What We Become | Book Two

37. Guilt On My Shoulders

I ran.

I knew I wasn't supposed to but I did. I could hear Donut's heavy boots behind me, closing the distance between us. He was shouting but my ears were fogged with anger. I wanted to shut everything out but I couldn't avoid the place inside the gates.

The white walls spread the corridor and the crooked posters passed as a blur as I pushed my way towards the door. Heads turned and confused expressions were directed at me as I bumped bodies along the way. There was a fresh smell of cleaning products and bleach in the air and it hit the back of my throat, almost making me gag.

I reached the end of the hall and put all my weight against the door, not bothering to slow down. My feet hit solid ground and I only stumbled before picking up speed once again, powering in a direction I didn't know.

"Stop!" Donut shouted behind me as he powered through the door.

The air was cold and crisp and I was grateful for the sharpness against my skin. My body collided with something solid and I gasped as I tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry!" I said instinctively.

"Em!" a voice from the building caught my attention. Their footsteps pounded against the pavement towards me as the door swung shut with a heavy thud.

I turned. "Chris?" I asked the boy who was panting.

His eyes darted to the person I had slammed into, widening further as they moved back to me. "I told him not to come here."

I turned my head enough to see the brown-haired boy getting to his feet. His palms were grazed and he dusted off the small stones that clung to his skin like hundreds and thousands. The dark hoodie he wore swamped his body and cast more shadows across his face.

He lifted his head and his eyes landed on me.

Where I should have felt sympathy, I felt anger. Where I should have felt forgiveness, I felt nothing. My stomach sank and my muscles tensed across my body as his face dropped in realisation at who stood in front of him.

There was a tug in my chest that pulled my throat and trembled my jaw. My eyes seemed to sting but I couldn't understand why, the emotion that overcame me was one I didn't recognise and it only accelerated my breathing.

The boy standing in front of me reached out a shaky hand to touch my face and I flinched away, pulling my brows together.

The trees around us seemed to stand still as we both froze, his hand hovering just inches away from my skin.

"Em?" he mumbled, the words barely escaping his lips.

My body flooded with an emotion I was more familiar with and my heart began to pick up a faster rhythm, forcing my muscles to tense. "What are you doing?" I uttered.

"It's me?" Confusion spread his face, struggling to read my expression. "Em?"

The voice sent shivers down my spine and I clenched my fingers with rage. I shook my head, taking steps backward.

"Ben," Chris warned from behind me. "I wouldn't."

He ignored him.

"Em," Ben repeated, mirroring my steps. As he neared, I could see his eyes were red and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. He looked worse than I did, and I'd been dead for a year.

I shook my head, refusing to let him in. "What are you doing here?" I whispered, taking another step back. Chris looked between us and his internal dilemma was visible on whose side to take.

A watery haze began to cover Ben's eyes, threatening to break through with one blink of his lashes.

"I didn't think they'd ever find you," he said, tracing the steps towards me. "You're alive," he whispered. "It worked."