For Everything a Reason

Chapter 7: What If I Told You

I feel like I'm in the 9th circle of hell. It's so cold that the mass amount of blood covering the forest floor is beginning to crystallize. The blood makes sharp crunching noises when I try to walk across it. The sound makes me want to vomit. I hear things behind me. They sound like voices. Angry voices. I break into a sprint, not caring that the branches of the sickly black trees are tearing hungrily at my flesh. This time I'm not running in slow motion. I make it to a large pond hidden behind entangled bushes. I quickly take refuge in the pond's black water. I keep just my eyes above water. Four human figures come into view. At first I can't even tell which is male or female. One looks towards the bushes and then I can see it. A pair of amber eyes glowing in inferno. Despite the fact that I'm about 97% underwater I open my mouth in a surprised gasp. Strangely I don't feel water rush into my lungs eager to choke the air out of me. Breathing is apparently more of an option rather than a necessity. Thankfully they don't see me, but someone else does. There's someone else in the water that I didn't notice until they were right in front of me. His blonde hair is soaked and his gray eyes looked panicked. "Wake up," he whispers urgently. "What?" I whisper back. "Aspen, wake up," he pleads. This time, even though I see Tate, I hear Holden's voice. Before I can respond a bright light explodes in my face.

"Morning Sunshine!" Holden says in a chipper tone as he draws back the curtains. "Ugh," I groan, trying to protect my eyes from the cheery brightness that is sunlight. "You must have some pretty wild dreams," Holden says pointing at me. "Huh?" I ask. I look down to find the comforter and sheets either on the floor or wrapped around my body almost as if to restrain me. "Oh, this is nothing," I say as I begin to shimmy out of the sheets. "Yeah remember that one time you were on the ground?" Holden laughs at the memory of me lying on the ground tangled in the sheets. "Unfortunately yes, and that kind of hurt," I reminisce. "What do you dream about anyway?" Holden inquires. "The games. Each time is a little different though .You've been in some," I inform him. "Really?" he smiles brightly, "what am I doing?"

"Most of the time you're walking around with a trident, not a care in the world."

"Sounds like me."

"It stresses me out."

"Everything stresses you out."

"Touché."

Holden walks away from the curtains to sit on my disheveled bed. "What happened last night?" he asks curiously. "What are you talking about?" I try to feign innocence. "I heard a lot of angry footsteps and door slamming," he explains. "I'm a bad person who doesn't want to deal with her own problems so I take it out verbally on other people," I say, burying my head into the sheets. Holden laughs and pats my shoulder. "You're not half as bad as you think you are," he says with certainty. Holden is the kind of friend who will love you even when you don't deserve it. I'm really lucky to have him. "Have you ever gotten the feeling that you're missing something? That someone is hiding something from you?" I ask.

"Nope. I'm all knowing. Kind of like God, but sexier."

"You're going to hell," I laugh.

"At least I'll see you there."

"Shut up." I smack him with the last pillow remaining on the bed.

"But seriously what happened?" he asks as he deflects the pillow. "Shouldn't you already know? I mean you are all knowing right?" I tease with a smile. He rolls his sea green eyes at me. "Listen smart ass, just tell me what the hell happened," he tries to sound annoyed but it doesn't work. "I'm a bitch and Paisley's a slut," I announce. "Tell me something I don't know," Holden grins. "I loudly called her a slut. In public," I confess without much remorse. Holden snorts a laugh and asks, "What'd you do that for?" I sigh and debate how much I should really tell him. He's going to find out sooner or later so I begin to tell him about Tate; starting from the beginning.

I was right about Holden being impressed about the jumping on to the rafter thing. He was pretty cool about the whole thing. He wants to know who Tate just about as much as I do. Now just to handle the Paisley situation.

I find her sulking on the patio. She's lounging on a lawn chair presumably loathing her life. "Hey," I say as I lower myself into a sitting position next to her. Her brown eyes are transfixed on the clear blue sky. She won't even look at me. I make an exasperated sigh. "For Christ's sake I'm sorry alright," I say impatiently. "You don't get it," she says, still not looking at me. "Clearly. Care to enlighten me?" I lean back on my elbows. "You have everything. Both your parents, a bother, even Holden. I know my mom wishes I was more like you, my dad left when I was two, I haven't got a brother, and the only reason Holden puts up with me is because of you," she says with her eyes still fixated on nothing in particular. I don't know what to say, so I don't say anything.

