Rediscovered

4. Ryan

If he was being completely honest, Ryan had absolutely NO IDEA how he rediscovered himself. He was currently dragging a hesitating Clove to the car. He had saved the number on his phone so he knew that this was someone he could trust. Still, he was new to all of this and still had major trust issues with a lot of people. Especially because of what happened there.  

Ryan could tell that Clove was afraid. She was slightly trembling and she had that expression on her face that said: Yeah, I have no idea where you're taking me but I'm going to follow you because you saved my life. And that was completely fine with him. She was also hurt badly, so they took their time walking towards the car. School didn't start until 30 minutes anyways. Ryan was almost to the car door when he felt a tug behind him on the hem of his sweater.

Clove had stopped walking and was making small whimpers at the sight of the car and the man standing next to it. He frowned and sighed at the sight. It reminded him of the time when his family went to the amusement park and he didn't want to get on the roller coster ride. That thought lingered in his head for a few moments as he recalled the fear he had felt back then. 

"Clove, what's wrong?" he asked gently. He didn't find anything weird about the car or the man, so it must've been something else.

"Ryan... why does our driver have spider legs coming out of his back?" Clove whispered. She had a small fear of spiders ever since she'd been bitten by one when she was 8. She had absolutely no intention of getting into a car with a mutated version of one.

Ryan wanted to smack himself for not telling Clove that their driver was a Muskely and that he was a spider breed. He could now completely understand why she was trembling at the sight of David. He did the same when they first met anyways. Clove must've thought that Ryan was dragging her off to be eaten by some human spider.

"Oh yeah, sorry forgot to tell you. David, that's his name, he's a Muskely and he's part spider. Muskleys are super skilled healers, by the way, so he'll be able to heal you in no time. I called him once I sensed some monsters nearby. I thought that they were coming for me again." Ryan laughed. He regretted saying that last part immediately.

"Again?" Clove asked. "What happened the first time?" She was curious to know more about Ryan because all she really knew about him was his name. She wanted to repay him for saving her after all, even though that would make her feel like helpless person. 

Ryans expression darkened when the question was raised. A lot of thing happened the first time he was attacked by the monsters. He lost everything. His world was blown up right in front of his eyes. He had lost his human family, his home, his everything.  He was afraid to start over, to meet his true family, or to meet his new everything. He was afraid of losing that everything too. He didn't know how to answer Cloves' question. He knew that he had to tell someone how he felt. Suppressing all of these feeling deep down would do him no good, but couldn't bring himself to tell Clove how he truly felt. 

"I'll tell you about it later, yeah?" he replied with a cheeky grin. He wasn't ready yet. "What about we get in the car first, before someone sees us?" 

"Why would that be so bad?" asked Clove, with her head slightly tilting. She didn't think that someone seeing the two of them together would be such a bad thing.

"Because if they see us, they'll also see the enormous mess we made behind us." answered Ryan while sticking his thumb in the direction behind them with a sheepish grin. He couldn't bear the thought of more people hoarding around them to ask questions. He already had enough questions on his plate after all. 

Clove laughed out loud with a a dimple smile. It wasn't the forced laugh of sympathy that Ryan would always hear everyday from his friends, it was an honest, honey-like laugh. He studied her features deeply, wanting to know more about where that laugh was coming from. She had wavy brown hair, crystal-like silver/brown eyes, and a sugary complexion. If he were with his so called friends, they would've joked on which guy Clove would most likely date. But this time, he didn't. Ryan wanted to respect that sweet laugh. He wanted to keep hearing it. To him, it was a signal to release and let go of all the emotions and stress he kept within him. He wanted to preserve that beautiful laugh.