In The Woods ➳ H.S.

☙ f i v e

As soon as Liam left the room I grabbed the clothing they gave me, and tried my damnedest to ignore how the sleeve alone could afford my mother's medication for the next few months. I dressed myself in hurry, frantic as my heart was yet to calm down.

It was tight, which made me think that the dress was made for someone with a much smaller body size.

My waist was way too snug, and my chest - not that it was big at all to begin with - felt like they were about to tear the fabric open.

That wasn't what bothered me, though. I couldn't stop scratching at the skin of my neck and hand. I wanted to skin them off, and by the looks of it, I was achieving that.

The skin on my neck started to sting the more I scratched, and as for my other hand, it already began to bleed. The droplets of blood stained the edges of the sleeves.

That didn't just happen. I repeated to myself. That didn't happen.

Perhaps it really didn't happen. Maybe I just imagined it. Maybe the adrenaline pushed me a wee bit too far and made me think of frightening things. Maybe the exhaustion was too much and I was already partly dreaming.

I kept thinking of maybe's just to try and convince myself that nothing happened. The prince never walked in on me as I was getting dressed. He didn't touch me, or force me to touch him. He didn't pin my bare body down on the bed of one of his guards. His guard didn't accuse me of tempting a man I already despised before this day.

None of it happened.

I was sure of it. I had to be sure of it.

There was, of course, that small voice of logic that told me otherwise. I didn't want to listen to it, I didn't want to hear it, and I didn't want to believe it.

It never happened. Nothing happened.

I was already fully dressed as I stood still in the middle of the room.

The skin on my hand still bled, and the skin on my neck felt raw from my nails scratching at it.

I had no clue what to do next at that moment. The sight of the sun outside the window of Liam's room told me it was finally sunset. I knew Christian was probably losing his mind right now. A string of "I told her not to go"'s surely spilled from his mouth.

I was worried on how Lea would react as well. I was always home before senset, even when I first encountered the wolves. I was bleeding and I was tired, but I was back home in time.

I could only assume what kind of things would be causing havoc in their minds right now. I hoped, dearly, that Christian wouldn't be stupid enough to go run into the forests now - at night - and leave Lea and our mother just to look for me.

He knew the woods as well, since he was the one who introduced me to it. But he didn't know much. He didn't know my system of the marks - and even if he did, the marks wouldn't be visible at night time at all - and he hadn't gone far enough into the forests to be able to find this place safely.

As if a switch had been flipped, my head immediately jumped to an old thought.

All of my questions from a earlier today came back like a heavy storm. What were these people doing here? Why is there a huge cabin in the middle of the woods to begin with? Who was Lady Charlotte?

My head was getting lighter and lighter the more I thought, and I felt like I would have collapsed right on the floor if a knock didn't pull me out of my confusing questions in time.

"Liam?" I said, my voice broke halfway through the name, and I cringed at it.

Nothing happened. My voice is merely horse from screaming in the woods. That had to be it.