Eric Lets Go

Chapter 17

I went through my fear landscape this morning and am still confused about that one fear. I would go back to the roof to be alone but when I woke up, there was a note in my shoe. It read:

Sophia, meet me in the training room at 4 p.m.
-Eric

So here I am, waiting for Eric and it's already 4:20. I'm getting very impatient and am about to leave when an angry Eric bursts through the door. He doesn't look at me, he just starts hitting the living daylights out of a punching bag. Maybe he didn't see me.

"Woah there big boy," I say, making my way over to him. I never thought about what he is going through right now but clearly he's in a zone. He never answered me, he just growled. Next thing I knew, he swung around and his fist collided with my jaw. A scream escaped my mouth and my body flung to the floor, but my eyes stayed on his. My ribs are kicked once and then a giant weight is put on my torso. He is sitting on me with his hands around my throat. It's not too hard to the point where I can't breathe but it's enough to keep my neck from moving. My eyes never lose his though.

Men are hard to read. They don't always show their feelings but I know Eric well enough to read him through his eyes. They are like steel. Grey and hard. But it's like he saw the damage he did and they turned soft. Warm and blue. Like the ocean, they are something I want to drown myself in.

Except my eyes probably say the total opposite. Mine are fire. All I see is a monster. Was he trying to kill me? Did he want to lose my trust again?

His grip on my neck loosens and he gets up. His hands go to his hair immediately and they pull at his head in frustration. His back is to me so I can't tell what he's feeling right now. I can tell you what I'm feeling though. I want to beat the shit out of him and yell at him but I want to comfort him, ask him what's wrong. Who knows though, what happens if I go back over there? Will he hurt me again?

"Eric?" It came out like a whisper. He sighs and puts his hands on his hips. His back is still to me but his head is to the side so I can see half of his face. "What was that?"

"The Leaders meeting was this morning," he says. "Corey still hasn't been found but we've put a warning to each faction and there will be a reward to whoever finds him," his back is still to mine and he starts to head to the door.

"Eric!?" My voice was louder now. "You avoided my question!" I wait for a response but nothing. I laugh and say, "You know, it's kinda messed up. First you tell me to meet you here at 4. You keep me waiting for 20 minutes and when you do show up, you almost take me out!" I start laughing again, "And now you're just going to leave and act like nothing just happened."

I stand there, waiting for him to do something. Anything. He turns around slowly, a little too slowly. His strides over to me scare me. He stands tall in front of me. His steel eyes are back and locked on mine. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut, initiate."

I roll my eyes, "Ugh. Typical Eric. Too stuck up to say sorry or admit that he's wrong."

He steps closer to the point where I can't even see his eyes. If I look up I just see his chin so I focus my eyes on his chest. I want to move back but my feet won't let me. I'm terrified of the man in front of me right now but so drawn to him. I haven't been afraid of Eric since the first day of initiation but then again, I had never seen him like this.

He takes a deep breathe before growling, "Hopefully you learned not to be near me while I'm mad. So maybe next time, you won't almost get yourself killed."

I scoff at his comment. "So it's my fault now?" He shrugs at my question but stays quiet. "Okay. You know?" I say starting to move back a little bit to look him in the face. He has a smug look on and looks almost amused. "Why tell me to come here just so we can fight, when you can just break up with me to get on with your cranky life?" I ask. It was more of a threaten. His face drops to a worried look rather than a smug smirk.