Whenever something huge changed in books, movies, and television shows, nobody ever expected it. In dystopian settings or natural disasters, nobody knows that their lives are going to change drastically.
Following the Netflix series 'The Society'...
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. - Unknown.
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Walking in a daze towards the yellow buses, Tess took the moment to dwell in the silence, no words were uttered between herself and Grizz; she never tried to speak from a place of hate, jealousy, anger or insecurity. She always attempted to critically evaluate every word that left her lips: sometimes it was best to be quiet, no one could misconstrue or misquote her then. Or see her than anything than the perfectly constructed model that she had made of herself. In truth, her mind was reeling, mulling over the earlier conversation that she had had with Campbell. Internally, although anxiety was still seeping through her veins, she was proud of herself. Being the coward for so long, had made her see the light.
She could still see the haunting image of his angered face as she approached him. A stern, emotionless void plastered his face. That mask was the most terrifying; the not knowing of what he was thinking or feeling. Almost like a sinister predator enticing it's prey into a false sense of security before the massacre. She had approached Sam first, his eyes warning her, attempting to express with his eyes that she needed to run, to escape, to be as far away as possible from here.
-Hello Sam-
she mouthed and signed, giving him a whole hearted smile, ignoring the raging, seething male shadowing them. His eyes narrowed menacingly, watching her every movement. Nervously, Sam let out a nervous laugh, his lips widening into a grin, his eyes were switching between her and Campbell.
-Hi Tess. Are you excited for the trip?-
Sam replied. In order to prevent the ensuing altercation and sensing the anger radiating off of his brother, he didn't think he would restrain himself, despite there being a number of witnesses surrounding them.
-Yes-
Before Tess could sign anymore, her wrist was grabbed harshly, halting her movements. Restraining her from furthering her gesturing conversation. Closing her eyes briefly, she exhaled slowly and deeply through her nostrils. Succumbing to nervousness and fear for but a moment, her eyes blinked once and reopened, the change was evident, her eyes no longer were filmed with a layer of fear, but instead they were staring purposefully and intently at Campbell. However, Campbell, had not noticed this, his back was turned to her, although her wrist was still caged painfully in his crushing grip. His gaze was fixed intently on his brother, Tess could see the rigidness of his shoulder blades and the clenching of his other fist. Without having to sign the message to his brother, Campbell simply exaggerated mouthing 'fuck off' and finished with a middle finger salute. Sam, with doing his best to ignore his brother's frame, looked over his shoulder at Tess. His eyes sending a silent communication between the two; whether she would be okay. Tess did not deserve his brother's wrath and in short, Campbell did not deserve someone like Tess; someone who would take their time to learn sign language, just to reach out to the only deaf child within the school. He knew that by staying, he would pay the price later. Sam however felt assured, when Tess gave him a brief smile, motioning her head to the side, indicating that it was alright for him to leave. Sam, once again, ignoring his brother, rose his hand and gave her a wave in farewell, before turning and walking across the green to find Becca.
In confusion at his brother's blasé reaction to him, Campbell turned to face Tess. His expression unchanging from before; one full of calculation and unrelenting rage. Unsurprisingly, his signature trademark was evident on his face: his tongue pressed into his clenching cheek, his jaw rigid and taut and his eyes narrowed. For a moment, he looked over Tess' shoulder, his internal rage seeping as his eyes met the wary gaze of Grizz, standing idly by the school building. Grizz's fists were clenched tightly in the pockets of his burgundy and canary lettermen jacket, his eyes shifting to the blonde female between them. Campbell smirked at him, relishing in the emotions that he was forcing upon the football player. He had something that he wanted. Tess was mid turn, curious as to what had drawn Campbell's gaze from her, albeit she was momentarily relieved. But, before she could train her gaze behind her, both of her shoulders were clutched onto by Campbell's open palms, his fingers clasping onto the material of her jacket; it acting as a barrier between his numbing pinch and her skin.
"Visser is staring at me like he wants the ground to swallow me up and send me to hell," Campbell chuckled sinisterly, his towering frame inched closer to her, his face leaning down, leveling with her own. Smirking at the height advantage that he had over her, he fingered a twirl of her blonde locks, rubbing it between his fingers, fraying it, "it wouldn't have anything to do with your cosy chat on the bench over there now would it?". His hand escaped from her hair and placed itself on her face, cupping her cheek and jaw in his calloused palm. "What have you been telling him Tess?". The tone in Campbell's voice shifted, from one of playfulness and taunt, to one that held malice and warning.
Ignoring the question, Tess broke eye contact with him and lifted her arm, her hand gripping onto Campbell's wrist gingerly and pulling it from her face. Campbell with searching eyes, watched every movement, his pupils narrowing on the hand surrounding his wrist. For a moment, Tess felt an involuntarily jerk of his arm, as he attempted to tug his arm away, disliking the restrictions on his arm. But, his face gave nothing away, an expressionless void. Clearing her throat, to rid the build up of nervous saliva, Tess looked at Campbell unblinking and unseeing.
"I wish that I could give you my pain for just a moment," at her words, Campbell's jaw clenched, his teeth clutching painfully inside his mouth, "for all that you have inflicted on me. Not to hurt you, but so that you could finally understand how much you hurt me." She bought one of her palms to his face and imitating his earlier action, she cupped his jaw and cheek. "But I think that you wouldn't care. I think you would have before, but not now. I would like to think there was once a time when you truly loved me, but not anymore. I'm sorry Campbell, but I have lost who I truly am," she bought her hand down and folded her arms across her chest for a sense of protection, "we're over." Her eyes dropped to the floor with her final words, her body and mind enveloping itself with relief. Time after that seemed to stand still, seconds ticked by, a gentle breeze picked up some strands of her hair, brushing it across her face. Suddenly, Campbell opened his mouth, his tongue poking at his upper teeth, a disbelieving exhale erupted from his mouth. After that, his teeth found his bottom lip and they clutched at it, the skin folding. He started nodding his head, his cheeks rising to meet his eyes. He started to laugh.
"Oh sweetheart," he stopped to chuckle some more, Tess' eyebrows furrowed, awaiting his response, "did you really think I gave a fuck? That you were special?". At his words, although she would like to pretend she was immune to his harshness, her heart couldn't help but tighten at every insult. Campbell stepped closer to her, his hands gravitated towards her face, encircling it. She attempted to pull away, but he pulled her head closer. "I just enjoyed breaking you, reveling in your fears and pain. Something pretty to fuck. Watching you crumble away, into this. You're nothing but damaged goods now. And even though you're gonna try and fix yourself, I have tainted you beyond repair."
He let go of her face and stepped back from her, a deep rooted smile taking up the entire portion of his lower face. Continuing to take steps backward away from her, he rose his arms victoriously. "And if Visser wants have a go at you, I couldn't give a fuck. All you are is a pretty face." Turning exaggeratedly, he marched off towards the yellow buses, towards a crowd of boys from their year. Unfeeling, Tess in confusion lifted a finger to her cheek, a lone tear perfectly filled the tip of her finger and as she stared at it, more tears fell from her eyes.
A.N: Quite a short chapter, but thought I would include the conversation which unfolded between Tess and Campbell. Buses leave in the next chapter (finally).
