The Want of the Heart - R. G. (#Wattys2017)

15: The Monsters You Never See Coming

It's been over a year since the animal attacks. I've graduated high school and started looking at schools out of state. I was looking mostly at places in California or Washington; anywhere that would get me far away from Hemlock Grove.

I'm at a small shop, looking for some new clothes when I spot a familiar face walking down the sidewalk outside the store. I smile and hurry out. Just as he passes the door, I call out, "Peter!"

He turns around and sees me standing there, and a smile appears on his face. "Zoe?" he replies.

"Yeah!" I exclaim. We sort of meet in the middle and he envelops me in a quick hug. "Peter, it's so good to see you! I had no idea you were even in town."

He was the lucky one. He bolted out of town as soon as the whole animal attack thing was over. He dropped out of school and left town with his mom. He was crazy to come back.

He shrugs. "It was supposed to be for a few days, but...its looking like more than that now," he replies. "How have you been doing? How's Roman?"

I smile and let out a sigh. "Roman and I...we didn't last very long. Didn't ever really have anything together to begin with."

Peter looks almost scared, maybe a bit worried after the words come out of my mouth. "O-oh, I'm sorry," he replies. "I didn't know."

I chuckle softly and shake my head, patting him on the shoulder. "It's okay. Trust me, it wasn't much of a loss."

"That explains why I haven't seen you around at Roman's house," he says.

I raise an eyebrow and suppress a laugh. "Wait, what? So, you've seen him?"

"Yeah, a couple times."

"Then why ask me how he's doing? I would figure you would know better than me then."

"I didn't spend too much time around him."

I laugh now. "Alright, alright."

After everything happened, it went back to the way it normally would have been. We passed each other in the hallways without making eye contact. He finished up school, didn't show up to graduation. I finished up school, I became valedictorian. It's as if everything that happened in the school year just didn't matter; as if it never happened in the first place. I could have swore I dreamt it all up, but I had to have been on some serious drugs to make up something like that.

Did I have serious feelings for Roman? I'd like to say that I didn't, but it used to hurt me too much to lie to myself. Now, Roman is a mere thought in the back of my mind that I only think about in the late hours of night. The nights I can't fall asleep, I think of times when he looked at me like there was a chance he would never see me again. In my dreams, I remember the night we spent dancing, holding onto each other like someone was ready to pry us apart.

These days, Roman is in charge of his family's company. Mrs. Godfrey had died the day after Shelley had gone missing. Some say Shelley died, killed by the police officers who were sent to look for her. Others say she lives on, hiding away from the people who wish to hunt her. I still have no idea what happened to her, whether she really did kill those girls or not. I like to say that she didn't, that Shelley was always the sweet girl I knew her to be, but the only person who really knew her...we're not on speaking terms anymore, and I would really rather not find out what happened anyway.

"What are you up to now?" Peter asks me.

"I'm actually planning on getting out of here," I reply. "I'm looking at colleges out of the state -- not sure what I'm going to do, but...I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there."