Shadow Wood

Chapter Five

With breathing hitched and senses going into hyper drive; I kept my eyes diverted from Mason's questioning gaze. This was all Benjamin's fault. His stupid worrying-over-nothing-trait! Chivalry is not dead and all that crap. Maybe I could sort of see why Ellie couldn't stand him. Oh yeah, Ellie. I didn't notice when or how, but she managed to swig down a whole cup of beer in one motion and was now standing slightly behind me. Having looked at her over my shoulder, I shifted my gaze forward. All four pairs of eyes were now trained solely on me.

I needed an escape and I needed one now.

I took the opportunity to turn around as an excuse. "Ellie you good?" Man I had no idea what I was doing. Why am I even here? Why couldn't I simply make myself leave? The very skin on my face felt like it was being stretched too wide for my liking as I made an attempt to smile. Whether it was the beer, or something mixed into her drink, Ellie looked at me with a mixture of worry and fear.

"I am good." Her voice was smooth, by far the opposite of what I was feeling on the inside.

But I wasn't giving up, not by a long shot. "Let me take you home then." Clearly I wasn't the only one who was having internal battles tonight. It didn't' take much to see that Ellie was still in love with Benjamin just as he was still in love with her. For unspoken reasons, they were caught in web of intrigue where they couldn't escape the other.

I shouldn't intervene. It's not my problem, and I didn't want to put our friendship on the line here. Maybe if she came to me about it, I would listen like any good friend would do, but until that happened, this wasn't my business. I respected Ellie enough not to ask or press for answers. That would go against my very nature of live and let live.

"But you just got here, bro." Nathaniel. I could still feel their eyes at the back of my head, as if trying to get me to turn and face them. The influence was there, but it wasn't enough. Maybe I'm being paranoid or suffering from some sort of an anxiety attack? I need to seriously consider therapy after tonight.

The feeling ebbed at least. Whatever it was.

"Yeah well, Ellie and I have a lot to catch up on." Not a very good excuse but there wasn't a lot going on upstairs at the moment. Plus I was being rude talking to them with my back turned. My body was reacting too weird for my liking and I needed to get away . . . fast! "But, thank you for your hospitality."

I wasn't quite sure who I was talking to. I was in the midst of wondering if I should duck under Ellie's arm to help her walk, but it was evident enough to see she could walk just fine on her own. All that would do was make us both look like idiots. Ellie was probably showing the same panic in her eyes as I was, she wanted to get away just as badly as I did. We had that much in common at least.

Whatever the story between Benjamin and Ellie was going to have to wait.

Although I did start to wonder where her lunch friends were. If they were here, where? What would they be doing right about now? Why hadn't I seen them yet?

Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, happened to have different plans for us. Rowdy football players picked this time and this place to trample through. With fist pumping, an overdose of testosterone, tipsiness, and blocks of mass muscle herded together, Nathaniel's name was chanted from the impending stampede without care of who stood in their way.

Have you ever experienced a mosh pit? Writhing bodies moving relentlessly in motion without concern of who or what is around them? Me neither, but if it was anything like what I've seen on TV, this must be what it feels like. In a whirlwind of testosterone with hints of axe body spray and cheap cologne, unrecognizable heaps of flesh jostled over us. As Ellie fell forward, I reached out attempting to catch her as she continued to fall sideways and straight into Benjamin's arms. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The world spun out of control, and even though I fought to regain balance, there was too much going on. Limbs of legs and pumped up arms kept knocking into my all too tiny frame, causing me to stumble again and again and again. I was desperately trying and failing to get out of their way.