TIO

CHAPTER : 3

Slowly the grey mist that clouded his vision dispersed and the world righted itself as he gained consciousness. He blinked as the sunlight blinded him and he could make out blurry figures above him peering at him with concern.

He was quite sure that his face must be turning red in midst of all the curious stares he was receiving, but thank goodness he was tanned. But if they only knew, one of his worst fears was a decapitated body walking on its own...add on extra points if the head was turned the other way around. He slowly raised himself off the floor and stumbled and was caught just in time by Elisabeth.

He didn't know how he was going to tell Elisabeth that Ariadne was going to with stay with them. As far as he knew Elisabeth and Ariadne didn't exactly have a colorful history together.

"Didn't know you were scared of girls who arranged their hair in the front to freak somebody out," Ariadne said grinning, "A really nice way to welcome me,"

Daniel nervously scratched his neck and looked at Elisabeth pleadingly as she gave him a pointed stare that clearly said 'We'll talk about his later' and she loosened the grip on his arm.

"Didn't know you were staying," Elisabeth said slyly.

Daniel gave Elisabeth a glare trying to make her shut up but she looked at anything but at him.

"Don't worry," Ariadne said smiling, "I'll be gone in a month...I'm not here for your boyfriend you know?"

"You're leaving in a month?" Natalie said surprised, "You can't survive all by yourself,"

"I think it's better if you stay with us," Nora said grouchily shocking me as Elisabeth narrowed her eyes at her. They were supposed to be best friends.

"Nah!" Ariadne said looking between Elisabeth, Nora and Daniel with a slight smile on her lips, "I think I'll pass,"

"Good," Elisabeth said smugly.

Daniel removed her hands that was still gripping his arm and willed himself to move out of the room. He was feeling guilty for the cat fight between Elisabeth and Ariadne. He shouldn't have flirted with Elisabeth giving her false hopes that he actually liked her.

He felt conflicted, he couldn't trust many people because of what Ariadne did and now he wanted to shield her from Elisabeth's snide comments.

He just wanted to get his mind off all this, so he decided to go to the nearest town that was a couple miles away to get some things that they needed. He knew that there wasn't enough Cads with them but he just decided to buy the necessities with whatever money he had left.

He packed half a liter of water in an empty plastic bag and the twenty Cads in his travel sack and put on a hood and a hanky covering his nose and mouth. He was about to step into the sun when Ariadne came running towards him.

"Mind if I come with you?" she asked picking up her own bag.

"No," he replied gruffly, "Make sure you bring some water,"

He knew that Ariadne was brought up in a good family and he knew that she was not the athletic type to cross the desert without any water. Now when he thought about it, he had no idea how she survived the past two years. He made a mental note to ask her when he had the chance.

"I won't need it," she said confidently stepping out of the shack, "I can see that you're running low on supplies, so it's better not to waste it."

"How did you-" Daniel started suspiciously but she cut him off.

"Natalie told me," she replied curtly. Both of them started walking North-east, climbing over the dunes, towards their destination.

"I'm sorry," she said softly after a while, "For betraying you, everyone...will you forgive me?" she said holding her hand out.