TAINTED REMNANTS: VOLUME 1

CHAPTER 2: HYPOCRITE

7:02 AM

01/07/2020

The truck slowly stopped in front of the sidewalk leading to the main entrance of the school. Millie looked outside, seeing all the friend groups talking to one another while wearing winter jackets.

"Have a good day." Her grandpa said.

"You too. I'll be waiting out here for you when school's over." Millie said.

"You sure you want to do that? It's pretty cold out and I don't want to take too long by accident and make you freeze to death." He said with concern. Millie couldn't help but think about what he said. Death by freezing. She thought back to the bear. Freezing to death was one of the options she was given. She felt nauseous imagining her fingers going stiff, her skin turning black from frostbite, her nose falling off.

Millie didn't have a mirror, but she could tell she probably looked a little green from letting her imagination run wild. "On second thought, maybe I can wait inside the library. I'm sure there are some poetry books I can read in there that'll help me pass the time. I could also try and find some of the ones D-" She paused, thinking about Dylan. "I can always find a way to pass the time in the library until you pick me up."

Her grandpa gave her a small smile that meant he was more comfortable with that idea instead of standing outside all alone in the cold. "That sounds better. I can give you a text once I get here."

"Okay. Sounds good." Millie responded.

A car honked its horn behind her. Millie prevented herself from rolling her eyes. She didn't know what the driver behind her had to be so impatient about. They could literally just drop their kid off right there.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. Better get out before we cause some trouble for our friend behind us." Her grandpa said, Millie just barely noticing the slightest bit of annoyance in his voice. She didn't think she'd hear her grandpa get annoyed. It was small, but still surprising to her.

"Yeah. Don't want to cause road rage in a fu-... school parking lot." Millie said, holding back a swear.

"Have a nice day!" He said to her as she got out. Millie turned around and waved at him. "I will! Love you, grandpa!"

He looked at her with slight surprise. That's when she remembered she hadn't told him she loved him for the entire duration of her stay with him. It made her feel sad thinking about it. At least she said it today. His smile returned as he told her he loved her back before driving away. Millie turned back towards the school entrance. Every step she took towards the large school felt like she was marching to war. She didn't understand why one simple thing felt so hard to do. She just needed to apologize to Dylan, that's it. Was it really that simple though? Would he forgive her? How should she approach him? Maybe at lunch. He might be sitting with Brooke though. That's another thing: should she talk to him alone or both him and Brooke at the same time? Who was she kidding? She practiced all this! This should be easy!

But, as she once said: talk is easier than action. She spent all this time practicing her apology, but actually going through with it felt impossible. At least, that's how her brain made it out to be. She was at a standstill while imagining how wrong it could go. She imagined him saying he hated her after everything she said, but that's not like him. She didn't know him too long, but she knew him long enough to know she didn't say anything horrible enough to make him despise her. At least, not in her eyes.

She took a deep breath and kept walking towards the doors. What did she have to worry about? Even if he didn't forgive her, she'd be fine with that. They didn't need to be friends. She doubted he'd want to be friends with her again and she never thought she deserved friends anyway. All she wanted was to tell him she's sorry. She promised herself she'd do this and what kind of person would that make her if she didn't follow through with her promise?