Crossroads → Nicholas Scratch [CAOS]

x. family tree

FAMILY TREE
CHAPTER TEN

It was a mystery how she could walk so quickly when her entire body was shaking in fear, so terribly it could have been mistaken for a seizure. Though Dani's heart felt like it could explode and her eyes were watering to the point that she couldn't see a thing through the blur  Her aching legs continued to carry her through the uneven terrain, even despite her fears of what else could be hiding within the maze of green. The calls of Nick, who was racing behind her did nothing to slow her down– his words were completely incoherent to her. Blocked out by the thumping of her heart and the ceaseless repetitions of the very same thoughts that banged around the insides of her brain. She thought that following her dad into the woods would give her answers, but all she got out of the horror she had witnessed was more interminable questions that would keep her up at night.

"Where are you going?" His words had made their way through one of Dani's ears and directly out of the other; her mind was just too troubled and occupied to process them. "Daniella!"

She continued to walk at a speed that someone as unathletic as her shouldn't have been able to go. It was as though her racing thoughts and heartbeat were powering her body to move just as quick. Her one clear thought was that she had to go home to get an explanation from her brother and dad– this time verbally rather than visually. All the observations she'd made so far had only confused her further.

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down!" Nick's tall figure hopped in front of the panicked girl, blocking her from moving any further.

"Move, Nick!" She hissed. "I need to be home before my dad gets there so I can talk to him before he disappears again to do more insane stuff!" As she spoke, it began hitting her that all those times her dad had gone to work late at night may have been for the very same reason he went outside today.

"You're not thinking straight," Nick reasoned. He tried to make eye contact with her but she was too busy staring over Nick's shoulder at her house in the distance. Just seeing her dad's car already sitting in the driveway made her pick at her fingernails and want to run to her house. She felt like there was a burning fuse on her; that any second, she'd blow.

"Of course I'm not thinking straight! I just witnessed my dad and brother calling some supernatural creature in Latin like it was nothing– like it was so easy and normal," she exclaimed, wiping her sweaty forehead with the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt. "And the fact that you're not at all surprised or worried by what we just saw is freaking me out even more. Just go home, Nick. Don't try to stop me."

He looked taken aback– much more than when they had seen the smokey creature in the woods. Just the thought of Nick not even looking the slightest bit bothered by what they had seen was worrying to Dani, but she pushed it to the back of her head and focused on more pressing matters; her dad and brother.

"You know I'm not going to try and stop you." The raven-haired boy sighed and Dani was starting to notice that Nick looked almost as exhausted as she felt. "But I'm not going to leave you alone after that either. You go talk to them and I'll wait outside for you, okay?"

Forcing a small smile, she nodded. With Nick's hand reassuringly pressed against the small of Dani's back, they began walking again, but this time relatively slower. Slow enough for Dani to see clearly in front of her and be able to actually perceive the questions in her head regarding her family and that abnormal ritual they had performed. She just wished that there was less secrecy than explanations. Not that Dani wanted to be involved in the insanity that her brother and dad were doing, but she couldn't help but wonder why Calum, who was only a few years older than her, was involved, but not her. She also found herself wondering somewhere in the very back of her head whether things would be like they are now if her mother were still alive. Maybe her dad wouldn't be so protective and secretive toward her. Maybe they'd be less miserable and they wouldn't have had to move around so much.