Page 2 of The Editor’s Choice

Making my way to the leg press, I glance around the gym, noticing how empty it is for the first time. There are only a few people here today. A petite blond girl and a guy I’m assuming is her boyfriend from the way they’re touching and giggling at each other. Fucking disgusting, I think, rolling my eyes at them. Then I see him.

I’ve never seen this guy here before, but we lock eyes right after my eyes return to their normal position from the roller coaster I just sent them on. When we lock eyes, I see that he’s smirking. Great. I’m going to guess he saw the eye roll. That’s embarrassing.

Feeling the heat creep up my neck and into my cheeks, I break the eye contact, trying my best to focus on resetting the weights. Although I fumble a bit, I manage to get set up and slide into the seat, placing my feet on the footplate. Soon enough, the world slips away, replaced by the burning in my thighs and the whirlwind of thoughts. My entire world is crumbling and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

If there is one thing I hate in this world more than anything else, it’s feeling helpless. And I’ll be damned if I don’t feel utterly and totally helpless to the marrow of my bones today.

After pushing myself to the point my legs are shaking with every step, I decide enough is enough and make my way to the front door and back out into the world. I have no clue where I’m going at this point. I just know I can’t go home right now. The gym helped some, but I’m still locked in a hopeless battle with my brain.

Turning left as I leave the gym, I find myself walking aimlessly. I don’t know where exactly I’m going, just that I need to get away for a few more hours.

Suddenly, I’m snapped out of my thoughts when I notice my cell phone buzzing in my back pocket. I hadn’t thought to check it when I left the gym. Not that anything I found there would change anything at this point anyway.

Filling my lungs to the point of bursting, I slowly exhale before fishing the phone out of my pocket to see who’s calling. I don’t answer when I see Dawson’s name flashing across the screen. Within a few seconds, the call ends and a shit ton of notifications pop up. Seven missed calls. Nineteen texts. Eight Snapchat notifications.

As I slide my phone back into my pocket, I’m hit with an overwhelming sense of numbness. I have no desire to answer either of them right now. Their bullshit excuses are just not what I’m in the mood for. I need time to clear my head before I deal with either of them.

Instead of heading back toward home, I turn the opposite direction and make my way to a place I used to love as a kid.

***

Almost an hour later, I finally plop down on the cliff’s edge, overlooking the river. When I was younger, I came here all the time to get away from home and all the drama there. Luckily, very few people know about this place, so I have the entire area to myself right now.

I had considered bringing Dawson here from time to time, but now I’m thankful I never got around to it. Something about it just never felt quite right, so I kept putting it off.

My thoughts are interrupted when my phone starts buzzing yet again. “Dear fucking God, can’t you get the hint already?!” I scream into the empty space around me. On a split-second decision, I chuck the phone as hard as I can, watching it drop until I lose sight of it all together. With a sigh of contentment, I lay back against the ground, feeling the pebbles stabbing into my back but welcoming the slight pain.

Throwing one arm up over my face to shield my eyes from the sun, I lay there for what feels like hours, absorbing the heat and allowing all the negativity to slowly ebb out of my bones.

Once the air takes on the hint of a chill, I pull myself into a sitting position and do my best to dust off my back after stretching my exhausted muscles. The sun is starting to set, and I really need to get out of here before it’s completely dark and I can’t see the path anymore.

Stepping over the bigger rocks, I set my mind to figuring out my next move. Dwelling on what they’ve done isn’t going to help. At least not without some sort of plan.

The sound of a twig snapping pulls me out of my thoughts. I swivel my head toward the sound, squinting against the setting sun. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, I turn back toward the path and take a few steps before the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I’m consumed by a full body cold chill.

I take off at a dead sprint before my mind can even make a conscious decision. Suddenly I’m absolutely terrified, fight or flight kicking in full force. I don’t dare slow down until I make it back to a more populated area with some streetlights.

Gasping for breath, hands on my knees, I look back toward the path. There’s nothing there, of course. Rolling my eyes at my own fear, I turn and head toward town so I can finally go home and deal with the damages. Although I would have preferred whatever was in the woods, I’m sure.

Chapter Two

Roman

I truly didn’t even mean to follow her, yet here I am, watching over her as she hurls her phone out into the abyss. She really has quite the temper apparently.

When I saw her in the gym, something about her just piqued my interest. I can’t quite put my finger on it and it’s starting to irritate me if I’m being honest.

She isn’t anything special to look at honestly. Jet black hair that falls in soft waves to her mid-back, hazel eyes from what I could see. It’s obvious she works out frequently but definitely nothing over the top. Average height. There really isn’t anything about her that stands out physically.

Over the last several hours, I’ve come to the conclusion that it must be her aura. The way she carries herself is unlike anything I’ve witnessed before. One moment, she seems meek, almost like a timid little mouse. The next, something triggers her anger and there’s a darkness that rolls through her body. That moment reminds me of a thunderstorm right before the first lightning strike and the thunder that follows right after. The moment before all hell breaks loose.

Maybe that’s what it is. I’ve always been attracted to the chaos and that radiates off her in waves when she’s angry.

What in the world am I getting myself into?

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts, I refocus just in time to see her stretch and rise to her feet before dusting herself off. That stretch has to be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like the weight of the world has lifted from her shoulders for just a moment, allowing her to breathe freely again.

As she heads back down the trail, the weight resettles and I feel almost a bit sad. The carefree spirit Jade carried just moments earlier is gone and replaced with the storm clouds again.