All Chapters of TEMPTING THE LONER: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

- ISOBEL - Guilt. I’m laying down on a bed with people by my side pushing the bed I’m on forward. My vision is blurred and I can’t make sense of my environment but all I can see is white and so many lights. What happened? I hear the sound of my breathing. It’s loud. Almost like my mouth and nose are enclosed in something I can’t wrap my head around. I want to move but I can’t. My hands feel glued to the moving bed even though I know they’re not. I may be partially out of touch with my environment and my body but one thing I can tell is there’s nothing binding my body to anything. Where’s Nina? Where’s Cameron? My eyes close. They slowly open. I’m not moving anymore yet the lights are still as blinding as ever. I squint, trying to block excessive light from reflecting on my face. Why is there some kind of guilt eating me up like something bad happened to them and it’s my fault? My head turns to the side. Someone’s standing by my side. I try to move my fingers out

- CAMERON - ‘Please wait in the car’ The text from Isobel glares at me from my phone. I’ve been here for over half an hour since a group of people waltzed out of her house yet she’s still inside. If I choose to calculate how long I’ve been out here in total, I’m sure it’ll be nearly an hour or a few minutes past an hour. I sigh. I wanted this so I’m ready to wait, just right now, I’m torn between going in there or waiting. Her message does tell me to wait in the car, not sure if that entails actually staying in the car. I run my hand through my hair and let out an exhale. The last two days were insane. I couldn’t think. She severed a serious injury while alone with me and I couldn’t help but be worried. I felt uneasy and just then, I forgot everything else. This woman is really amazing. I don’t know anything about her yet she’s on my mind twenty four-seven, occupying my thoughts. She’s definitely an intriguing character and has my restraint hanging on a thread. The next time I

- CAMERON - I’m sat outside on an open street bench, waiting for her. She said she was coming. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here in this freezing cold night, yet I’m still waiting. I hold my phone in my hand and exhale slowly. I can see the steam formed due to the hotness of my breath in contrast to the weather. I’m putting on my suit jacket and a long, black coat yet my skin still feels the effect of the cold. Another sigh leaves my lips as my eyes peers lower at my phone screen. I’ve gotten no text since the last time. I raise my head up. Parked in front of me is my car with the front lights on. Apart from that, no one is in sight. I dip my hands in my pocket, leaving my phone on my thighs. The only reason I’m not in the comfort of my car with the heaters on is because I want her to see me when she arrives. But that is taking forever. She sure has a nack for making people wait. It’s cute but not that comfortable. “Cameron!” Someone calls my name. From the faintn

- CAMERON - My thumb flips over my lower lip. I’m in the cubicle, under the shower and warm water runs down my body. My decision shocks me sometimes, I had her right where I wanted yet I chose to be decent. I raise my chin up and close my eyes, letting water pour down my face. I have a lot of things on my mind. I’ve got so many questions about our dinner night and other things yet I choose to ignore finding the answers. Is this what we call fear? Is it possible I’m afraid of something that I don’t want to accept as a reality so I choose to bask in the moment rather than doing what the old me would do? I have no answer to this and it’s shocking. Who is the old me? The old me was a ruthless punk who preyed on weaker beings. Sometimes. Deep inside, there was a human who yearned to be seen and be free and now I’ve got that freedom, I guess part of me doesn’t want to ruin it by reading too deep into situations. I guess this is me trying so desperately to be normal. The ends of

- ISOBEL - I turn my head to the side, clenching my fists deep into the pillow like I’m trying to strangle it as a disturbing image flashes in my head. It’s one of those nights that I am aware that I’m dreaming but the event in the dream feels so real that it seems like reality is only an illusion and I’m actually trapped somewhere else foggily assuming my whole life. If this hell hole where Cain exists is the life I imagined for myself, then I want an out of this fabricated illusion. But I can’t get out. My brows furrows and a troubled grumble leaves my lips. No matter how much I try to wake up from this nightmare, I can’t. . . . Like typical dreams, nothing in this world makes sense. One minute you’re in a forest and the next, you’re drinking tea in a hut. One second you see your friend, then the friend changes into someone who looks nothing like her but you know that person represents your friend, and like that was clearly a hallucination, the friend you thought you