Blue // Daniel Seavey

Chapter 18

Tori

I follow Jonah's instructions - six rooms to the right. When I reach the room, I place my hand on the door handle, take a deep breath, and open it. When I enter the room and my eyes land on the sleeping boy, my heart skips a beat.

God, it looks painful.

Slowly, I make my way over to him and stand silently by his side, tilting my head as I study his swollen face. Black eye, bruised cheeks, swollen lip: it looks bad. I watch intently at how his chest rises and falls at a slow pace, his mousy brown hair resting carelessly on his forehead. Seeing him like this almost makes him... bearable. He looks peaceful and quiet, not intimidating and overbearing as he usually is. I feel at ease.

Just after I realise I've been staring for too long, I see his eyes slowly twitch, before fluttering open. Shit. What do I do now?

One of his eyes, the one that's more badly bruised, remains slightly closed because of just how swollen it is. Bless him. His body stays stiff as his eyes wander around the room, before landing on me. They instantly go wide.

"Tori?" he says quickly, in a raspy, groaning tone. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Why does my heart warm at those words?

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, wanting to take a step closer to him, but I can't. "Are you okay?"

"Where's Theo?" he asks, his nostrils flaring. "Did he get away?"

"I don't know. Jonah said that two of them were arrested. But the rest of them managed to scramble."

"Oh." His face softens, his body becoming less tense. "I think it was Theo and Aidan that were arrested. They were the only ones left behind."

A pang of relief washes over me. "That's good."

"Are you okay?" he questions, looking directly into my eyes. "I saw Aidan hit you."

"I'm fine, honestly. But how are you? You took it pretty bad."

"I'm okay." He shrugs.

How can he say that he's okay when he's clearly in so much pain? I witnessed every hit his body had to take. I saw every droplet of blood.

This is it. This is where I ask him why all of this happened.

"Why did all of this happen, Daniel?" I blurt out, getting straight to the point.

He removes his gaze from me, takes a deep breath, and then turns to look at me again. "Do you really want to know?"

I nod my head.

"Okay." he nods, his eyes turning sincere. "It started about four months ago."

Daniel

Four months ago

Trouble. That's what I like to get into. I cause myself a hell of a lot of it because it makes me feel good. I love that rush of adrenaline that you get - like when you're driving away in the car that you've just stolen.

So that's my plan for today; I'm going to steal a car. And I'm not only doing it for the rush of adrenaline this time, I'm doing it for the money, I'm going to sell it. My foster parents don't think I realise the financial trouble they've been in lately, the business is causing them problems, so I'm going to make some money for some back-up. Even the richest of families can go bankrupt.

Throwing on my black jacket, I shut the front door behind me and begin to make my way to the alley where the cars are easiest to steal; I know this because I've had much practice. When I arrive there, I rake my eyes over the row of vehicles, and when I spot the polished red one that looks the most valuable, I approach it.