17

It was terrible. The two banged their heads and when I tried to stop them, Chace grabbed my waist and held me tightly. "Nothing will happen to you. I promise you," he whispered in my ear, but I tried to free myself and yelled for help so loudly that the first neighbors stepped out of their houses curiously.

I was glad that help finally came and thought I couldn't see properly when I saw how Samuel just looked at those below and they disappeared back into their houses. "Let go of me!" I yelled, but Chace didn't let go, the whole time fasting something I couldn't make out through my rapid, loud breathing.

It was cruel to watch Ludwig being hit because of me, and at the same time, every hit Jayden took hurt me too. It felt like an eternity before they finally let go of each other and immediately Chace let go of me too. I immediately ran to Ludwig and looked at him while my hands were shaking and my breath caught. "I'm so sorry," I whispered to him in a trembling voice, but he just looked at me pityingly and then walked past me back into his house and closed the door.

As I stood and watched him go, I froze, unable to comprehend what had happened. I could neither understand nor process it all. I felt Jayden's eyes on me and looked over at him in fear, but he also turned away from me and walked down the street with Samuel.

I looked at Chace in amazement, who looked just as stupid as I did and then slowly walked towards me. "I'll take you home."

He walked forward a bit and only now did I notice his car, which had apparently been parked at the side of the road the entire time. "Are you coming?" he asked and held the passenger door open for me, but I turned around and immediately wanted to confront Ludwig. It just seemed utterly pointless that he would just leave me here after everything. That was just absurd and incomprehensible.

Before I could knock on the door, Chace had grabbed my arm again and turned me to face him. "Listen to me okay? This is nothing special! There have always been arguments between the two of them and there always will be. I'll drive you home now. Your grandma is already worried."

I stared at him but didn't notice anything anymore, but he was right. Lisbeth was probably really freaking out and the best I could do was let him drive me home and calm her down.

I nodded in agreement and he walked away from me to his car to hold the door open for me again. I followed him and climbed in unresistingly, strapping myself in and waiting for my mind to start to forget all of this.

As the car slowly started to move, I jumped with wide eyes when suddenly someone knocked on my window and then got in the back. "I'm so sorry, Chiara!" Lou apologized and slammed the car door. "He squeezed me where you are and I was able-" "It's okay," I reassured her, turning to face her.

"Did you actually ask me if you could get in?" Chace also turned to the brunette, but she made a playful hand movement towards the windshield. "Shut up and focus on driving little pups."

She winked at me and then leaned back in amusement, which also made me smile for a moment, but when I turned away from her and looked ahead, the images immediately came back to my head. I heard Chace look at me, but then he focused on the road and drove off.

When I got home, I said goodbye to Lou, but just glared at the follower as he gave me a pitying look that made me even more angry.

I slammed the car door and immediately heard my grandma's voice behind me. "Oh god, Chiara! I was so worried." She hugged me tightly and without me wanting to, I immediately started to cry. It just all came out of me. The torn, the fight, the bite, the secrets and everything else that confused me so much.

I heard the car pull away behind me and then broke away from her to disappear into the house together with her.

I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch without taking my eyes off my grandma. She lived here for so long, she knew for sure what it was all about.

She walked up to me and sat across from me, then pulled my t-shirt aside to take a look at my wound, but instead of being surprised, she just shook her head and smiled. I felt like I was in a fake movie.

"So you got together with Jayden?" she asked while looking out the window where the sun was shining. "No! What makes you think that? That psychopath bit me! Can't you see that?" I hysterically took off my t-shirt but she ignored me again.

"You need to talk to Jayden," she murmured, getting up to run away, but I followed her into the kitchen. "Tell me what all this is about!" I asked her, but she looked at me with tears in her eyes and shook her head. "I can't. It's none of my business."

She turned away and turned on the kettle and at that moment, I cried too. "I'm your granddaughter! I'm only here because of you and you don't care that a man attacks me in the woods and physically hurts me!" I yelled and ran out of the kitchen to rush up the stairs to my room.

Full of anger and horror, I grabbed my backpack and started stuffing all sorts of clothes into it. I had to get out of here, right now. She didn't need my help and apparently she was just like my mother and only thought of herself. It was a mistake to give up my own life, even if it was a life of poverty and loneliness.

I ran down to the bathroom with my backpack packed and put on a white sweater, then tied my hair in a ponytail in front of the mirror. I also stuffed all my hygiene articles into it and then threw it around my shoulder.

"Chiara, please wait! It's not-" "Farewell, Lisbeth!" With tears streaming down my face, I slammed the front door and, blinded by the sun, walked towards the main street. It was the street that also passed the Wialtrama, but also the only one that led out of the city.

It was still the middle of the day, so I didn't have to expect to meet any of the nocturnal people on my way. I put on my headphones as I ran, wiped away tears, turned on the music and focused on the trail.

When I arrived shortly after the Wialtrama where I suspected the way out of the small town, I was amazed when there were no more roads leading out. I ran along the edge of the forest in confusion and there seemed to be no escape. It all seemed so unbelievable to me that I began to doubt my sanity again.

I turned and walked across the street, pulling off my headphones to ask an elderly lady for directions.

"There is no way out of this city."

I got that as an answer and the little woman with the thick fur coat disappeared around the next corner. I shook my head thoughtfully and stared at the forest. There had to be a way out of here. After all, I also came here and that was only a few days ago. No forest could grow so quickly over an asphalt road.

I remembered the little bridge and the creek we had crossed and looked for it at the edge of the forest and to my horror I found the bridge. But there was no longer a street above it, instead there were two benches and several bushes. "It can't be," I murmured to myself and walked toward the bridge.

Standing on it, I looked towards the darkness of the forest and decided to always walk straight through it, at some point it had to come to an end, that was the only option I had left.

I put on my headphones again, placed the backpack on my back and then walked determinedly over the cracking branches and the fragrant forest floor, ever further back to my old life, which I hoped to get back to soon.