Hopelessly Broken

67. Age

6.20.20

It's finally lunch time, and I'm fucking starving. It took me this long to realize that I haven't eaten since 3 days ago, but once I did, I couldn't forget. My stomach was constantly growling during class, and Oli kept staring at me strangely every time. What can I say? This boy's gotta eat! Of course, when I finally did get to the cafeteria, I piled so much food into my tray that I got side eyes from the staff. Oliver's hand had placed itself in the small of my back to guide me through the crowd, and the contact made everyone stare at me. Hey, at least there wasn't another student riot.

"Jesus, Dev, eat much?" Jack teased when I set my tray onto the table.

"Nope." As I stuffed my face on gross cafeteria food, conversation began around me. Pretty much everyone was including Oliver except Blake who still didn't like him, but what can ya do?

"Where did you all disappear to for 5 days?" Gabe played with Blake's hair while he spoke, and I was convinced that only he could make my best friend feel more comfortable. When he sniffed one of the cherry red locks, I think I might have gagged a bit.

"Dev thought it was a bright idea to go mess around in the forest, and he got lost. We had to go find him, and it took a long time since he was going the wrong direction to get out. Once we did, he was with this idiot, and they were apparently in love." It's kind of creepy how genuine Jack can sound with such a large lie.

"What is it with you and getting stuck in forests?"

"It's a skill evolved with years of being stupid, my friend." I was just joking, but Blake nodded slowly to confirm my stupidity. "Hey you weren't supposed to agree!"

"Remember that one time you got curious what would happen if you cut off the shower head, so you actually did it?"

"That was just childhood curiosity."

"You were 13."

"Still a child!"

The table laughed at our antics, and I could see Blake smiling at the memory. It's true, I did cut off the shower head, and let me tell you that it isn't super interesting. It is pretty hard to bathe with one strip of hot water, but they made me for a month because they couldn't ship a new shower fast enough. I had ended up stealing Blake's bathroom until it came in, and he hated it since I liked to leave my toiletries all over the sink.

I leaned back against Oliver and fake pouted at him. "They're being mean to me!"

"They're right, it was pretty dumb." I gasped from his words and sat up with a false glare.

"Meanies!" The cafeteria is louder than I recall it being, and I began to get a bit of a headache from the loud voices. The pulsing pain increased rapidly, and it didn't take a genius to realize that something else is happening other than the busyness of the world. "Oliver." My voice came out as a mere whisper, and the man's red eyes flicked quickly over to me. "I'm going to use the bathroom."

I stood up from the table, but the room began to spin. I almost fell over, but I managed to keep my footing and stumble towards the door. My boyfriend stood up to follow after me, but he reluctantly stopped when Jack pulled him back down. For some reason, I know I have to do something alone.

I slid through the school like a wildcat until I found a door to the outside, and I tumbled out of it onto the dirt. I crawled through the slightly damp muck until I found a small bed of grass, and I lay down on it.

As soon as I collapsed onto the green plants, an intense shiver rushed all the way up and down my body. It felt like I had been plunged into ice water, but I was also sweating at the same time.

"Sebastian?" I need someone to tell me what the hell is happening to my body and quickly.

"Devon, I'm going to need you to breathe."

"What's happening?"

"I don't know how to explain this... Your body is trying to come of age early."

"What?"

"This usually happens to people with soulmates significantly older than them which is why those types of relationships are rare... Most people don't survive..."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm going to die!?"

"No, I'm trying to tell you that you need to follow my instructions extremely carefully. Breathe!" I focused on breathing in and out slowly, and it almost made the weird tingly sensation go away.

"What now?"

"You're body is trying to send out frantic messages to your soulmate, you need to stop that. If he comes here, the process will be thrown off balance. Close your eyes and focus on that cloud up there instead of yourself."

I looked up at the fluffy white cloud passing above my body, and I noticed that it was shaped like a bunny. The knowledge made me smile weakly, and I watched it float across my field of vision before focusing on another cloud trying to make sense of its shape. I've always kind of had a thing for cloud watching, but I've never done it for long since I didn't have that kind of free time.

"Good. Just listen to my voice while the process finalizes." My wolf began to ramble about one thing or another, and I began to forget I was even in my current situation. There's something soothing about his smooth, deep voice that make me want to fall asleep. "Don't fall asleep, that's bad."

I listened to his instructions while still observing the clouds, and I felt more relaxed than I had in years. It's like I'm meditating but not at the same time? My chest rose and fell rhythmically, and I allowed my body to sink farther into the state of peace.

"You're almost there, my human." I smiled at the knowledge, but I didn't let it get into my head as I continued to focus on everything except for my current pain. After ten minutes, I was getting kind of tired of just laying here. "You're finished, Devon."

I sighed in relief at the knowledge, and when I thought about myself, I didn't feel any pain. "So... What now?"

"Well, your body is now caught up to your spirit's age of 18 years, so I wouldn't be shocked if you have experienced a growth spurt of some kind. Your hormones may be off balance for a few days, but that will wear off. You did very, very well following my instructions, so I don't feel any complications."

"Thanks for helping me out."

"You're welcome."

When I sat up, I found that my body was much stronger before. It's strange to mature almost 11 months in half an hour, but I don't think I mind. It just means that I'm finally able to know who my soulmate is even though I already think I do. When I stood up, I knew that I had grown an inch or maybe two, so it would probably be obvious that something had happened to me... Oh well, back to the lunch room now!