Slated

Chapter 19

Imma start putting music on the long chapters.  Leave some song suggestions if you want them on here!
-Hollie
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I tilt my face to the sky. To tiny droplets, so small they aren't felt as individuals but rather just a general sense of wetness. More like mist than rain. But they gather together, a few little trickles form and run cold down my face. Not like tears which are hot.

"You're supposed to put your hood up to stay dry, not spread it out like a rain catcher," Ben scolds. And reaches a hand either side of my face, pulls up the hood of my jacket, then tucks my hair in both sides. His hands are warm.

Our eyes meet and he pauses, his hands still on either side of my face. The rain and the woods fade away. His gold flecked eyes with more depths than first seen hold mine, still, in place.

But then his hands drop, he looks both ways. No one is in sight but there are voices not far behind.

"Come on," he says, and starts to walk away from the others. Then turns back to where I stand, my feet uncertain. Should I follow? He holds up his right hand, his little finger curved up, the others tucked in.  And I look at his hand, unsure, until he glances down to my left hand, then back to my eyes. I hold up my hand. He hooks my little finger in with his and gives it a tug, turns and walks through the trees, pulling me along. His hand held up still, tugging mine with our little fingers linked together. It is so silly, I start to giggle.

I hadn't noticed at first that Ben was leading us away from the others, bit by bit. Why? Despite the cold, I feel flushed. Our biology class is spread out in the woods. We're meant to be collecting water samples from a creek, and leaves from undergrowth or trees to identify later. Their voices are distant and becoming more so.

He stops, turns to face me. Suddenly nervous, I step back. "Should we get some leaves? How about those..."

"I need to talk to you," Ben says, and his smile fades away. He didn't seem himself on the bus this morning, either, now I think of it. I'd asked a question with my eyes and he'd said later.

So now is later. He just wanted to get me alone to talk. Bits inside are jumbled up; relieved, then annoyed. Confused.

"What about?"

"Tori."

I turn my head so he won't see the sudden flash of hurt when he says her name. I should have known.

"You got me worrying something happened to her, and I went to her house after Group last night."  He hesitates. The rain is increasing, and he leans back against a tree, the droplets of mist becoming more the heavy plop, plop of bigger rain drops that start working their way through the leaves still on the tree.

He takes my hand and pulls me closer under a thick tree bough.

"She's not there anymore."  He almost whispers, as if the trees are spies.

"What do you mean?"

"I spoke to her mum, and it was really weird. At first she said that Tori doesn't live there any more. And I said why, is she with her dad in London? And she went a bit funny. Said things weren't working out, so Tori was returned. She had an odd look on her face, then shook it off, and said I shouldn't be there, shouldn't be asking questions. She almost threw me out the door."

"She was returned?" My eyes go round in shock, as I struggle to take it in. "They can do that?"

He nods. "That was the word she used. Like she was talking about a pair of boots that didn't fit, or a parcel sent back to the post office."

"But returned to where?" I say, and realisation starts to make horror take over from shock. Tori was seventeen, and you can only be Slated if you are under sixteen, so they couldn't just do her again. Did they assign her to another family? If not, what happened to her?