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I raise my balled fists, ready to open them up and shove dirt in his face, but before I can, he grabs my wrists.
“Drop it.”
When I don’t, he squeezes harder. “Now, Scar.”
Giving in, I slowly spread my palms, letting the dirt fall to my sides.
“Nice try but you have to be quicker than that. Now, answer the riddle and you move on. If you fail, you’re out of the games and left out here all night to find your own way back. Although, you said yourself it’s what you wanted.”
No. It’s not what I want. I’d rather dig a hole and hide in it until the sun rises than walk through these woods alone.
Okay. The riddle.What was it again?
Something about running and catching.
“I…I can’t remember what it was.”
“What is harder to catch, the faster you run?” He goes silent as I think.
Shit. I don’t know. I’m no good at riddles. Even Eloise, the little girl who comes to the quarterly Society meetings, gets me with her knock-knock jokes.
“Think about it, Scar. I’d hate to report a missing student on my watch so early in the year.”
“Yeah, right,” I sneer. “You’d love nothing more than for me to go missing. Never to be heard of again.I know you hate me, Neo.”
“Wrong,” he says. “I don’t hate you. I loathe you. You are the bane of my existence. Everything I do that involves you is smothered in ill-intent. When I look at you, it pains me. When I touch you, it makes me sick.”
My voice cracks and breaks and I push down the lump lodged in my throat. “Why? What is it you hate so much about me?” I choke out.
It shouldn’t hurt like it does because I’ve always known everything he’s telling me. It does hurt, though. It hurts because I don’t know why. What did I ever do to make him hate me so much?
“Everything.” The emptiness in his tone is disturbing, and I truly believe it when he says he hates everything about me.
I won’t get any other answer. I’ve asked Neo countless times why he’s never liked me and it’s always the same simple response.
Maddie once told me he’s jealous of my friendship with her. But back then, Neo tolerated me. Sure, he pulled little pranks and cracked jokes at my expense, but he was never this detestable. It’s like, when Maddie left, he felt free to finally set my world on fire.
“You’ve got one minute.”
“One minute?” I blurt out. “How am I supposed to solve that in one minute?”
“You’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out.”
I inhale deeply, filling my lungs while trying to clear my head.
“Forty seconds.”
“Okay,” I say, “I’ve got this.What is harder to catch, the faster you run?”
I speak out loud, hoping it helps me solve this riddle. “Harder to catch. Faster you run. When you run fast, you could be chasing something…”No. That’s not it.
“What happens to your body when you run, Scar?” he asks, making me think harder.
“Fast legs?”
“No,” he deadpans.
“Depth perception?”
