Zeus - The Alpha of Hatred

Fire crackled through the wood we’d spent half an hour collecting, casting a warm glow in the dark redwood forest. My mouth watered as a delicious smell of meatloaf filled the air. I reached for a piece, watching as Tyler, the neighbor's son, and the host of tonight's campfire, fumbled to pick one from the flames, making me chuckle. "So, new gal—" He shot me a glance, a corner of his lips curling in amusement, showing off his dimple. Leaning in closer, clearly tipsy, he added, "tell me more about you." "Yes," Tobias, his friend chimed in, hand raised high with a beer bottle, "I'm interested, too." I blushed, giggling. "But you already know a lot. We've been friends for a couple of weeks now." "Come on, guys," Talia, Tyler's twin sister and my new best friend, threw her arm over my shoulder, "you know her. Anastasia Miracle, moved here from Arizona with her mother, goes to the same college with us." "Loves cookies and everything extra sweet," Samara joined in the recitation of my

The odd pain in my chest wasn't the only concerning fact. There was something more."What do you feel about parties, Ana?"A different kind of sadness."Ana?" Like a part of my soul was howling to death. Literally. "Ana!" "Huh?" I jolted out of my thoughts. "Where are you lost?" Samara quizzed."N-nothing." I shook my head. "What did you say?" "I asked what you feel about parties," Talia repeated, her eyes glinting with something suspicious as we walked across the campus in our leisure period."Oh. Um...parties aren't really my thing," I replied, holding my notebook against my chest and fixing my glasses. I needed them while studying. "But I guess it's fine as long as I’m not drinking." "Oh, come on, drinking is the fun part," Samara groaned. "Until you drink yourself into jail or worse, pregnancy." Gosh, I sounded like my mom. "Party pooper." She stuck her tongue at me. "In that case," Talia spoke again, suddenly changing her approach to the matter and throwing her arm aroun

"What do you mean you can't find my notebook?" I watched the skinny, pale guy in front of me with round eyes. "It has all my homework." "I don’t know. I just went to the washroom and when I came back, it was missing," he replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, no, no, no." Bending over the table, I started frantically searching in his pile of books. He took it during lunch break asking for help with notes, and now that I came to take it back, he had lost it? Where was his sense of responsibility? I glanced at him, standing there staring. "Help me, Sheldon!" He jerked to attention. "Y-Yeah, sure." "Hurry up, please! I'm going to be late." After several minutes of combing through the empty classroom he was using to study, I still couldn't find it. I turned to him frustrated, on the verge of crying. "I can't go to class without it.""You can stay here then," he offered, sounding hopeful, "with me." "What—" I caught a glimpse of blue behind him. Rushing to his backpack, hang

Why do I do this to myself?I coughed, blowing dust off an old book and squinting at the title. Nope, not the one. Reaching for the next book, I did the same, only to get a fresh cloud of dust straight up my nose, burning my sinuses and triggering a sneezing session like a full-blown allergy attack. My skin was itching non-stop, and my mouth felt like I had swallowed a bowl of dirt.But I couldn't stop. It was only the first phase of my punishment no matter how unfair that was, and I had no choice but to endure it. Still, I was grateful to him that he had listened to my pleas and spared me the dean’s office.I hadn't told anyone about it yet. Of course, not my mom, and not even my friends. They were already extra worried regarding the past events that circled around me. They even went as far as hunting down the guy who uploaded the picture and possibly started the rumor, and going to his house at midnight to have him remove it. But it was done way before they arrived, and for some rea

Tears blurred my vision as I ran through the sequoia forest, the ancient giants looming over me, shielding me from the cruel world. My breathing came out in ragged gasps as my heart pounded in my chests. I didn't know where I was going or why I was going there, I just ran. From whatever that happened moments ago. Or an hour ago, I wasn't keeping track.I wanted to forget it.No. I wanted to forget the whole month.The night, the wolf, the man... And that professor. I hated him. I hated him with all my guts. I hated them all. My feet stumbled upon exposed roots, my chest heaving with sobs, but I didn't stop. Not even when the woods started to close in on me, the trees becoming a maze of dark trunk and dense foliage. The stillness of the forest that was so comforting normally, now felt tyrannical, as though it was mocking me silently. Pathetic. His voice echoed in my head, propelling the pain in my chest to a flaring intensity. The frustration grew along with the unknown grief until