Turn Away | c.h

Chapter 65 - Where we Start

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I paced past the same old log, letting out a sigh of frustration as I turned to Calum. He stared at me quizzically, eyebrows slightly furrowed as if he couldn't work out where my anger had stemmed from. I came to a complete halt, arms crossing over my chest.

"Calum, we're just going in circles now." I said, rather fed up with a whole lot of nothing. I was getting towy with myself, and my lack of abilities. So far, we discovered jack shit.
He kept reassuring me that we were so close, that he promised me I harboured greatness within me. But all we had discovered was everything I wasn't good at- like navigation.

"Okay," He sighed, stopping beside me. "Clearly you don't have any locational or geographical abilities." He more mumbled to himself. I nodded knowingly in support of his obvious statement. "Well, I guess we'll move on to strength, then."

I gently yet wearily nodded, watching as he gestured towards the tree. I followed his gaze, hesitantly stepping closer to the tall, intimidating tree, reminding me of just how small I was.

"Break it." Was all he said. I raised my eyebrows, biting back my laugh at his ridiculous demand.

"Break it?" I repeated questioningly. He nodded, a smirk on his lips. "Cal, I just can't snap a tree in half."

"You never know unless you try." He cheekily shrugged, clearly amused by my unwillingness. I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.

"Fine." I sighed, walking over to it. I'm sure he knew I was going to cave in; I could tell by the little smirk he wore. How his eyes followed me with my every step, clear amusement soaked on his countenance.
What he was gaining from this, was beyond me- but, like usual, I complied anyway.

I stopped, standing before the tree, looking up at it. It was honestly massive, and there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to fail trying to break this. Calum stood at a distance, arms crossed and a lazy smile on his lips. I continued to study the tallness and intenseness of the trunk, trying to muster up the knowledge as to how to break it. Because honestly, I had no fucking clue.

Deciding to stop overthinking it, I brought my hand up and clenched my fist. And with one swift movement, I punched the tree as hard as I could. Instantly, pain seared across my body. I stepped away, gripping my curled over fingers in agony.

"Jesus Christ, that fucking hurt!" I swore, wincing continuously, applying pressure to ease up the throbbing sensation. Calum jogged over to where I stood.

"Stella, I didn't think you'd actually do it!" He laughed, taking my hand in his. I looked up at him in sheer bewilderment, feeling his fingers wrap over mine, instantly soothing them.

"You mean, you knew I couldn't snap the tree?" I said. He laughed, nodding his head.

"I thought you understood it was a joke," he gestured to the tree. "Although, you definitely have some strength abilities."

I looked over at the trunk, his hands still tightly clasped around mine, aiding the pain. In the trunk, there was a massive dent, the wood cracked and peeled around it. My eyes widened just looking at it- there was no way in hell I did that, surely.

"Wait, that was me?"

"Sure was." He nodded, a smile still on his lips. I looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"You're serious?"

"Yes, Stella, that was all you."

"Jesus." I mumbled, watching as he leant in, reassuringly kissing my temple. He slowly let go of my hand, looking down at me. I rubbed my hand across my knuckles, feeling the pain slowly begin to subside. It was remarkable how quickly I was already healing.