The Girl who Drowned in Darkness

Chapter 5

 I was running through the forest hoping to escape all my anxieties.

Nothing happened. For two days, nothing bad happened. No drama, no trouble, not even torment from Jenn and Sofe. I was suspicious. Trouble always finds me, I can never escape it, no matter how hard I try. It always finds me. So for me to have not one day, but two days of nothing bad happening. I was Suspicious.

And I was right to be so. Because as I hid behind a tree that hid my large form from being seen, I watched to see who I felt following me. And of course, it had to be Josh. Because getting rid of him couldn't possibly be easy. Easy isn't in my vocabulary, not in my life.

I crept from behind the tree and walked slowly towards Josh, hoping it will intimidate some common sense into him. As he faced me, he wasn't scared. I was right, he definitely is attracted to danger, rebellious type.

Growling, glaring at him with all the fury I could muster, revealing my sharp canines. But all he did was smile.

Trying to reach out and touch me, I lunged for his hand. Now was I really going to bite his hand off, no. Did I want to, yeah. He pulled his arm close to his chest and fell back to the ground in fear.

Good, he should be scared. I growled one more time, and ran off into the forest. This should keep him from wanting to find me. I didn't bother to look back at him. I headed towards Lacey, I needed to talk to her.

When I finally got to her house, I howled up at her window. I waited patiently for her to show up. It wasn't long before she ran out to me in fuzzy pajamas and UGG boots.

"Meghan, what on earth are you doing here at this ungodly hour?" She grumbled with sleep lacing her voice. She handed me some pajamas.

I went behind a tree, "I had to talk to you." As I changed into the clothes she gave me and walked back to her when I was done.

Nodding, "Well come on then, lets get inside." Waving me in.

We quickly made our hot chocolate and marshmallows and took them back into her bedroom.

A tradition we started long ago. Whenever either of us needed to talk about something serious, we would have hot chocolate and marshmallows to drink as we talked.

It was around the time me and Lacey were beginning to become close friends. And I was still reeling from the betrayal and attack from Jennifer. Lacey was so kind, and compassionate when it came to me. She cared for me in a way Jenn never did. But despite how different she was from Jenn, I really struggled with opening up to her. My lack of ability to discern one's character made me second-guess everything. I thought I knew who Jennifer was, I thought I could trust her. Only for me to find out, she was not the kind of person I thought she was. It was all a lie. I couldn't handle another betrayal from someone I thought I knew. Someone I thought was my friend.

But Lacey never pushed, she met me where I was at. One day, she noticed as I was opening up a little, that I was playing with part of the blanket on her bed. And seeing as at the time I had never had hot chocolate and marshmallows before, she started making it whenever I opened up to her. Giving me something else to focus on other than all the anxieties and thoughts that ran around in my head whenever I shared. Grounding me. And over time opening up got easier and easier. We've been doing it ever since.

And as I held the warm mug of cocoa in my hands, bringing all the comfort of the past memories of doing this with Lacey. I told her everything that happened with Josh. All of my fears, my anxieties about what might happen. The mug of cocoa grounding me. 

By the time I finished, the weight of it all left my shoulders.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"