The Skin Walker

03 | Unfamiliar Roads

"I think I lost my halo, I don't know where you are,"

Hometown twenty one pilots

R U T H

Our eyes held for merely a second before the man averted his gaze to the windshield.

Nice to meet you, too, I thought.

Reese followed in after me, shutting the car door behind him as Ander settled in the driver's seat and put his seatbelt on. His warm brown eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, and, had I thought it was possible, froze into his natural cold glare.

"Belt, Ruth," He told me in a tone that made me raise my eyebrows at him.

I inspected the instant change to his persona and knew it must've been due to the presence of the man seated in the passenger seat. Somehow, I felt it, too. It was the supremacy that masked the car with a tense atmosphere.

That was why I did as Ander told me almost instantly. Reese clicked his belt after I had secured mine, and I suspected he was watching my every move. It was as if they'd kidnapped me, and Reese was the one observing me to make sure I wouldn't escape.

"Awesome," I commented quietly as I crossed my arms over my chest, and glanced out of the window before the car started to move. "Where to next? Europa, right? I've never heard of it before."

My hands began to tremble out of sheer nerves and anxiety. I felt a mental breakdown was incoming, but I told myself not to cry in a car full of grown strangers. Resorting to my rambling was better than hyperventilating. I was grateful that this habit often distracted me from completely shutting down.

"If I said no to this, one of you would've kidnapped me. I'm sure of it. But it's okay, don't worry," I decided to mumble under my breath when no one answered me. "It's not every day I get kidnapped. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Again, no one spoke a word, and I began to bounce one of my legs up and down.

"Surely, your town shouldn't be too far from here, right?"

"Fuck, she talks too much," Reese whispered so quietly that I almost missed it. 

"You brood too much," I turned to him, but he was staring out the window. "Smile a little, be grateful you're not being kidnapped, aye?"

My snappy retort made him turn to face me. I spotted the anger in his eyes too quickly as he narrowed them. I couldn't help but feel triumph that I had gotten a reaction out of him. I must've surprised him with the lack of reaction to his glare because he clenched his jaw in defeat. 

I smiled at that. Good, feel what I'm feeling.

"Kidnapped?" Ander voiced amusedly from the front.

You might as well have.

I ignored him and shifted my attention to the windshield. With his sudden change in mood, I didn't want to risk seeing him snap. Loud noise and yelling always unnerved me. It wouldn't go too well if I froze any time soon. I needed to be on my toes around these people, and see what it was that I had to do in their town so that I could return home in one piece.

We drove past the sign indicating the exit of my town, and I tried to maintain an even breathing pattern. It was difficult to do so when I could feel Reese's eyes burn through the side of my face.

"Problem, Mr Detroit?" I uttered, wanting to smirk as he groaned in annoyance and rested his head on the headrest.

As he faced away from me, my gaze naturally slipped to the rearview mirror. It was unexpected that I'd be met with gold eyes staring back at me with such intensity that my heart leapt faster in my chest. The man was studying me, and I couldn't help but stare back.