Un-destroyed

Chapter 3

FLASHBACK STARTS

The lights of the house are off, as my sister and I walk with our grandma to the front door. My sister and I have spent a week at our grandma's house. Every summer we spend one week at our her house in the mountains. It is the best week of summer, as all we do is eat cookies, swim, and play games. The hot winds of July drifted across our skin, and for some reason a chill ran up my spine. My grandma knocks on the door, and when no one comes to the door, she begins to retrieve her keys from her purse. She turns the lock off the door, and we follow her inside slowly, my grandma turns on the lights. A scream fills the air, and my grandma grabs my sister and I harshly by our wrists and begins to pull us out of our house. As quick as my grandma is pulling us out, I get a glimpse at the sight. My mom lays in a pool of her blood. I immediately throw up and begin to cry, my sister grabs me and pulls me into a hug. The floorboards of our porch squeak as I fall onto them, my breathing is sporadic and out of control. My sister cries over me and begs me to stay awake.

FLASHBACK ENDS

I quickly wipe the tears that have leaked from my eyes. The next part of that story resumes when I wake up in the hospital surrounded by my grandma and sister who have puffy eyes and have clearly been crying the whole time.

I shiver after recalling that horrific memory, I quickly decide to move my mind towards Wilder. What did he mean by he will make sure we see each other? Wilder seems like a dream come true to me. I need to get my mind off of him because it is starting to creep me out how often I think about him.

Since work is finished for the day, I think I will use my time efficiently and utilize it to go on a walk. I grab my keys and begin walking around the campus grounds aimlessly. I take in my surroundings and look at the flowers blooming on each sliver of grass. Flowers have always been something I like to look at, the different shapes and colors all look beautiful in their separate ways. It is truly a beautiful sight to see. When I was younger I envied girls who were named after flowers, and had beautiful names with beautiful meanings. There was a girl in my class in high school named Rose, and she was definitely a rose. And ironically her best friends were named Violet, and Daisy. Coincidence or not, it always amused me that the three popular girls were quite literally flowers. At my high school there were two other 'Wrens' and both of them were boys.

FLASHBACK STARTS

"Wren, your name is special because it is a part of you and you are special." Reign said to me. I fiddle with my braided hair. I am even envious of his name because at least his sounds powerful, mine sounds like a stupid name.

"Do not even start with that." I tell Reign, and he smiles. We always talk about my stupid name and how much I dislike it. Reign walks with me to the lunchroom and we both grab a tray of the slop the lunch ladies plopped onto our plates.

"How is this even allowed?" Reign laughs as he pokes his slop with his fork. I laugh along with him. We stand in the line laughing for a bit until the flower puff girls walk up to Reign and I. They begin to tell us to keep moving. Reign puts his free hand on the small of my back and I smile lightly as I get a warm feeling in my chest. We walk towards our normal table, in the back right corner of the cafeteria. We sit on opposite sides and talk about stupid things and how one day we will escape the fiery pits of high school. Reign looks at me like I have grown two heads.

"What?" I manage to say it through chewing my slop. Reign laughs and palms his forehead, his smile brightens up my day, and his green eyes pierce my soul as he laughs heartily. We always laugh with each other as we do not get to laugh so often at home. We never talk about our home life, as we both have stated we have miserable home lives and agreed that we should not talk about them. Reign finally stops laughing and looks at me again, his eyes stare at my forehead and he begins shaking his head lightly. He takes a deep breath in, and releases it before his eyes meet mine.

"You are the only person who can always manage to get 'slop' on your forehead." Reign smiles, as he sticks out his finger and gets the slop from my forehead. He sticks his finger into his mouth, and he makes a face of disgust. The food at the cafeteria is at best 'sickening', Reign and I often make up fake scenarios where the lunch ladies are actually witches who make the food a.k.a 'slop' in the back of the cafeteria and stir it with their broomsticks. What a wicked theory we have. Our laughing and storytelling comes to a crashing stop when someone approaches our table. Reign gets deadly silent, and I look behind me to see the person he hates most approaching. Henry is always trying to start some drama with Reign. They compete against each other, and Henry every year has to make it a goal to beat Reign in everything. Henry clears his throat and gives me the elevator eyes. I suddenly feel ten times smaller.

"Reign, you and your freakazoid girlfriend should get up, because we want to sit here." Henry says to Reign and I. Reign is on the soccer team with Henry, but they are not by any means friends. Reign turns to Henry in a swift motion, and stands up. Reign towers over Henry, and I can see what will start to happen. I jump up from my seat, and get between Reign and Henry, just as Reign is throwing his punch at Henry, I put my hand over Reign's fist. It hurts my hand upon impact, because Reign is strong and much taller than me.

"It is not worth it." I say quietly, I pick up my belongings and walk straight out of the cafeteria. I rush down the hallways and make my way towards the football field. My pace quickens as I hear the thumping footsteps of Reign drawing near.

"What is wrong with you? Wren?" He calls after me. I have told Reign so often, that violence is not the answer so why does he persistently try to start it. My blood is boiling as I continue walking down the hallway and Reign begins running behind me. I am not even bothered by Henry's name calling. I have been called much worse, and frankly it never affects me. Though I care for Reign, deeply, and his actions influence me. I even think I love him, but I will never be with someone who has such a dark side. Violence of any kind is not tolerated by me.

FLASHBACK ENDS

My phone vibrates in my pocket and pulls me out of my thoughts. I pull it out to see an unknown number that has texted me.

Unknown: I so badly wish I could see you now.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Already forgotten about me? :( It is Wilder.

Me: Oh... sorry about that but how did you get my number?

Wilder: I have my ways ;)

Me: Weirdo :)

I put my phone back into my pocket, and I cannot help but smile. I continue on walking and eventually I make it back to my apartment, and as I walk to the door, I notice a flower blooming in my pot on my porch. Finally, I think to myself, every plant I have ever owned I killed but not this one. The excitement bursts through me, and I take a photo of it with my phone, and send it to my sister. I make my way inside my apartment, and realize I am out of literally everything. I blow out a deep breath, and grab my keys and purse, I get in my car and drive to the grocery store. I pull into the parking lot and make my way inside the store. I grab what I can think of, and my stomach rumbles as I make my way down the cereal aisle. I have a thing for cereal. I grab a box of my two favorite cereals, and as I make my way towards the milk aisle. I stop as my phone continues to vibrate.

Wilder: Wren?

Wilder: Are you okay?

Wilder: Hello?

Wilder: I am getting on the next plane back, please text me back.

Wilder: Wren?!?

Wilder: What are you doing? Who are you with?

Me: Wilder, calm down. I am just out grocery shopping.

I put my phone on silent and put it in my purse. What is wrong with this guy? We have only met twice and we are not even together... Seriously, what is the problem? An overbearing feeling consumes me and suddenly I do not want anything to do with Wilder for a little while. I need some space, I mean he is acting like we are together for a long time or something. I continue on with my shopping, clearing my head of Wilder and his crazy texting habits.