The Disbanders

Chapter 10: No Secrets

August 2018

    I've been here for a little over a month now, and I've been absolutely loving it. I notice that the outside world, along with my painful memories from it, now almost feel like a bad dream. I've even noticed an improvement in my overall physical health, as well as my acne having cleared. When I wake up in the morning, I'm relieved to see the ceiling of my new home, rather than the one of my old house. In fact, I've never felt that I truly had a home until now, disbanded from the world that hurt me.

    The barrier between me and the rest of the group has practically gone away. I'm bonding with everyone around me, especially Evie and Chuck. I'm noticing how almost everyone seems to have a unique relationship with each other, which is interesting to observe.

There's one thing that I still don't understand––my random moments of blushing. It seems to happen when I'm around Will, but then again, that could be a coincidence. I haven't told anyone else, at least not yet. I might have to tell someone, in case something is medically wrong with me. Something is definitely off. In the time that I studied my hand-made medical flash cards with Jessica, I never came across anything with these symptoms.

As I leave the house this morning, Evie is already out here, building the fire. She's blowing on it, having the flames slowly rise up. The pleasant familiar smell of campfire smoke penetrates my nose, causing me to fight my desires to take a deep inhale. Evie stands up, crossing her arms as she watches the fire.

"Hey, do you want to go for a walk?", I ask her.

"Sure," she replies. "I know Hayden and Alexa will be out soon, so they can watch the fire."

"Okay, I'll tell them," I say. I open the front door again. "Evie and I are going for a walk, we'll be back in a bit!", I shout.

"Be careful!", replies Hayden.

"We will!", says Evie. She closes the door, before sighing. "That guy thinks I'm ten years old sometimes. He worries about me too much. Remember the beech tree incident?", she asks me, as we turn around and start our walk down our usual path.

I begin to reflect on my new and unusual feelings as we go. We walk in silence for a few minutes, before Evie stops.

"Are you okay?", asks Evie. "You haven't said a word since we left." I refocus my attention and face her.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine," I lie, realizing how deep I've been in my own head. I definitely need to tell her now. She scowls slightly, unconvinced.

"Candice, what's going on? Remember our rule? No secrets?" I sigh, knowing she's right.

"Okay fine," I reply, bracing myself. "I think there's....something wrong with me. I get this weird, nervous, flushed feeling all of the time around here. It didn't start until I came here." Evie cocks an eyebrow. "My aunt was a surgeon, and she knew all that could be wrong with people, but this never came up." Evie then smiles, causing me to scowl this time. "What?"

"When does it happen? Is there anything in particular that causes it?", she asks suspiciously. I have a feeling that she already knows what I'm going to say. I don't know how she'd know, though.

"You're going to think it's weird. It won't make any sense," I say hesitantly.

"Oh yeah? Try me." I grow fidgety with my hands.

"Fine, it's weirdly....whenever I'm around Will," I say slowly. I can barely look Evie in the eyes, realizing it's ridiculousness. Evie then cackles, before shaking her head and sighing. "Why are you laughing like that? You sound like Alexa."

"Oh, Candice," she says, putting her arm around me. "You have feelings for Will!"

"What? What does that even mean?", I ask her, feeling flushed once more.