Shift | Complete ✔️

10 | Hit the Dust

Coming here was a mistake. A mistake for everyone. It felt like everything I touched turned to shit.

Leaving would be the safest option for everyone. Maybe as briefly as I'd opened this chapter, it was meant to be closed just as quickly.

~

The moon was rising as hues of purple and red tinted the sky. Sophia and Gunner had made their way back to Full Moon to help with Phelan before closing up for the night. I didn't even ponder what they were doing exactly, but mixing margaritas probably wasn't on the to-do list.

Taking three steps at a time, I bolted up the stairs and packed my back pack. My stomach jolted as I realised my actions. I was going to up and leave, and suddenly became filled with immense guilt.

My lip began to tremble as I felt like the worst person in the world.

It's for the greater good.

They never asked for a war or to harbour a human anyway.

But by god he is hot.

Groaning inwardly, I bolted downstairs as fast as I'd flew up them and scribbled a note for Phelan, leaving it on the kitchen counter.

I'm sorry. Forget I was ever here. I can't be responsible for anyone getting hurt. I hope you understand. Please don't come looking for me x

I held the pen for a few seconds longer and questioned what I wrote. My body felt like a magnet, each slow step away becoming harder as I struggled with my decision.

But it had to be done.

The silence hit me as I jumped into my car. It felt like the windows were shaking when the reality was, it was me who was trembling like a leaf.

Breathe.

Fumbling with the keys, I started the engine. Even the car was reluctant- clicking over again and again as the motor struggled to start.

Come on girl.

As was as if it were telling me don't do this, it finally came to life. And as it did it, it dawned on me that the only reason I was able to leave was because Phelan had stuck true to word and had my car returned after the storm at Full Moon.

Another reason why I was the biggest fucking jerk. But although he mightn't see it now, I was doing him a favour.

With that reassurance, I hit the gas and flew out of there. I watched as his beautiful rustic hideaway faded from view as I rattled along the dirt track that weaved through the pines and dimly lit cabins.

This place was just a dream.

It isn't real.

It's time to go back to your normal life.

Gripping the steering wheel, my eyes stayed glued to the road. Sweat beaded in my palms and my breath quivered.

Full Moon was up ahead. Could I drive straight past as if nothing had happened?

Images of Phelan standing in the door frame filled my thoughts. The way he looked at me that morning, seeing straight through me, as if dissecting every thought I'd ever had.

The way he caught me eyeing his shoulders, tracing his jaw line, getting lost in the flecks of gold that shimmered in his eyes.

I gulped.

It was a momentary lapse in judgment.

It was a fairy tale.

But fairy tales aren't real.

I wiped a tear from my cheek as I saw it pass in my peripheral vision. I just couldn't bring myself to look out of fear I'd stop and change my mind. And for something that I proclaimed wasn't real, the tears welling in my eyes certainly told me otherwise.

Fiddling with the radio, I knew as soon as I hit the outskirts of Haven that I'd finally have some reception. I could charge my phone and use it, I could look online and find somewhere to stay. Anywhere to stay. It wasn't like I had a destination now, and if I returned to where I lived back in Cedar Grove, it meant The Guild or Phelan would find me either way.

I couldn't. I needed to start from scratch.

Passing the sign I noticed when I first drove into Haven, it dawned on me that I'd actually done it.

I'm sorry...

My chest began to burn and the gravity of it all sunk in, leaving me sobbing through blurred vision as I fought the will to turn around.

What the he-

Each moment that passed saw trees and curved roads fuse together in a haze, as I struggled to retain my lucidity.

What was happening?

Gripping the wheel maniacally, my teeth grinded in agony as my stomach buckled in protest. I shook my head, hoping the moment would pass and it was simply the stress of it all.

But it didn't stop. It got worse.

Crying out in pain, my hands slipped from the wheel as I fumbled, skidding the car to furious halt on the side of the damp, dirt road.

Struggling to breathe, I remained buckled over. My chest heaved, sweat dripped from every pour and I struggled to move.

I didn't know what dying felt like but if I could have defined it by any moment, it was this.

Mustering whatever strength I had left, I found the door handle before weakly leaning against it before toppling out and onto the road.

Make it stopppp...

My shrills became desperate wails as my body convulsed on the forest floor. Bile lurched from my mouth as I crawled through the dirt, resting my body on the side of the car away from the road.

Pl.. pleaseeeee...

I folded forward, slumped and defeated as I laid merciless to the onslaught of pain that flooded me.

"It's okay, I can make it stop Edie. Shh..."

The voice seemed so far away, the agony sending me into what felt like an out of body experience that I didn't realise that I was being cradled against his chest. Phelan's chest.

"Phelan..." My voice was feeble. Defeated.

I felt his fingers stroke my hair as sobs wracked my body.

"I've got you, you'll start to feel better shortly. I promise."

Clinging to his shirt, I pushed myself further against him. I had to be closer. Burying myself into the crook of his neck, I inhaled deeply, rubbing my face against his skin desperately trying to feel closer.

I was running on pure impulse. I couldn't explain my feelings or actions in any way and it terrified me.

"What's happening to me?"

I felt his Adam's Apple bob before eliciting a reply, "I will explain it later, but we have to get you back, and we have to get you back now."