Divagate

Chapter 28

Lia said he was healing, so he might be awake. Who knows how he's going to react when he sees me. He might attack me, or completely ignore me. Or a combination of both.

If I'm being honest, I don't know which one would be the worst-case scenario.

Unzipping the door and poking his head in, Vince asks Charlotte to join us outside. I manage to catch a glimpse inside the tent while Vince steps back. Thankfully, Siggy's still out cold. Now, however, there isn't a bandage wrapped around his head and some color has returned to his face.

The tiniest bit of tension in my chest releases at the sight of him. Through all of the worry, anger, and animosity towards Siggy, I do care for him. I mean, why wouldn't I? We've been through hell together.

Shit, we're still in it. With how things have been going, we might never make it out.

Charlotte stops checking the wound on Siggy's head and crawls out of the tent to join us,

"Good to see you again, Darwin." She says with a pleasant smile. "We were worried sick about you and Lia once we noticed your absence. Speaking of Lia, where is she?" Charlotte glances around the campsite, her brows furrowing when she sees no sign of her.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. This is going to be awkward to say, so I'm just going to put it bluntly. Lia started her period." Charlotte's eyebrows shoot up while Vince and Lincoln cringe. "She couldn't sleep, and it kept me up. When I reached my breaking point, she told me what was wrong. I remembered what you had said back at the farmhouse, so instead of leaving her here at camp, I took her to the truck for the night. Hope you don't mind that we took the truck keys and snack bag."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Charlotte asks, seeming offended. Fuck. I glance down, kicking at the dirt,

"With how busy you've been with Siggy, we felt it would be best to let you rest." Sure, that sounds believable. Charlotte nods, still appearing somewhat hurt. Vince takes this as an opportunity to speak,

"Speaking of Siggy, and this may be a bad time to bring it up, but while you were gone, something incredible happened." He pauses in an attempt to build anticipation, which isn't going to happen. "Siggy started healing!"

Vince, Lincoln, and Charlotte give me expectant stares. I give them an indifferent stare back.

Oh, that's right, I'm not supposed to know this yet.

Trying to go back to when I first heard the news from Lia, I crack a fake smile and adopt an enthusiastic tone,

"Are you serious? That's great! I'm so glad he's doing better." Lincoln frowns, clearly seeing right through me. I should've seen this coming. While I was learning his forms of nonverbal communication, he was doing the same for me.

I wasn't as worried about the others since Vince is kinda gullible and Charlotte hasn't known me long, but seeing Lincoln disappointed in me yet again makes me feel like shit. I sigh as my facade fades,

"Look, I'm really sorry about what I did to him. I was just very upset about how he was treating everyone, including myself. Once he charged at Lia like that, the anger bubbled over and I couldn't rein it back in. Believe me, I tried. I'll admit, hitting Siggy with the log was overboard, but in the moment, I saw it as the only way to stop him from hurting anyone. Because of my stupid actions, I left a huge mess for you to clean up and hurt my best friend. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

The trio standing in front of me says nothing for a minute. Of course, I don't expect them to. Even I know what I did was horrible. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Vince clears his throat,