𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

34. 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶 𝗿𝘂𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁?

And she was. Eszter was overjoyed to hear Michelle was safe and sound. However, after discovering her best friend at the festival, Eszter was internally panicking at the thought of Michelle still in the festival. Ned and Betty had been there to make matters worse, and it stressed Eszter to no end.

"That's good," subtly, Eszter wipes her eyes when she felt an overwhelming sense of emotions course through her. The enhanced nearly sobbed with the horrible thoughts running through her mind. But, somehow, she managed to display a smile. "I'll catch you up on the details later, okay?"

But something seemed to have shifted in Michelle that made Eszter do a double-take--her friend is normally a very calm and collected person, but now, Michelle was unsettled. Eszter frowned at the feeling, growing worried.

"Actually, I need to talk to you about something," Michelle gripped the strap of her messenger bag. A strong sense of uneasiness settles in her chest, barely attracting Eszter's attention as the enhanced felt almost void of the emotions surrounding her. Michelle curls her lips into a confused frown, practically pouting as the thoughts flow through her mind.

A very stressed-out Eszter roughly rubs her hands over her face, tugging on the skin of her eyelids. "Can it wait?"

Michelle stood at the doorway in silence, slightly put-off by the way Eszter was acting--it was odd to see her friend act so outrageous. It wasn't like Eszter to act like this--whatever this is. Michelle wasn't sure if this was her best friend anymore; the bubbly, kind-hearted, and full-of-life best friend. This person was broken, hallow, and angry; she was seething, grieving, vengeful, miserable. Like a lost soul trying to find its way back home, but it was abandoned in the world with nothing to keep them grounded; instead, they felt void of the world and lost all hope.

Worriedly, Michelle's first instinct was to interrogate Eszter and want the enhanced to know that she can hear her silent plea of help, but Michelle couldn't. It didn't matter whether Eszter wanted help or not, but the girl knew she wouldn't get anything from her friend; the enhanced was far too deep in this feeling of pain. Michelle has no relation to that feeling.

She doesn't even understand the level of emotions that were racing in Eszter's head.

Instead of backing down, Michelle kept her ground. "It can't," she insists with a firm tone. "It's kind of important--like weird-confusing important."

"It's--It's fine," Peter's soft voice peeks through the surface, breaking into the conversation between the two best friends. Eszter glances at the boy with a strong glare, taking him off-guard. "We can meet up right after if you still want. Maybe we can go on a short walk, too?"

Not a spec of emotion flooded Eszter's face, making Peter frown dejectedly.

"Fine."

Peter stared at Eszter as he was trying to read her expression and her body language, but the boy wasn't the empath of the relationship, so his plan failed utterly. If only things had turned out differently than they did, maybe then, their life wouldn't be so full of depressing feelings and anger. Peter hated standing there with barely anything to say, nothing to console Eszter as the enhanced sat alone on her bed, straying away from everyone as she looked closed-off from the world.

It was almost scary--watching as Eszter instantly snapped in only a couple of hours of being alone. One second the girl was smiling and filled with joy, then as soon as the thin line snapped, Eszter wasn't that same girl anymore; it was disheartening. Peter was hurt for her.

Avoiding the worried gazes, Peter nods briefly as he purses his lips, glancing at Michelle as he makes his way out of Eszter's room.

Once Peter exits the room, the girls remained silent for a mere second before Michelle awkwardly shuffles around the room, rounding around the bed until she stood in front of Eszter. The enhanced sat still, blinky slowly, as she flicked her dull green eyes at Michelle.