Mr. Wolf's House Of Extraordinary Wonders

Chapter 8: The Condemnation of Heather Riley

"I just want you to check for me, please? Also mention none of this to Ryder. He isn't what you think. He's a danger an-..." Levi stopped when he saw Ryder. I nodded, he didn't need to know about any of this. He ran up to us with Kyle in tow. Levi stood me on my own two feet. I wiped my eyes and knelt down so I was the same height as Ryder. He stroked my face as he rocked me back and forth. I desperately wanted to pull away but I stayed there. I didn't need him to be suspicious. 

"Are you okay?" he asked looking at me with a worried expression. I nodded softly and he rocked me a little more before turning to the guys. "What happened?" he asked. Nobody answered. Levi looks at me and I gulp.

His features harden and his sandy hair started to pale. "What happened?" he said again his voice hard and his eyes dark. He looked so different, physically yeah but also on an aurotic sense too. His aura was changing and warping in an inorganic way. His transformation seemed to rip through his current form, his bones popping in a disgusting way. His hair was pure  white and he stood almost 6'3. He had well passed Levi's 5'5 height.  His present irked my demons even more so than before.

Levi met his eye and spoke evenly despite Ryder's outburst and the major height difference.  Obviously he had been dealing with Ryder for a long time. "She ran into the Ever Changing Room without being invited and it tried to kill her" his aura was as unreadable as his blank face. Nothing like his expression when he asked me if I was ok. It was strange to see the change.

Ryder looked at me with pity before asking, "Why did you run into that room?" he narrowed his eyes at me when I didn't answer. Levi nodded at me, trying to coax me to say something. I looked at my shoes, my stomach churning as I tried to think of something. I slide into the depths of my mind and Ryder followed me. I realized it to late and the only thing I could think to protect was the memory of Levi's warning. The memory of Alex pushing me was left open to be seen.

I blinked and Ryder was staring at me with pity, "Its OK doll, you don't have to protect him" He looks at Kyle who seemed to shy away from him. Levi goes to speak but Kyle disappears and Ryder smiles at me. "How about you go collect your things from your dorm, hm?" he says it questioningly but I could tell I had little of a choice.

He brushed his clothes off and reached for my hand. I gulp and looked up at him. I knew Ryder was powerful but I had no idea he was...this, tyrant like thing.

A throat was cleared and I looked up at Ryder's waiting hand. I reached for it and he pulled me close just like Levi had. But it wasn't like Levi at all, it wasn't warm or a place I wanted to be. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts. I couldn't compare Ryder to  Levi because they were just that different. I looked up at Levi's sympathetic face. I looked down and turned away from him.

I looked up and we were outside of my dorm. The bright green numbers taunted me. I looked closer. They no longer were 804, but 612 instead. I knocked on the door. The laughter from before quieted as someone neared the door.

The door opened and revealed Snake Boy with the girl from before hanging off of him, I think her name was Heather? Holli? Harper? Hope? No no it had to be Heather. Right?

"Oh your back?" he asked stumbled toward me with a lazy smile on his face, fangs flashing in the early evening light. "Yeah" I said. It seemed like I hadn't seen his in years. Something was off, he had completely feared me this morning.

He looked over me and meet Ryder's gaze, "Oh look who's been eating his vegetables" he smirked, looking Ryder up and down. Ryder sneered at him, Nick laughed at his anger. "Umm, I need to come in" I said pushing him aside.

"Don't touch my man" she said pushing me.

"What you gonna do, hoe? I replied with a sneer, I already hated her. She definitely didn't need to be on my bad side.

"Oooo, Ryder did always liked a girl with an attitude so he could argue with her" a voice laughed from the other side of the room. I jumped as a boy stepped from a  separate room that had no lights on. The boy looked just like a skeleton if the light hit him just right I was almost sure he would like he didn't have any skin at all. I shivered at such a thought.

"Still hiding in the shadows, Andy?" asked Ryder.

Andy flashed a sly smile and shrugged, "You still a rat?"

He smiled, "Did I scare you? he asked raising an eyebrow. I shook my head, embarrassed that he had. He looked at me like he didn't believe me. I reached out touched his face. It felt like skin but looked so real. "Its my curse" he spoke quietly. I nodded, most likely beauty and the beast type of thing.

"Its so intricate, and real looking" I said stepping closer. He smiled and touched my hand, "Thank you" he said. I pulled my hand away, my trance broken suddenly. I shake my head and  walk toward my closet. I opened it to see it completely a mess. I turned around and looked at right at her. She had on the dress my mum had given me for my birthday, the year she died.

I reached out and a dead root burst though the floor and tightened around her. I channeled my demons and I pulled her close, with our faces being an inch apart. "You filthy whore, you have on my mother's dress" I mentally let go and the root flung her in to the far wall. "Who gave you the right to wear my things?!" I could feel my anger bubbling close to the surface. I tried to do what they say in anger management, put it in a pot. My demons chanted for war, making it hard to concentrate on peace.

She sneers at me, no longer fearing me. "I do what I want." Ryder watched from the door way and Andy studied me.

"I-..." I bite my tongue and tried to pack all my anger into this tiny pot. It wasn't working though, I was almost at my boiling point.

"Take it off" I whispered, my demon's chant drowning out any of the calm thoughts that were left.

"Nah, I'm good. I like and think I will keep  it. It suits me. Not you though. Your built like a iPhone." she laughs that awful laugh again and I can't breath anymore. Time slows as watch every way I could possibly make her suffer. I bite my lip trying not to succumb to the feelings of my mum but i couldn't help it. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted her to suffer for this. I finally let the welcoming darkness take over. "I wonder who gave you permission to wear my mothers things" me voice is eerily silent as i move close. 

"Because it damn sure it wasn't me!" my voice filled the room and it seemed to shake. Roots climbed up the wall and across the ceiling as the my 'anger pot' exploded. My feelings about my mum's death had takenover. 

"I hate you, you filthy  whore I hope you burn in a hell and the devil chews you up and spits you out you filthy b*tch" I screamed. I snatched the dress off of her and  tenderly touched the fabric. It no longer smelled like my mum. It smelled like cheap perfume and Snake Boy and....sex. I cried. She had sex with him in my mum's dress. My mum met my father in this dress. She wore it the day he proposed. She let me wear it the night of my first date.

I cried harder, she soiled all of those memories by sleeping with HIM in it. I looked at her, "You will pay for this. That is a promise on MY head that you will pay for this" I stood tall and looked down at her. "This dress held precious memories and do you know what you did? You ruined them when you slept with that in my mum's dress"

I pointed at Snake Boy and he glared at me and I dared him to speak. His poison had no effect on something that was already dead. "And you, you are no exception you let her ramble through my things. You will suffer as much as her, if not more" I sneered at him and walked toward my stuff. "Oh and if you go to Mr. Wolf with this I will mount your heads on pikes in my grans living room. She doesn't like when people disgrace her family"

I gathered my clothes and packed them into a bag. I walked passed everyone who had witnessed my mental break. Each held matching expressions of shock except Andy who was smiling.

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Word count: 2355

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