Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨

Regardless of the fact I hadn't been going for about two weeks, I still wasn't prepared to return to school; even before the bell had gone, there was too much of everything.

Too many people, too many lockers banging shut, too many conversations. Too much of everything.

And yet, in the midst of it all, there was an emptiness without her there — even though she'd barely attended Hellgate High for less than three months. It was like everywhere she went; she left a trace of herself behind. More than just her scent, it was like an essence of her soul lingered behind.

Or maybe that deep-seated sorrow in my soul was worming its way into my brain as well, making everything I saw, smelt, touched, tasted and felt a reminder of her.

"You good, man?" Ryder's hand landed on my shoulder, startling me.

I swallowed. "Nope."

"Me either." He pulled me to one side and the rest of the pack walked on. "But listen, Theo, we'll get through this. Ember will come back to us — to you, she'll come back to you. Then things will start getting better, they always do when we find ourselves in a low place like this."

"Since when did you get so deep?" I scoffed half-heartedly.

He shifted, suddenly uneasy. "Since I started seeing visions of my mom again."

"Your mom?" I exclaimed; he'd first seen apparitions of her after she died several years ago —it was what led him to the supernatural world in the first place. "How long has it been since you've seen her?"

"Years." He eyed me seriously. "It's been years — I started seeing her again that night we left you and Ember in Coloma. We never should've let the two of you stay there. I should've done something, said something but I—"

"Hey," I half-smiled at him, "It's not your fault, and there's nothing you could've done."

Ryder started nodding back to me, a half-smile also finding his face, until he froze up completely — his eyes suddenly full of fear and dread, his chemosignals screaming out his anxiety.

"What is it?" The words had barely left my mouth when I turned around and, following Ryder's stare, saw Chris Woodman standing at the other end of the corridor.

Ryder struggled to grasp at my arm and failed to pull me back as I lurched off towards the treacherous son of a bastard.

He stood stock-still as I threw myself at him — only moving when I viciously shoved him against the wall of lockers. My claws were hidden as they dug into his hoodie; I had a hold of him now and I wasn't going to let the slippery bastard get away from me this time.

"She trusted you," I hissed at him, millimetres away from his quivering face, "She trusted you and you fucking betrayed her."

I landed the first punch, my fist connecting with his nose and resulting in a resounding crack. Another and another, and the blood was running down his face — just like they did to her, just like he did to her.

"Theo, stop!" Jason yelled at me, but I blocked him out, dragging Chris' unresisting body through the hallway and outside.

I threw him down and he fell sprawling on the grass, struggling to get away from me. Quickly, I pinned him to the ground and continued to hit him, each strike equivalent and justification to my anger, my pain, my loss.

"Theo — please..." Chris croaked out as my hands wrapped around his throat. "Ember... s-s-she... w-wouldn't... want this..."

"The dead don't want anything," I growled at him — what little control I had was rapidly slipping out of my grasp. "Because they're fucking dead, and it's all your fault that she's fucking dead."