She continues, "I know I can always at least get attention from guys. But when you showed up all Tate was interested in was you," this time she stares directly into my blue eyes. It makes me a little uncomfortable. "I'm… sorry?" I mean to say but it comes out sounding more like a question. "I wouldn't expect you to understand," she turns her gaze back to the sky. "Oh don't give me that! We all have our problems. You don't wear my chains and I don't wear yours. So don't tell me what I do and don't understand," I snap. She's still staring off into the distance with no emotion or reaction, no visible sign that she even heard me. I shake my head and walk back into the house. There's no use trying to talk to her today.

I find Declan stuffing his face with cherry turnovers. "It's a wonder you're not obese," I note. "High metabolism," Declan licks his lips. "Where is everyone?" I ask when I notice that the living room is completely empty. "They left for another top secret meeting about who knows what," Declan explains. I haven't seen much of my parents lately so whatever is going on must be important. Declan looks like he's about to say something but is interrupted when his phone starts singing some song I've never heard. "Oh, it's Fawn, I'll see you later," he says as runs up the stairs like a giddy little boy. "He is so whipped," I say to myself before walking out the door.

Somehow I end up in a meadow. I'm not really sure how I got here. The grass is tall and green, the wildlife is alive and active, and the air is cleansing. I can finally hear myself think. I keep walking until I find a stream with large rocks interrupting its steady flow. I jump from rock to rock until I make it to the large one in the center. I sit down and close my eyes so I can focus on the sound of the water caressing the stone. "Come here often?" a friendly voice interrupts my trance. I turn around to see Tate standing there with a bag full of what I think are plants. "Are you stalking me?" I ask with a small amount of seriousness. "Nah," he smiles, "I guess we just have some things in common."

"You don't know me," I smile to show I don't mean it in a snide way.

"You haven't given me the chance to."

"Fair enough. What do you want to know?"

"Anything you want to tell me," he says, making his way over to sit next to me

I consider this for a moment before speaking. What if I told him who I really was? That thought is a little too nerve-racking so I decide to start out small. "Well I'm 17 years old, my favorite color is blue, I have a 15-year-old brother named Declan, my best friend's name is Holden, Paisley and I are friends but we fight a lot, I'm from District 2, I love being outdoors, I'm really sarcastic, and I don't trust people easily," I say with more ease than I expected. "Nice to know about you," Tate smiles. "What are those for?" I gesture toward the bag of plants. "Oh, my mom wanted them. Usually she'd get them herself but she's pretty busy today," he says. "What a good son you are," I tease lightly. "I'm an angel," he says folding his hands together.

We laugh and admire the pinkish glow the sunset casts onto the water. I tell him some of my favorite memories with Holden and my brother. I tell him about the beach in District 2 that I love so much. I tell him about the first time I shot a deer. For some reason I can't explain, I trust this boy I barely know. "So now that you know basically everything about me, tell me about you," I insist. Tate leans back onto his elbows and purses his lips. "Well, I've lived in District 12 my whole life, I'm 17 years old, my favorite color is green, I have a 19-year-old sister named Kaya, my parents own the local bakery,…"

I don't hear anything else he says. Suddenly the water becomes deafeningly loud and my head starts to spin. I feel sea sick. "Hey, are you okay?" Tate lightly touches my arm. "What did you say?" I ask dizzily. "I asked if you were okay," he sounds concerned. "No, before that about the bakery," I look directly into his gray eyes. He looks really confused. "My parents own the bakery. I'm Tate Mellark."als

A/N: Sorry it takes me so long to post these chapters, I'm sort of a perfectionist. Also a little fun fact- Some of the chapters are songs. I pick the song based on if the title of the song makes sense with the chapter or if the actual song makes sense with the chapter. This chapter is What if i told you by Jason Walker. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter :)