Darkling

35| Legends

Chapter 35: Legends (Clara's POV)

"I can't help but feel like I know you. Like I really know you and everything there is to know about you. Everything but your secrets," I sighed. 

"Which secrets?" 

The biggest one. 

"I want to know what happened between you and Atticus. What went so wrong that you despise each other?" I asked hesitantly. 

He sighed, staring up and the starry sky. "I should tell you. I planned to tonight," he nodded. "You deserve a chance." 

"To do what?" I frowned in confusion. 

"To run from me." 

I rolled my eyes. "Well, that's not happening. Come on then. Tell me." I sat up and turned around so we were both facing each other. "Were you guys friends?" I asked. 

He scoffed, his eyes widening. "Do I look like I could be friends with a fucking moron like him?" 

I couldn't help but smile and bite back a laugh. 

"No, we were never friends. We just had a few classes together. I didn't hate him back then. He joined in freshman year. I was... already here. I had a girlfriend, her name was Kiara." 

I nodded in understanding. 

"Her parents were really close with mine. It was sort of those relationships that the family thinks will happen but really they just want it to happen because it's not a relationship, it's business. With an unlimited amount of profit coming with it." He rolled his eyes, looking around and the environment. "Atticus and I would occasionally talk during some classes. I knew that they knew each other, they had some classes together too, I just didn't think anything of it. I didn't like her that much at first. Then by the time we got to sophomore year, I was head over heels for her. It was so fucking typical." 

"She came back after the summer looking like a whole new person. I was a stupid teenage boy, I thought she was pretty, I've always been an arrogant prick, so I asked her out. And she said yes. And we dated for a year, a little more maybe. Up until the beginning of last year. She started acting weird around then. Really weird. Actually, she was weird anyway," he laughed dryly. "She was the most reserved person I've ever met to date. And not the shy kind, the crazy kind. The creepy kind. I don't know why I never realized that earlier. Her room was blank, you know. Nothing to show that it was hers, no colors, no photos, absolutely nothing. It looked like a hospital room, that fucking—" 

"Callum," I warned. 

He sighed in defeat and continued. "She was acting really weird. She would avoid me and skip out the entire day, multiple days in a row without telling me where the hell she was. I would get so worried about her, she would make me lose my mind. I told Wyatt about it. Then one day, she skipped again and I went to her room to see if she was even on campus. She wasn't. But there was a jacket lying on her bed and it wasn't hers. It was a guy's, it looked like a guy's, it smelt like a guy's. So, I looked all over for her and when I asked her friends, they told me that she went with Atticus." 

I frowned, listening intently. 

"So, I went to his room thinking maybe they had a project to work on or something. I was... I'll come back to this bit, hold on. But I heard them talking about me. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was cheating on me with him. What terrified me, scared me the most, wasn't just that, but..." he trailed off, closing his eyes and tilting his head up. 

I gave him the silence he needed and then he continued. "She wanted to kill me." 

"What?" I blurted out.