Subject Me To Life [Book One] ✔️ *EDITING*

Chapter Fifty-Three

*Not edited*Not proofread*

Chapter 53– You don't get it:

I'm pushing him away faster than I have ever done before, startled and alert. Dakota stumbles, not expecting it, but backs up a few paces so he's a good distance away from me.

       I'm surprised and pissed off as I see Zoe standing in front of us, a weird look on her face, almost as if she's in pain. Her eyes dart between me and Dakota, trying to figure out what's going on.

When her eyes settle on me, I can feel her analysing every part of my body. Her eyes particularly focus on my tattoo's and the visible piercings that are on show. I think she has the same thoughts as I did— We're nothing alike. But this fact seems to bother her much more than it did me.

"Sorry," she mumbles, her eyes glancing at Dakota who stares at her with a look I don't think I've seen him give anyone else before. "I didn't know you were..." she gulps subtly, but I'm able to catch it. "Um, with someone else." The way she says it makes me feel she meant more than just him being in the presence of someone else.

He's quick to correct her, "I'm not," and my suspicions that she had meant it in a more intimate way are confirmed.

Puzzled, her mouth opens and closes, then she shakes her head and forces a smile. "I'm just gonna go," she juts out her thumb and points behind her. "Again, I'm sorry for interrupting."

She sends me one last look before turning around and heading back to wherever she came from. I wonder if it's a coincidence that she came to the same spot Dakota was in or if she'd been searching for him like I had, but brush it away as I notice Dakota leaving, following her direction. "Zoe!" He calls out to her fading silhouette. She doesn't turn around and I can tell he's torn on what to do as he hesitates with his next movements.

I raise an eyebrow at him as he turn his body to face me. "I need to go after her," he tells me. "I can't just let her wander around the woods on her own," he unnecessarily explains further, "something could happen."

So let it, I almost say, but don't. Instead I nod without saying anything and watch after him with an eye roll as he rushes after her. Like a loyal little puppy, the voices remark bitterly.

I'm now left deep in the middle of the woods, on my own, with nothing to do. The bonfire is most likely still going, the teenagers getting more drunk by the second, but I don't want to go back there yet.

Although I'm quite far away from everyone else, far enough that I can't hear the music anymore, it would only take me ten or so minutes to get back, and that doesn't give me enough time to be on my own. I need longer. Just a little while longer before I have to deal with people.

So I decide to venture off further into the woods as an alternative to standing in this one spot. My eyes have adjusted to the darkness now, so trying to manoeuvre through the woods is little to no trouble at all. I can identify the shapes of the trees and the dips in the ground as I wander.

I opt on heading North, the opposite direction in which Dakota and Zoe went in, because I could think of nothing worse than catching up with those two. Her especially.

I frown at the mere thought.

There's something not quite right about the little blonde bitch; the way she just appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it's because I don't know her and I certainly do not fucking trust her, but her out-of-the-blue appearance doesn't settle well with me.