The drive home was subdued. There seemed to be a silent understanding between them. The quietness acted like a reminder that their entire future together was now predicated on surviving a fight to the death that neither knew if they were ready for. It got to Georgia after a while and she tried to ease the underlying tension. She searched Hayden’s mind. Despite his promises to Abbi, he still kept most of it tightly closed. She searched for a way to calm his mind. She played around with the music, selecting love songs at first. Since they were facing an uncertain future as lovers, these only made the mood more depressing so she switched to more upbeat tracks. These made her feel better at least so she decided to speak first. “I feel terrible for Abbi. To think, all those years we just treated her like a crazy person.”He agreed and then opened up a little. “It must have been horrible keeping all that inside for so long. It’s a very lonely existence to bear. Before you came along, I ex
As Georgia lay in bed that night, the full weight of the last two weeks came crashing down on her. Since meeting Hayden, discovering their connection, and falling in love with him, their world together had dominated everything else. Nothing was normal anymore. So much had happened since meeting him, it felt like months had passed instead of just two weeks. The events of earlier that day played in her mind. Remnants of Hayden’s deep pain and remorse still churned in her brain. She felt it all and now knew why he was such a tortured soul. Seeing Claudine Grimsby’s mutilated body had been so difficult for her to deal with but it was nothing compared to Hayden’s agony when he discovered his parents. They were almost unrecognizable. To have seen that and then had to live with the knowledge that he’d done it was unimaginably difficult. She felt for him. He kept blaming himself. Later he blamed the wolf and separated himself from its actions as a kind of defense mechanism. It was a lot to
Once home again, despite all the fear raking through her mind, Georgia fell into a deep sleep that night. She thought of Abbi. Since their visit, she’d been able to sense her even though they were too far away to communicate. All she could sense was her overall energy and mood. Before falling asleep, the last thing she felt was that Abbi was anxious. She could also tell she wasn’t doing well. Her energy was more distant than ever and it felt like a signal that kept growing weaker. Georgia instinctively knew what this meant. She didn’t have much time left. Knowing how close to the end she was and how much she was suffering, Georgia couldn’t understand why she desperately clung on. She could sense that Abbi was refusing to let go for a reason. She just didn’t know what it was. When the morning arrived, Georgia’s mood was morose. She showered and changed, taking a lot more interest in herself during these activities than she normally would. It was an unnerving feeling knowing this could
Georgia stood with her head down as she stared at the coffin in front of her while the Priest addressed the mourners. A single tear rolled down her cheek. So many of her childhood memories of Abbi came flitting back to her mind now. She felt guilty about how tainted they used to seem. Between her parents, extended family, and the doctors always telling her that Abbi was crazy, she used to look back on their time together with a level of discomfort. It always felt like her Abbi was lost and nothing she had ever said to her was worth remembering. She knew that Abbi loved and favored her more than her cousins. That part was always obvious. She could still picture the huge smile that would spread on her face whenever Angela took her to visit Abbi as a child. “ven aquí mi niña,” she would say, holding out her arms widely to embrace her. “Come here my little girl,” it meant. The words rang through her mind now and made her tears fall faster. Hayden was beside her and put his arm arou
Georgia was soaking wet. The rain glided off her head and down her face, making her eyes burn slightly on the way down. Her shoes splashed loudly as she ran to the pavement and onto Morris Street, dipping in and out of large puddles along the way. By the time she reached the other side, even her knees were drenched. Her feet felt damp and wrinkled, her trainers doing a poor job of keeping water out. Her socks were soggy and disgusting as they splotched with every step now. She pulled her hoodie tighter over her head, lamenting the thought of how her hair was going to frizz up. Her backpack bounced behind her, weighed down more by the rain. She hoped the waterproof material would hold up and dreaded the thought of what her books might look like if it didn’t. The wind was beginning to howl and it sent the rain swishing in different directions. The chill was bad today. This time of year in Milwaukee usually spelled the end of the cold season but despite it being the last week of March,
By the time Georgia finally reached the parking lot of Beldon High, she was drenched and shivering. The familiar gray and red entrance came into view as it arched over double-length sliding doors. The clouds ahead cast a morose tone over the day that echoed her mood. The parking lot was full but seemed to lack color today. Even the trees around the lot were dull and lifeless, the sky casting everything below it in a pallid tinge. As she neared the entrance, the usual throng of students was down to a small trickle as most kids were already inside. Joining the line, the chattering group in front of Georgia did nothing to ease her mixed emotions. Their inane conversations were so typical, a bunch of tripe with no substance beyond obsessing over how many likes their latest social media post received, or whatever bandwagon cause they were championing today. They were the reason older people thought of her generation as being nothing but a bunch of whiny weaklings. Georgia sighed inwar
Georgia couldn’t have told a soul what went on around her that day. For the first time in her life she played truant at school. She was physically present through every class but her mind couldn’t have been further away. From class to class, wherever Georgia went, she felt the back of her neck burn. Hayden Ryder always managed to get in before her and sit at the back. Every class she entered, she tried to make eye contact with him as she walked to her seat. Each time she wanted to speak or say something to him, she lost the nerve once it came time to actually let out the words. Frustratingly, he always kept his head down and never once looked up to see her. It might have been easier if he did. He could have spoken first and broken the tension Georgia felt. Homeroom was the worst. Hayden had taken the seat directly behind Georgia. Her eyes were fixed on his face as he passed, as were every girls’ in the class. Some of them even giggled unashamedly and openly catcalled him which Mrs.Jo
Georgia was drying her hair. It felt good to finally be clean and warm for the first time that day. The steaming water from the shower felt great. It wasn’t just the heat that was soothing. The cleansing embrace of the water made her feel like she was washing off the anger and frustration from her day too. It had been one of the craziest days of her life at Beldon High, one that left her feeling dejected by its end. Actually it was HIM that left you feeling that way. Try as she might, she could not get Hayden Ryder out of her mind. After toweling off and changing into her favorite warm pajamas, Georgia sat at the edge of her bed as the rain continued to fall outside her window. Replaying the day in her mind, one thing kept jumping out as a highlight. The venom in Hayden’s words when he told her to “stay out of it” felt so unnecessary. She was angry inside as she thought of how contorted his face was when he said it. It was almost like he hated her. The thought that maybe he did j