One more time (6)

PREVIOUSLY: 'So, do you want to talk about it, Era?'

'My father knows you. How? And you knew the truth about my mother, why didn't you tell me? It looks like I can't trust you either Hunter!'

MONDAY, AUGUST 31: Hunter doesn't even look surprised that I know just how involved he was in my depressing past.

Remember how I said your instincts told you to stay away from Hunter unless you were suicidal? Well, that's exactly what I was. I'm prone to sudden bouts of depression, and sometimes it got so bad, I had to forcefully stop myself from doing anything stupid.

I was with Ian and a couple of friends, and we had finally managed to convince our parents to let us go off on our own for a holiday. So we booked our tickets, packed our bags and we set off on what was sure to become our most exciting trip ever. We board the plane and I sit at the window seat, Ian next to me and my best friend, Carolyn next to Ian on the other side. And separated by the aisle is one of Ian's buddies, Duke.

Carolyn is the one person who has been persistently trying to keep in contact with me even after I left the island, I avoided the contact though, and you'll see why in a moment. We had become friends when I was 15, and later that same year we became best friends. Carolyn just understood me, she was quirky and never really managed to fit in with the mainstream, just like me. She looked the part though, she came from an extremely wealthy family, she was tall, thin and pretty, not gorgeous, but the kind of pretty that takes you a while to notice.

Duke was reasonably more complicated. Duke, Ian and I had been best friends ever since pre-school. We hung out together and did everything together. Ian and him were almost permanent fixtures in my home in those early years. But, soon after we hit 12, Duke seemed to change. He became a whole lot meaner, and grew quite a bit, and I kind of thought he resembled an ogre sometimes. The thing is, Duke began hanging out with the athletes and he completely forgot about me. Ian was an athlete as well, so he and Duke had remained friends, but unlike Duke, Ian never was too busy for me. Anyway, the week before the summer holidays were to begin, Duke suddenly appeared out of the blue and started hanging out with Ian, Carolyn and I.

In all honesty, when I had planned this trip, I was hoping it would only be Ian and me. But then, the moment I was faced with the prospect of being alone with Ian, I realized I wouldn't be able to handle it, so I invited Carolyn to tag along. She was more than happy to oblige. So i figured it would only be the three of us, but Ian had the bright idea of asking Duke to tag along as well. So that's the background story of HOW I came to be in the mainland itself during that summer break.

Now to the interesting and slightly more painful bits. Once we landed in the mainland airport, we hired a cab to take us to the swanky hotel we had booked. So we check in, get to our rooms (which were side-by-side, and that cheered me up to no end), and begin unpacking. Once we're done, we decide to scope out the night-life on the mainland. We were 16, so naturally we managed to get our way into one of the extremely luxurious night clubs that was just a stroll down from our hotel. This nightclub was odd, for the fact that there was no loud music playing at all, and to call it a night-club would be pushing it, really. It was more of a trendy cafe/bar, very classy.

We decided to mingle with the locals, and just have a great time. So nearly an hour later, I strain my neck to look for Ian, but can't seem to find him. My mind raced to the possibilities, perhaps he was back at the hotel, perhaps I could get into his room, perhaps I could tell him how I feel, perhaps he'd feel the same way...my mind was racing. I rush to get my coat and hurry back to the hotel.

I get to our floor and notice that the door to Carolyn and my room was slightly ajar. So i tip-toe inside, and hear noises coming from our attached lounge. I hear Carolyn whispering something to a person I couldn't make out in the darkness. So I flicked on the light switch, and truly almost died from a heart-attack. On the sofa was my BEST FRIEND sitting on the lap of the guy I LOVED! Carolyn of course, didn't know I was pining for Ian, but that didn't matter, all that mattered was the fact that Ian, MY Ian was with Carolyn, who was supposed to be my best friend!

I turn my back towards them, hoping they wouldn't have seen the steady stream of tears pouring out of my eyes. I half-run out of the room and break into a full sprint towards the lobby of the hotel. Once at the lobby, I just ran and kept going till I was out of breath. It was dark out by then, and I realized that being 16, a girl and new to this part of town which looked extremely seedy was probably not a very good idea. But I was depressed, and really couldn't quite care about what was to happen to me, I just wanted to keep moving, keep walking, making sure that with every step, I was a step further from the crushing heart ache that I had just witnessed. So I walked into a bar, not really caring that I was the only girl there, and that I was getting very...interesting stares from the guys. I perch myself on one of the bar stools, and order the strongest drink the bar served.

As I was drinking, a man sits on the stool beside me and orders his drink. We spend a few moments in silence and then he turns towards me and asks me my name. We begin talking and he seems like a normal guy, not one of the carbon-copies you could find on the island. Around five drinks later, my head was spinning and I was extremely drunk. The man beside me offers to walk me back to my hotel, I accept, not really realizing truly how dangerous it was out there...or in here.

So we started walking, and it took me nearly half an hour to realize that I didn't recognize the route we were taking. I turn to the guy beside me and ask him where he was taking me and that my hotel was in the other direction. He simply nods, and tells me that he knew where my hotel was. He also said, he'd take me back the moment he quenched his thirst. This struck me as a little odd, even in my drunken state, because he had drunk just as much as I had, and I was almost in desperate need of a toilet.

As you've probably guessed, the man was Hunter, and he DID quench his thirst that night.

TO BE CONTINUED
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