I stood there and stared like and idiot.

What.

The.

Hell?

My mind couldn't comprehend this logic. The world was spinning upside-down. How did she...? When did...

Huh?

I raised an eyebrow, not thinking this could be real. I didn't understand what was going.

Mandy stood in the threshold of Kaito's dorm, holding on to the front of his shirt and kissing him. He had a strange look on his face, like he was trying to pull away, but couldn't. What...? I continued to stare, not caring how awkward it would look to someone passing by. I coughed uncomfortably, refusing to recognize this as reality.

The two of them broke apart, Mandy looking pleased, and Kaito looking in between a mix of disgusted and shocked. Their attention turned to me and Mandy's smirk widened.

"Er... What's going on here?" I laughed awkwardly. Kaito looked PISSED.

"That's what I'd like---" He began, but Mandy cut him off. "What? You look surprised. Kaito's MY mate, remember?" She sneered.

"Yeah, and Jack was mine, but that didn't stop you, now did it?" Her face fell.

"Well, I want Kaito back. So you can just run off to do your chores like a good girl." Mandy waved me off, and for the first time in forever, I felt something inside me shatter. It was as if everything that kept my mentality's support had disappeared. I almost blacked out as an inhuman rage swept over me, and felt myself almost attack her, wanting to claw out those pretty little eyes and destroy that beautiful face...

Kaito looked concerned. "Stephanie, are you alright?" He asked, but already knew the answer. I chose to lie.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine." I turned stoically. I couldn't feel anything. No tears came. There was no happiness. No anger. No hatred.

Nothing.

And what made it worse? Feeling nothing was even more terrible than the pain I could have felt.

My stare was blank and unentertained as I travelled my ways down the hall. The calls Kaito made for me were unheard. I soon felt myself running as he chased after me, but it didn't matter. I didn't need to feel. It was better like this, right? Love is for the blind. Love is for the ignorant. I was foolish to ever want or understand it.

I continued to run, and soon after all that came was darkness. And even more darkness. It took me awhile to realize that I had fallen into the world of unconsciousness. How? I didn't care. Why? I didn't know. All I needed was this world; this world that kept me safe, and cradled me like death would.

Death.

Why hadn't I died? I shouldn't have been chosen. It should have been some other girl who was stronger, because there was no way I could surive like this. I wouldn't commit suicide, of course, but I would wait for death to come. To engulf me in it's cold embrace, and take me to the world where my mind was numb, thoughts blurred. A place where I could see my dead family.

It had only occurred to me now that they were gone. Why had I forgotten them? Was I that harsh? My entire family hadn't been saved, I had left them behind and not even cared to check how they fared. Could they still be alive? I doubt it.

Grief struck me like a harsh blizzard. They were dead. Gone. Nothing. All of my friends, everyone. Even my enemies. I was terrible for not even noticing, too busy pitying myself to care for them. They deserved to live, not I.

My eyes slowly opened and I surfaced to reality. I could feel the hot tears run down my face.

Why? Why did they have to die? I believed in God, so why didn't he stop this? Was there a God out there? There must be... No one... NOTHING could cause this massive scale of destruction. Some people would disagree, but it was true. From what was left of my scarred memory, I remembered.

Tsunamis of 65.3 feet in size, earthquakes ranking 10 on the Richter Scale, massive floods and mudslides. I pictured stories on the NEWS, skyscrapers falling and 100s of people dying. The memories flooded me with pain and sorrow. How had they died? My friends, and family? Were they crushed to death? Drowned? BURNED by the horrible fires started from people gone mad? I would never know.

I can't remember when the tears stopped, but I do remember my mind fading slowly, in and out of consciousness. The realm of sanity wavered before me and I drifted off to sleep multiple times, only to be awakened by the snap of a twig, or the crunching of leaves from some unknown animal. At one point it started drizzling and I pulled myself under a fallen log, laying down on the soft carpet of green made from clover, grass, and other beautiful foliage. I admired bunches of flowers here and there, occasionally stroking the rough wood of the fallen log above me.

The forest was beautiful, and I had never stopped once to admire it.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

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This is by far my favorite chapter. :3 I plan to at least spend up to three or four more chapters in the forest because I love it so much. <3 Thanks for the reads, comments, and votes, you guys! Love ya! <3