose jaw hung open in a childish manner, it was obvious he was attempting to hold back his laughter. After a second, he composed himself a bit, but an amused smile still played on his lips as he spoke. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t see you there.” He looked up at me and made eye contact and I simply continued to stare him down. I didn’t recognize him, but something about him was oddly familiar to me, and I just assumed that I had seen someone like him before.

            “Yeah? Maybe if you’d been facing the right way, you might have realized.” I replied curtly, not really making an effort to hide my fury. It was already turning out to be a mistake, and I knew it. I looked over, and from the corner of my eye caught Avery looking at us; along with everyone else in the room. The cheering had stopped and all eyes were pointed at us, waiting to see how whoever this guy was would react. I turned back to him, and saw that his expression was still one of an arrogance and condescension. Then, as if on cue, he burst out in laughter and the entire room joined him. The dancing recommenced and the cheering quickly followed suit. Rolling my eyes and realizing how much of an idiot I had been to think to come to one of these things, I started walking away.

            As I tried to push my way through the crowd once more, this time far more roughly than before, I felt a hand on my arm, and whipped around, probably less rudely than I would have liked seeing who it was. I tore my arm out of his grip and sneered before walking again. This time he caught up with me, but didn’t grab me to stop me. “Listen, I really am sorry. I’ll let you borrow something of mine. It’s right upstairs.” “Thanks. That’s sweet but I’ll pass.” I said with false politeness, my entire statement dripping with sarcasm. “Snarky. I like it.” He replied, following me once again. Dear god, this night was getting worse by the second. “I’m Isaac.” He said, cutting me off by standing in front of me, the same smug expression plastered on his face. “I’m not interested.” I retorted quickly and I pushed past him on my way out the door.

            He was persistent; I had to give him that. Despite my efforts to brush him off, he continued to follow me, and I was growing increasingly annoyed by the second. “Come on. Don’t I at least get your name? That way I can give you a proper apology.” He said, grinning cheekily at me as he jogged backwards a few steps in front of me. “No. I don’t want or need your apology. The best way you can apologize is by getting out of my way so I can go wash your drink out of my hair.” He put his hands up in surrender, and said, “Fine. I’ll apologize when you don’t look like you’re ready to kill me. See you around.”

As I walked by, I could hear him laughing and it made my blood boil. I wanted to get as far away from the place as possible, and so I started walking, walking towards my dorm.

            It was cold out, just as cold as it had been the night before. But I started to feel blood rushing to my face, making me grow hot. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt like I had been set on fire and I was growing exhausted. My entire body began to ache, and for the second time, I felt myself go down. This time, rather than falling, I slowly sunk to my knees, my hands tangled through my hair. My eyes were shut as I waited for the pain I was feeling to subside when I suddenly saw something flash before my eyes.

            The girl. The same one I always saw. She was running. Running fast, trying to push herself to go father. Her entire body was refusing to move anymore but she couldn’t stop; she had to get away. Her hair shrouded her face, the dark locks whipping across her visage. The same white dress clung to her body, billowing in the wind that propelled her forward. A quick look behind revealed ice blue eyes that were horrified. They screamed of fear, and they remained that way. And in those eyes was the reflection of a figure, coming after her with twice the speed with which she attempted to escape. He was growing closer and closer to her, and I felt the girl’s body start to give out to her exhaustion. She couldn’t go any farther. She would have to stop soon. Turning forward, her feet continued to move, but their pace began to dwindle. The man’s on the other hand increased and his hand reached out towards her.

            “Aliyah!” I heard my voice, and almost instantaneously, the pain was gone. I was disoriented, not knowing where I was and what I was doing. I still felt my body temperature rise, but it began to fall, as I looked around and began to recognize my surroundings. I remembered where I was, and what I had been doing before. The same smell of alcohol from my hair surrounded me, ironically enough, sobering me up to reality. In front of me was Cole. Two nights in a row; must have been some luck that he seemed to always find me at just the right time.

            “Are you okay? What happened?” He asked, crouching next to me, concern written across his face. I took a few breaths and looked at him, fear in my own eyes. Because honestly, I had no idea.