Hopelessly Broken

41. Forest Runner

6.04.20

Jack's POV

Devon stumbled into the room, but he didn't look like himself. There's something about the way he's carrying himself that unsettles me.

"Hey, Dev, where's Blake?" Gabe was just looking for his boyfriend, but Dev didn't respond. Something is definitely up.

"You're acting strange... What's wrong with you?" Dev swayed on his feet, and I walked towards him to figure out what's wrong with him. Suddenly, he dropped down towards the floor, and he just lie there staring at the ceiling distantly. I stood above him just in case he was hurt, and I ended up crouching down when he broke into a winning smile.

"Wacky." That's a strange word, I don't know if I like it out of all context.

"What are you talking about?"

"Unimportant!" Dev sat up, but he ended up getting much too close to me. I could see his large icy eyes bearing into mine, and I let my heart take control. When he tried to scoot away from me, I automatically curled my right arm around the back of his warm neck. I could feel his hammering heart through my palm, and I moved closer to his body. He's a magnet, and I'm a piece of iron. I don't even know why I'm suddenly attracted to him. I mean, I've always thought he was objectively hot, but... I don't even know what I'm thinking anymore!

Suddenly, I was shoved back painfully, and I brought my hand up to my aching chest in shock. Dev crawled backwards with huge eyes, and I realized what I had just done. Good going!

I ruined it. The first person that I actually like, and I've ruined our relationship with my stupid feelings! Dev's eyes grew wider before he ran out of the room, and I took another blow to my already bruised heart. Blake came into the room, but I couldn't hear his words over the roaring in my ears. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!

Instead of crying, I just stood up in a strange calm and walked out of the room. On the inside, there was a hurricane tearing through my whole body, but on the outside I looked pretty normal.

When I hit the front lawn, I sprinted into the forest as if my life depended on it, and I didn't stop until I fell onto the dirt with scraped knees. Instead of stopping there, my body rolled down a rather large hill, and I found myself dazed and injured at the base of a 20 foot hill. There was a lip of bushes, so I hadn't been able to see where I was going until it was too late.

Luckily, my wounds only extended to scrapes and bruises, so I did what I had come into the forest to do. My stereotypical blue electricity shot out of my hand into one of the trees, and I got the pleasure of watching it be destroyed.

Every witch or warlock has a specific magical signature. For instance, my magic was blue electricity while someone else could have green. I couldn't produce anything other than my type of magic without extreme practice, but I could do a lot of different things with just my abilities. For instance, I can charge phones really quickly, and I can blow trees into tiny pieces. My magic was crackling deep in my bones because I was so emotional, and it struck again with more force. Flying chunks of burning wood flew around the clearing, and I was really lucky that none of them could light the forest on fire since any flames that come from my magic go out almost instantly.

After destroying a few more trees, I fell onto my knees in the dirt. It hurts deep in my lungs, but I wouldn't let it get me down. I won't let him ruin my chances of happiness. I'll get over Devon, but it won't be easy considering I spend every waking hour with him. Maybe if I just create distance, my feeling will die? I can do this... I can... I can... I can't do this.

I think about him every single second of my life. For some reason, every waking moment makes me more obsessed with him. His goofy smile, his deep voice, and his ice blue eyes all drew me in. In his arms, I feel safe. Many nights after my sister died, I would wake up panting when I recalled her "death."

It was brutal. I had only been 10 years old, and it was in the middle of summer. We were playing in the back yard when an older man hopped over the fence. My sister pulled me behind her, and she was acting as if she knew the man. "You can take me if you want to, but don't hurt my baby brother. Please, Carlos."

The man had walked right up to her, and my sister was pulled away by him. "Mag!" I screamed, and she just smiled. She was always smiling every time I saw her.

"Jack, I love you. I love you so much, don't forget that."

"Where are you going."

"I don't know, Jack. I might not be back. I love you and mom and dad, okay?"

My family and I had held hope for a year, but when the police never found anything, we had her funeral. I remember her smile; it haunts my nights. I would have horrid dreams that I had been taken by the same man, but it got so much better when Dev came. There's a reason I try my hardest to sleep near him. Sure, he's really warm and comfortable, but he makes me feel safe and untouchable. Knowing that I destroyed my comfort and safety hurts more than the loss of my sister.

I curled my knees into my chest, but it didn't call any comfort. Not like Dev's touch. My tears finally fell, and I just let them. I didn't have the strength to stop them anymore. I'm a mess all alone.

I heard footsteps up by the bushes, and I stood up just in case I had to fight. Another body came tumbling down the hill similarly to the way I had, and I recognized it to be Dev's papa. "Mother fucking hill why did we keep this thing." He sat up, and he smiled when he saw me staring at him. "Good, I found you. Your parents might have killed me if you got lost in the forest."

"Maybe I wanted to be lost."

"You can think that now, but the forecast is calling for heavy rainfall tonight. Not only that, but it's very dangerous after nightfall. Now come on, you've been moping for 5 hours." Five hours!? I didn't realize it had been so long.

I reluctantly followed him back through the woods, and my parents were there to bring Devon and I home. Speaking of Dev, he was in my father's arms with tear stains down his pale cheeks. His body was passed out, and I could tell that he had been through a lot mentally. However, there was still something cute about the way he looked so vulnerable. Yeah, I know I'm weird.

"Oh good, you found him." My mother hugged me, and eventually we ended up in the car. I don't know what's going to happen when Dev wakes up, but it won't be pretty.