The Runaway

Chapter 14

The car was silent. Violet sat there and realized how quiet she's been. I mean, what was there to say? She didn't exactly feel threatened or scared, but she was slightly uncomfortable. To believe she was in a car with vampires was sort of funny if you thought about it. She examined the passengers one by one and made mental descriptions of what she thought about them. Her eyes landed on the driver first. Colton. It was hard to believe she was near him again. It was her goal to find him in the first place anyway. She should've been happy, but it was no longer the same. It turned out, the loving guy who joked around and made her laugh was missing. She guessed the situation had a huge impact on him and it was disheartening. She tried to ignore the empty feeling inside her and turned to Riley instead. Riley was gorgeous. Violet never thought about it when they first met but she really was. She looked so perfect that you wouldn't believe what came out of her mouth because the moment she spoke, you realized how obnoxious she was. Violet also realized that Riley liked Colton, but did it go both ways? He never seemed to pay attention to her, but she was always throwing herself on him. It was kind of annoying. She glanced to her right to see Aiden staring out the window. She looked away quickly before he could notice her. Ever since their first encounter, she strongly hated him, but at the same time she was a bit scared. Often times she also wondered why Aiden was so attached to Colton. To her left was Colette. They haven't spoken much but she seemed like the nicest one in the group. Violet definitely liked her the most. Behind them was Delsin who was snoring heavily. She always thought he was strange and quiet, but he was funny and very overprotective of his sister. Finally, she thought about herself. She thought about her stupid mistake to run off to end up in this predicament. As much as she wanted to believe it was a dream, she couldn't. There was no mistaking the vivid scenes that
she witnessed. The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt so she tried her best not to. Instead, she decided to just go with the flow, hoping that it would contain her composure.

"Colton, can you stop the car? I need to take a bathroom break," Riley said out of the blue.

"Me too," Aiden joined in. "I'm going to piss myself."

Colton sighed. "What about you, Violet?"

"Sure, I guess," she responded.

They ended up waiting in line at a public bathroom from a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

"Perfect timing for gas too," Colton said.

Violet was in line minding her own business when Delsin caught her attention. "Violet? Is that you?" He pointed to the picture of her on the newspaper on the wall outside the station. Her name was printed in bold. Great, she thought. She totally forgot about her name in the newspapers.

"That's you?" Riley stared at the photo. "I didn't know you were a blondie. Why'd you change it up? You look better in the photo in my opinion."

Violet rolled her eyes. "I need it for disguise."

"It kind of works," Colette said.

"Not that much," Delsin argued.

Colton added to their remarks. "I must be blind. I didn't really notice it until now that you mention it."

"That's bad," she responded. "I was hoping it worked." If he didn't notice anything different about her, then it meant she was still recognizable and she didn't want that. Why was the bathroom line taking so long? She didn't want to stand in the public eye any longer. "I'm getting back in the car," Violet finally announced. She didn't have to go that bad anyway. They all looked at her strangely as she walked away.

She let out a breath of fresh air as she relaxed herself in the car. She felt so out of place. She didn't belong here. The only way out was to help them with whatever the hell they were doing, and then they'll let her go, right? Violet scavenged through her duffel bag until she found a bag of potato chips. She decided to stress eat, savoring every single bite. What Colton gave her so far was old, stale cereal and the chips in her hand were so much better. As soon as she finished chewing, everyone returned to the car.

Aiden stepped into the van loudly. "Do I hear chips?" His eyes landed on the bag in her hands. "Where'd you get those?"

She crumpled the empty bag into a ball. "I bought snacks before I arrived in Portland." She wanted him to mind his own business. Not making eye contact, she threw the crumpled chip bag into her bag and zipped it up.

"Someone's bitchy," he said.

She ignored him. If only she had brought her Mp3 player with her, she would've had some music to block everything out.

"We finally agree on something, lover boy," Riley said.

"Just hurry up and sit down," Colton interrupted before Aiden had a chance to speak.

Riley sighed. "You're no fun."

The sky was slowly losing color. "We need to talk later," Colton told her.

Her emerald eyes darkened. "Fine."

Violet felt awkward in the vehicle. Everyone was stuck in their own problems which caused the van to be dead silent. Delsin was worried about his sister, Colette seemed worried about everyone, Riley was worried about Colton, Colton was worried about their mission, Aiden was worried about something, and Violet was worried about her life. She tried to act tough in front of them, but deep down, the anxiety was overwhelming. She was clouded by thoughts until they made a sudden stop at a motel.

"It's eight. Anyone else starving?" Colette said.

Colton looked at Violet and said, "We'll go after I get a room. Violet, you'll stay here and we'll be right back, okay? I could order you food if you want."

"I'll come with you," she blurted unexpectedly. She didn't know why it came out of her mouth. Violet knew they had to fill their appetites or whatever it was, but did she really want to see it? She quickly ran it through her mind and decided that maybe she did. She needed to witness it for herself.

"No, you can't," Colton declined.

"I want to see it. I need to know," she replied. Her curiosity was growing by the second.

"Let her," Aiden said.

After a long moment, Colton gave in. "Okay, but I'm warning you. You wouldn't like it."

Violet knew she wouldn't like it. She didn't expect it be pleasant at all. Colton finally stepped out of the car to book a room, leaving her alone with the others.

"You should stay here before you have any regrets," Colette warned.

Violet shook her head. "If I'm going to be stuck with you guys for a while, I might as well know what you do on a daily basis."

Colette nodded. "Good point."

"When we get there, make sure you watch closely. What you'll see is what we would've done to you on the first night you came here. Remember that," Aiden said, glaring at her.

Violet's face went pale. So they kidnapped her that night to feed off of her, just as she thought. She gulped and looked away. Her palms were sweaty and the anxiety was surfacing.

He continued. "That night we went hunting in the woods? We were on the lookout for Scarlet, thinking she was still there in Oregon but she wasn't. Instead, we ended up finding a couple of humans and well, you know what we did next. Victor did the same to you except you're somehow still alive."

"Aiden!" Delsin gave him a threatening look.

Aiden chuckled. "What? It's all true. I don't see a problem with that."

Riley chimed in. "He's correct." She turned to Violet with a smirk. "Do yourself a favor and stay behind."

The image of Victor filled her with disgust. They were being intimidating but she couldn't let them get to her. "No," she said boldly. Violet tried to stop herself from shaking. Breathe, she thought. Let it go.

"Okay then. Suit yourself," Riley said. "Don't say we didn't tell you so."

Colette whispered in Violet's ear. "Don't listen to them. Follow me when we get there. It will be alright."

Colton came back in the car and everyone quieted down. "Is everything okay?" he asked. Everyone nodded, including Violet.