31. Zia's POV - Half shift
31. Zia's POV - Half shift
Zia’s POV
“Jump, Zia!” Gina’s frightened voice rang in my head with a sense of urgency that made me obey before I could even process what was happening.
And right at the moment I jumped out of the spot I was standing in, harsh lightning struck that same spot, darkening it and denting the middle of the road.
Middle of the road?
I rubbed the water down my face with my palms so I could see clearly through the downpour that seemed to get heavier by the second.
I really was in the middle of the road, with no recollection whatsoever of how I reached there.
I’d been walking absentmindedly all the minutes it took me to get here. Based on my current standing point, I’d been walking for almost an hour—and not on the sidewalk.
Opposite me was the bus stop that led to school.
“What if a drunk driver was racing the streets? I tried so hard to reach you, but you seemed like you were chunked into a distant void. It almost swallowed me up.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized aloud to Gina as I continued to scan my environment. I was so close to a roundabout, and her fears were very accurate.
Not only were there dangers on the road, but even the lightning seemed to have targeted me in particular.
The coal tar it struck would never recover, and when I thought about how I could have been the one getting struck—by my worst fear in its most powerful form—I shivered, only to realize I was soaked down to my underwear.
“What do I do now?” I lamented to myself, not knowing what to do with my pride now that it had led me to my downfall.
“First of all—” the rest of her words were swallowed by thunder in the distance.
A not-so-far distance, given where the lightning struck.
“Zia, listen to me, we need to find a shade and get out of here.” Gina’s voice was panicking, shaking, and her anguish seeped through me with desperation—but it didn’t warm me up, neither did it make me feel light enough to move.
Something was wrong.
With me. With my body.
“I can’t,” I finally panicked, closing my eyes and imagining myself crossing the street to the bus stop shade, only to open them and find that I was still in the same position.
“Zia, please, we can’t die this night. We haven’t gotten our revenge yet.” Yes, I agreed. I couldn’t die this night.
Not me, nor my wolf, but my body wasn’t complying.
The stimulation from all the emotions I was forced to feel and explode with this evening was telling on my body at the worst moment.
Pim! Pimmm!
The flashing lights of a racing car barely ten meters away and the sound of the horn mixing with another rumble of thunder did absolutely nothing to help the anxiety and exhaustion that kept me frozen in place.
The unstable frequency of the sounds, coupled with my worst fear, continued to wreak havoc on both my mind and body.
Exhilarating!
The closer the noise, the faster my memories flashed in my head.
Is this how I die?
Is this a sign from the moon goddess telling me to never stand up for myself?
No, that can’t be. She should be proud of me. She should wish me the best of luck, not end my life like this.
“Gina, please help me. We can’t die like this,” I pleaded with all that I had in me. And at that moment, when the forcefield from the car was about to hit me—I blanked out.
Like an out-of-body experience.
First, my knees trembled as if my body suddenly weighed a ton... then nothing.
Not until…
Until…
What’s going on?
Why’s it so dark?
“Oh, you’re awake.” That voice...
Was I transported back in time? Or is history repeating itself again?
Gina? Gina? I called out in my head to no avail.
My body shivered uncontrollably as a bad feeling settled in my heart, like the void that swallowed me had condensed and was slowly eating away at my core—severing my connection with my best friend, my wolf.
What happened after I passed out?
Why is my communication with Gina barely there? And above all, why did one side of my body hurt so bad, as if my skin had been scraped by rusty metal?
“Questions, questions, questions. Who to answer them?”
I opened my eyes slightly, only to be hit by a flash of orange light.
Extremely sharp at first, I thought it would blind me, but after squinting to the lowest brightness, I realized it was nothing more than the car light.
I recognized this.
“Cain?” I muttered under my breath, right before our eyes met through the rearview mirror.
“It’s good to see that you’re awake. Were you trying to kill yourself?” he asked, his voice sharp.
I furrowed my eyebrows despite the terrible headache I suddenly felt.
“Jumping out in the middle of the road like that...” He closed his eyes and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
I didn’t remember doing that, but seeing how white his knuckles were from holding it so tightly, my heart warmed with gratitude, and I relaxed my shoulders into the seat.
But could I fully relax when I couldn’t even tell if my wolf was still with me?
The answer was a blatant no.
“Where did you find me? What’s going on?” I asked despite my parched throat that hurt like it had been scraped with sandpaper.
“You don’t remember?” He turned to look at me, then back at the road—which fortunately, didn’t lead back to that hellhole I almost died escaping from.
“No,” I shook my head.
“Oh, Zia, how...” He paused and closed his eyes to take the next swerve, almost bumping into a deer standing in the middle of the road. I witnessed the phrase 'deer caught in headlights' come to life.
He was trying to hold himself back from saying worse because he cared about me. So instead of apprehension, my heart felt protected by the clouds.
It tickled, but in a good way that made my face break into a smile.
Once again, my mate had come to save me. That showed that the moon goddess hadn’t abandoned me just yet.
I shouldn’t be gloating at this moment, but the fact that Celine’s and her mom’s desperation had driven me into the arms of the person they least wanted to see me with—it brought me some gratification that further relaxed me.