Given Life

Chapter Four

Sean stood at the top of the stairwell, blocking me from moving past him. He jabbed an index finger towards me.

"Listen, you! I was going easy on you earlier, but don't think for even a second that I'll be friends with you. My idiot old man doesn't know what he's doing."

I stared at him. Of course he would react like this, but it doesn't really matter. "Whether you cooperate with me or not," I pushed his finger our of my face, "has nothing to do with me." Stepping around him, I added, "I don't what problems your dad says you have, but I owe him; if you want to be helped then I'll try, or we can just leave each other alone," I walked past him, "The latter arrangement would be better for me."

He didn't retort with anything else. It's really better like this. I do owe Mr. Adams, but this task is impossible for me. I'm still trying to hold back the stress from the hospital room.

Oh, I forgot about the tracking chip...it's been a while, perhaps I was successful? Or..what if they know where I am, and they might be planning something...? Afterall, we could never escape from them before. It could never be this simple.

"Hey, don't stand in the hallway," Sean pushed past me and walked into one of the rooms. It was his room, I guess. After a few minutes, I went on into my own room and shut the door. Leaning against the door, my back sid down until I was sitting on the floor. My knees curled up to my chest and I hugged my arms around them, resting my head down.

Am I making the right choice? At the hospital, I just didn't want to go back to those people. They didn't care that Daniel and Taylor had died, and they were going to send me somewhere. But now, I'm putting other people at risk. I forgot how powerful Aries was, and I accepted Mr.Adams's offer without considering the danger. I want to leave Aries, but... Taylor, Daniel, what do I do? I knew it, I can't do this without you guys.

The rest of the afternoon, I stayed there, not moving. Too much is happening. Why can't the world stop, or at least slow down so people can catch their breath?

Then, there was a knock on the door. For a moment, I didn't respond, but then I got up and opened the door. Sean was standing there.

"The old man was worried about you, so he told me to check and make sure you weren't dead," he said roughly, "He had to go back to the hospital, but he wanted me to take you to buy some new clothes." He eyed the jacket and torn up jeans I was wearing. "You would look like a guy if it weren't for your hair. Come on, let's go."

"You're too young to drive," I said, following him down the stairs.

"We have money, remember?" he responded without looking at me, "There's a driver."

We got into the back seat and Sean gave directions to a man at the steering wheel. Most of the ride was silent, but then Sean started muttering, "If I act like I hate you, I don't."

My gaze remained out the window.

"There's just some stuff going on, and my dad's being nosy..." he continued, "When I met you in that room before...you looked...how do I put it? You weren't crying; you were shaking. Were you scared?"

"It doesn't concern you," I turned my head so I was looking at the road in front of us, "Whether or not you hate me, I really don't care." I closed my eyes, "I don't hate you or your father. So whatever happens while I stay with you guys, bare with it while I deal with it."

"What are you talking about?"

The car stopped in front of a large mall. Our conversation ended here, and Sean didn't press any further about what I was referring to. We quickly went through the mall and Sean picked out various items. At first he would ask my opinion, but then he realized I would either go towards boyish clothes or have no preference at all.