Chapter 8

Chase's PoV

I was driving home from my best friend Blake's house when I saw her sitting under the awning with her back to the shutters smoking away as if she had no care whatsoever.

I hadn't known it was her then but had intended to ask whoever was sitting there if they needed a lift to wherever and had so stopped my car.

The shock I felt at seeing Yrene there cannot be described by mere words and not only her being alone in an estranged place at night but her smoking too. Yes, of course I knew that teenagers nowadays did that kind of stuff to make memories or whatever but there seemed to be much more reason behind this particular teenager doing it; it seemed to me that she was doing it to forget memories rather than make them.

It was unsettling. After I had waved away and coughed at the smoke she had blow out in my direction I gave her the 'Care to explain?' , look .

She looked troubled and the first thing she asked me was perhaps the weirdest yet seemingly the most sensible thing to ask,

"D'you want a smoke?"

"No, Ms. Jones I do not want a smoke but an explanation would do."

"Excuse my attitude, but sir, you really aren't my teacher as of now and henceforth I do not owe you any form of explanation."

She was clearly in a bad mood and definitely didn't want to talk to anyone let alone a person who had any degree of authority over her. I understood her and received her message loud and clear but that didn't mean I would let the matter slip as easily.

Although, she seemed to be unaffected by anything around her the shiver that crawled down her body was not unnoticed by me. She was cold. And alone. And she didn't seem to care even.

"Correct, I'm not your teacher now but I will be soon enough and that aside Barry, my brother, is your teacher. A teacher who undoubtedly cares about you and would love to know about your wellbeing."

"Okay. Okay. I'll explain just please don't tell Bear, I mean Mr. Barry anything. Please."

"I can make no promises-"

"Well you have to."

"Okay this stays between us."

"Good. Thanks."

"Now explain please."

"Look Sir, there was a party at my house and I didn't want to be there, couldn't be there actually, due to some personal reasons that , no," she interrupts me before I can ask her, "please spare me the pain of explaining, so I ran from there because running helps me clearly my mind. That's how I ended up here, nothing more."

"Okay and what about the smoking?"

"It's not something I do very often but it's something that I need to do sometimes to get rid of certain thoughts."

"Well it has to stop."

"Pardon?"

"Ms. Jones you heard me loud and clear and you better understand it too or else I'm going to have to tell my brother everything. Do we have a deal?"

She scoffs, "You don't even know me Sir so please stop acting like you're going to be held accountable for any of my actions because you're not. We don't even need to be having this conversation right now and can easily go our separate ways and forget it ever happened. So I request you to please make me not make any bargains or promises that i will not be able to keep."

"All I know, Miss, about you is that my brother seems to care a whole lot for you and treats you like his sibling more than he treats me which is saying something and I don't want something as dear to him being damaged; I might not know you but I care about your wellbeing too 'a' because you're my soon to be student and I've heard you're good at maths and 'b' because you're a human before anything else. Lastly, if you think I'm going to leave you alone in the dark, at this time in an alley as cold then, Miss, you are wrong."

"What is that supposed to mean? Are you going to sit here with me on this cold ground and smoke?"

"Absolutely not. I'm going to take you home."

"Excuse me?"

"Obviously not to my house but I'm going to drive you back to yours."

"Sir, I'm perfectly fine, I'll go back easily."

"How is that?"

"Well I'll just run back just like I got here. Thank you very much for the offer though, I really appreciate it."

"Get in the car Miss."

"I'm seriously fine."

"I don't want to argue anymore just please follow my instructions."

Very reluctantly, sensing that there was no way I was going to let her stay and that I was as persistent as herself, she gets into the passenger side and I turn up the internal heat; I have to turn on the light because I can never find a damn button in this car and that is when I see it.

Uneven skin and tones of skin on her left arm and wrists, undoubtedly the leftovers of a jagged blade having been dug in prior.

Once more I am unsettled, more than I ought to be, and this time, too, not knowing why.