My chest heaved up and down, and I squinted to see the road through my blurry haze.
I always sensed when something, which had been building up, was about to erupt, unfurl like a poisonous creature, ready to destroy everything in its path. I could feel it in my bones, an instinctive sixth sense. It only took one or two small incidents for it to be released.
Perhaps I could swallow it down for a little longer. Perhaps it could be contained. Perhaps I could still be saved.
A small thought that felt hopeless.
Once I parked my car, I sat there for a few moments, the sun seething with heat. Everything seemed to crumble around me, as if I had been spinning too quickly in a chaotic dance.
I lingered in the parking lot, pacing around my car andwondering if I could just hop back in and drive away from all of this.
As I began walking toward the front doors, I caught sight of him. Caiden stood there with Dante, flanked by a few others near the side of the school, surrounding the courtyard where students could eat their lunches outside.
The raging beast inside me, which had kept quiet for too long, pushed me forward to where they stood.
“I bet you’re proud of yourself, Caiden,” I spat, my voice sharp.
Dante tried to signal to me that I shouldn’t be doing this, but I didn’t care at that moment.
“What are you babbling about?” Caiden replied, his tone was nonchalant, which only fueled my anger further.
The way he spoke to me, with such disdain and mockery, made me feel small, stupid, and utterly inadequate. It was a burden that pressed down, becoming increasingly difficult to bear with each passing moment.
He ought to know that a gentle soul like myself still possessed a breaking point.
When pushed past those limits, a shadowy rage erupted, a darker side unleashed.
“You slept with my sister, asshole!” I flailed my arms in the air, desperate to slap some sense into him.
“So what?” He shrugged, rolling his eyes as if my outrage were a mere annoyance.
“It’s bad enough that you torment me. But involving yourself with my family and invading my house? That’s too far.” The tension was rising like a storm that had been brewing.
“Stop being such a baby about it. Maybe you should be more attractive, and I could sleep with you too.” His words touched something rotten inside of me.
I let out a screech that sounded more wounded than I intended. That arrogant bastard thought he was God’s gift. He believed he could get away with anything, convinced he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Fuck you, Caiden! Why can’t you just own up to something for once?” I stepped closer, pressing my face into his space, daring him tochallenge me.
For a fleeting second, I saw a flicker of intimidation before it vanished, replaced by his usual bravado.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he replied, dismissing me with a wave of his hand.
“Well, you need to! You owe me some explanations, dammit!”
“Leave me the fuck alone.” He turned to walk away, his back a wall I couldn’t penetrate.
“Amelia, it’ll be okay. You just need to leave him alone before this situation gets out of hand,” Dante said, but I glared at him, my heart pounding.
“You’re going to defend this piece of shit? Really?”
He sighed, his expression turning sad. “No. I just don’t want him to hurt you.”
“It’ll be the other way around,” I shot back, yelling after Caiden. I snatched a pebble from the ground and threw it toward him, missing him by inches.
Caiden turned to look at me, and for a moment, I stood there, heaving and feeling like a wild animal, red-faced and vibrating with fury.
An expression I couldn’t quite read flickered across his face before he turned again, disappearing into the throng of students roaming the walkway.
