Bully And The Beast

Chapter 2- Follow Me Into The Crimson Woods...

Chapter 2

Ava's Pov

I shouldn't have come back here. I tremble under the full weight of him.He slowly releases me the moment I give in and return his kiss.My longing for him outweighs my guilt...my grief.We forget everything just for a few seconds as his hands begin to search my body, and I moan into his mouth.He pulls away from me, and I try to steady my breathing..trying to find the boy I used to know. I see he's struggling to hold it together."Eros, I'm...I.." He cleches his jaw. " You were just getting in your God damn car."He walks away, leaving me there alone to try to piece together what just happened.

I strap myself in and see him watching me from my rear view mirror, as if he needs proof I've done what I'm told. It's getting darker. The heat is letting up, but not by much. I make all the familiar turns down the winding roads til I pull into the darkened driveway of a place I used to call home. My mother passed two years ago, and her way of punishing me for not coming back towards the end was leaving me this place. I refused to come home for the funeral...part of me was trying to avoid all of this. I pay someone to come over twice a month to keep the place in order, keep people out, and for it to not get destroyed... after all, it's still home... even if I never return.I find my spare key right where I left it... under the brick in the flower bed.The door jams and I have to push my way in, and I struggle in the dark to find a switch. I had been gone for so long that it was if I was walking into the unknown.

I find the switch midway through the hall, and for a moment, I become disoriented. The house remained in part unchanged with the exception of a new couch. I'm assuming my mom replaced it sometime after I left, and some nicknacks here and there that I had never seen before. The air is stale, but what would you expect... I begin to walk towards the stairs and make my way to my old bedroom... I pass my mother's room but can't even bring myself to go in there.My mother had my brother's rooms converted into her home office and storage when they moved out, but when I opened my door I'm taken aback to see everything is exactly how I left it. With the exception of the clothes no longer all over the floor, everything was exactly the same... right down to the emerald green comforter. I look around and see my cd collection covered in dust, the walls covered with fallout boy posters. I put my bags down and sit at the edge of my bed for a moment, and it feels like I'm suffocating.I open the windows to get some air, and that's when I see someone standing outside across the street.I can't make out their face in the dark, only the slight glow of their cigarette burning in their hand... the only thing I know is they make me uneasy. I close the curtains shut and decide to change into something else.. anything else.. I just need to get out of this dress.I pull out a change of clothes from my bag and quickly get undressed.

I try to settle in, but my mind won't keep quiet. I keep thinking about him, about both of them and what he said...." It's your f*****g fault he's dead". And part of me knows he's right. I walk into the back of my closet and dig to the bottom, and pull out a large box.It isn't heavy, but I struggle with the weight of its contents. I put the box down and sit next to it. As soon as I open it, I see memories I've tried to forget... with good reason. I rummage through piles of yearbooks, dozens of journals, keepsakes I should have tossed, hundreds of photos... all with their faces looking back at me... in the bottom of the box, I find my camp shirt... that freaking shirt.

Every memory of them wrapped around me, and it caused an uneasiness in my stomach.I first met Daimen the summer when I had turned fourteen.I was forced to get a job that summer, and it was either I work at a summer camp or.. the county emergency room. Honestly, I should have chosen the hospital.Now that I'm older, I don't really understand why I was so immediately attracted to him... maybe it was how soft-spoken he was towards me or the fact that he actually listened to me when I talked to him. His skin was close to ivory no matter how long he'd been out in the sun for. He always kept his dark brown hair short.. There was barely anything to hold onto whenever I would kiss him.He stood about two inches taller than me, and he was lean almost lanky in build. But his dark eyes... Made something about him seem more mature than all the other boys we worked with. He didn't talk much unless spoken to, but he was never cruel with his words or his touch. One thing about Daimen I could always trust him whenever we were alone... That entire summer, I spent all my energy trying to get him to notice me beyond asking him for supplies or helping me with lugging something heavy around.I don't even remember how we started dating...If you can even call it that.

Towards the end of the summer I couldn't even tell you who made the first move, but it was probably me.Once I liked someone... I always felt everything so intensely, no matter how serious it was.It only lasted three weeks at most. All we ever did was kiss... but I liked how he made me feel when he did..truth be told I had barely kissed anyone before him, and I liked that that was all he wanted from me, though there were times when I felt shame wash over me whenever he'd touch me.. no matter how innocent it was. When he ended things, I was sad for a few days... but honestly, I was relieved because whenever we were around his friends or alone, it almost felt like I was performing... because I had never had a boyfriend before, and it was exhausting.When I saw him a few weeks later, and he wanted to just be friends, I acted as if it hurt to hear him say it... but the words sounded better than "Ava, will you be with me?" I always had to wear a mask... be someone other than than myself... just to spare everyone else.. and it was slowly killing me.

The following fall once school started, the camp had asked if I wanted to work as a counselor after-school, and at first, I didn't want to. But I thought it would be better than staying home, plus most of my friends from last summer were staying to work during the that fall, so I said yes and showed up for orientation. I was fifteen now, and somehow felt like I had learned my lesson from last year.

My friend Rachel and I followed everyone into the darkened auditorium and took our seats towards the back row.Everyone was whispering amongst themselves, laughing and talking about what they during break, when I begin to feel uncomfortable and don't know why. I search the crowd and see Daimen talking to some of his friends, and he gives me a slight nod, and I smile back... but this unbearable feeling washes over me, and I shift from one side to the other in my chair... My eyes wander across the dimly lit room, and that's when I see a pair of deep amber eyes staring back at me from the other side of the auditorium.His gaze is intense and stern... but I see so much sadness behind them as if he's losing a battle within. I don't know why this boy is watching me.. or why it bothers so much... But I know I can't pull myself away from him.I can't take my eyes off of him... I ask Rachel if she knows who the boy three rows down from us down is, and she shrugs her shoulders.She wraps her long dark hair up in a low sitting bun and moves her slim frame up in her chair getting closer to the row in front of us. She uses her newly orange painted nails to tap the shoulder of a blonde girl sitting ahead of us.Even the low light can't hide the unnamed girls' freckles. Rachel tries her best to whisper in her ear only to fail miserably.. The unnamed girl tucks her golden locks behind her ear as if she was unaware she was being spoken to.." Psst... Who is that guy over there... three rows over to the left?". I see the girl lean foward on her elbows as Rachel tries to suppress a giggle... the girl falls back into her chair and tilts her head to answer.." Oh.. that's umm." She snaps her fingers, trying to piece the information together til it hits her..." Oh...ummm.. Roe, I think..." Rachel questions her some more, and the girl begins to become annoyed.." You know, Daimen's brother.." Her words catch me off guard and break his hold....I am so fucked...I could have stopped it right then and there, but it was too late..