Slaves of the Night

Chapter 1 - Strenuous Relationships

Slaves of the Night

Chapter 1: Strenuous Relationships:

  So many people want after things they cannot have. Now most people would just long for them from a distances, gazing adoringly and thinking that their fantasy world would come true. Others will go to extraordinary lengths to succeed in getting whatever they want, no matter the consequences. But what truly happens when you have everything you ever really wanted? And someone else's desire is to take all of that away from you?

  A frustrated scream escaped from my lips as I slammed the door behind me. My hand clenched the door handle so tightly that my grip was becoming slick on the metal. I ground my teeth together before forcing myself to release my hold.

  Every day of the week. Each and every one. When would there be a time that Tristan Everdeen wouldn't annoy me to no end? He was probably in that office of his, glaring at the door as if that would make me change my mind. The hallway seemed so quiet now after the loudness of our very vocal argument. I knew that a good amount of people had overheard us, but this had been happening so frequently that I doubt they bothered to look up from what they were doing anymore. Our arguments were more often than a day with a cloud in the sky and always ended with the overwhelmingly tense atmosphere.

  I walked down the hall, dragging a hand through my hair as I tried to stomp my anguish out into the wood floors. The feeling of the air-conditioned flooring against my heated skin reminded me that I was barefoot. Barefoot and wearing nothing but shorts and a light tank top. The month of May had gotten so hot that it was almost unbearable. Most of the pack escaped the heat by dressing in as little as possible, leaving everyone only barely decent. A year ago I would have still thought the weather was mild and temperate, but when your body ran hotter than healthy it was understandable why you sweated buckets when outside.

  Teeth still in gridlock, I swooped into the kitchen, stealing a package of Hostess snack cakes from the cupboards. The coast was clear so far which was lucky because I would've either been left hungry from avoiding the kitchen or overfed by Tristan's mother in attempt to get me to talk through my problems with her. Not that I didn't like the woman--I loved her in fact. She was the best mother figure I had had since my own mom passed away and all that she had done from me couldn't be repaid with any amount of money. But during the times when I wanted nothing more than to punch holes in the walls, the idea of talking through my problems only grated my nerves.

  Snatching my backpack from the counter where I had discarded it earlier, I calmed my walk to a dull thud in order to go upstairs. With keen hearing I heard a small crash from downstairs, no doubt from Tristan throwing something at the floor. It's not that this had been a particular huge fight, but it hadn't been small either.

  Fights between us ranged from mild discussions on our impending graduation to large throw-the-random-lamp-across-the-room-in-rage screaming matches about our view on how each other behaves. Today could be described as moderately intolerable because it involved the fact that I had been sent another letter of acceptance from a university I had applied to earlier this year. Our positions on the subject were so disjointed and fuzzy that I wasn't sure if I had been the wanting to go or not. The fighting seemed pointless in retrospect but our personalities both demanded a win in the endless argument and I doubted either of us ever would.

  I flung my bag to the bed in my room--well technically it was Tristan's but it had grown to be both of ours. I hadn't really had a room in this house besides the one I had stayed in when healing up from the raid over the winter. I winced at the thought and locked the door behind me. The last thing I needed was Tristan to come walking in and prod the fight back into full existence. I just needed the time to calm down and straighten my thoughts back into order. After a brief moment of closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I stripped and headed to the shower. I turned the water to the coldest setting possible and let it wash over me to release the tension the heat had over me.