My Teacher's Obsession

Chapter 35 - The Trees Whisper

NOT EDITED

Derrick's P.O.V

"What's 'The Rock?' " I ask and I see Peyton roll her eyes in her rear view mirror.

"It's a place Ally goes or use to go, when she needed to be alone. I assumed you knew that since you're her stalker."

Ouch. I stay silent and they look at me waiting for a response. "What? Why are you all staring at me?"

"Aren't you going to go on some love rant bullshit, trying to prove you aren't psychotic anymore like Ally claims." Ashton huffs and I lightly laugh.

"Ally is all I care about and she's seen me change. So no, I'm not going to try to prove myself to you because either way you won't believe me. No matter how sorry I am, you'll all still look at me like some piece of shit. Just do me a favor and don't push Ally away because she's forgiven me. She's only doing what nobody else did for her when she was at her worse, and that's being accepting and caring."

They don't say another word and I smile proudly to myself. If they want to hate me, fine. But they shouldn't hate Ally because she loves me, and knew I could be better.

After another ten minutes of driving we pull into the park. "Okay, so it's a lot of walking, fair warning." I nod and we head off deep into the woods.

Ally's P.O.V

My head is pounding and my hip aches.

Shuffling of leaves and cracking noises from sticks? Uncomfortable rocks pressing into my back. Where am I?

"Baby girl?" I rub my eyes looking up at the figure.

"D-D-" I stutter but he shushes me.

"Don't talk, you need all the energy you have to get up."

"What?" I question and he sighs.

"I worry about you, everyday. And I can't do anything about it." He whispers and I squint my eyes.

"This is just a dream. Y-You, you're-, I watched you die." I croak and he leans forward and touches my cheek gently. His warm, loving hands, linger on my cheek and I let out a loud sob.

I push myself off of the ground and into his arms. "Daddy.." I whisper as happy tears run down my face.

"Sh, princess. Daddy's here. I'm here."

I push away and stare at him. "But how? How are you here? You got stabbed a-and they took you away. We had a funeral for you and I watched them put your casket into the ground!"

"Yes, you did. But at the hospital something happened..."

"What do you mean, 'something happened?'" I quote with my fingers, frowning at him.

"I wasn't in as bad condition as they told you and your mother. I lost a lot of blood,  but nothing that your old man couldn't handle." He jokes and I stare at him not finding the humor in this.

He clears his throat and opens his mouth to say something but instead he shakes his head. He pulls me in for another hug and I close my eyes. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I open my eyes.

Derrick, Peyton, Luke, Ashton, and Chris are all staring at me. I look around frantically to see I'm still on the ground and my dad is gone.

"Wha-" I mumble looking around. I bring a hand up to the back of my head. I look at the red glistening on my hand and I look back up at their shocked faces.