Page 39 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

Then out of nowhere, I was suddenly beingpulled,

Toward an unknown future away from the life Iruled.

He stole my breath and all my thoughts he now heldcaptive.

The life I had carefully built, I no longer wanted tolive.

I find myself wondering, could there be more thanthis?

If I don’t take this leap, is there joy I mightmiss?

Do I want to continue holding onto the pain andpast?

Or do I want to start anew, moving forward atlast?

The fear of change keeps me chained, bowing to itswhim.

It binds my hands and holds me fast, keeping me fromhim.

If I break these chains and let the walls come crashingdown,

Can I trust that in the aftermath he will still bearound?

Can I follow him into a future not planned andunclear,

Giving up the safety of the anger that has been to me sodear?

I have no answers yet. I have not decided mydirection.

Explore the world before me, or stay behind myprotection?

Perhaps the greatest reason for the doubts I dohold,

Is because I know he’s mine. I am his without beingtold.

There, I’ve admitted what I haven’t been able tosay.

I think I know I met my soulmate onlyyesterday.

I don’t want him. I might like him. Yes, I’ve gonemad.

All I really do know is I want to kick him verybad.

Tara readthe words several times and nodded at what she had written. Mrs. Thorton wanted her to write a poem that was relevant to her life right now. It couldn’t get more relevant than that. Assignment done and feeling a bit lighter since she’d gotten all of that out, Tara decided to clean the house and do some laundry because that is what normal teen girls do. Cue eyeroll.

By dinnertime, the sky had opened up, and a torrential downpour was beating down on the roof of the house. Tara retrieved the plate Carol had left for her, which was covered in foil bearing a sticky note on top with “Tara” in Carol’s handwriting. Tara heated up the food and hoped the house wouldn’t lose power. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, per se, but you had to admit that losing power, at night, during a big storm spelledcreepy.

After eating and washing her plate and glass, she headed back to her room and decided it was time to look at the dreaded phone and see if Elias had texted her back. Her stomach clenched in anticipation, partly because she was afraid he had texted back and partly because she was afraid he hadn’t. Yes, she was well aware she hadissues.

She opened up the message app and breathed a sigh of … something when she saw that there was indeed a message fromElias.

Consider it disregarded. See you soon –E

“I’m sorry. What?”Outraged, Tara blurted out the words as if he were right there in front of her and would answer her question. What the heck did he mean by “See you soon”? Did he mean that he would see her at TGTE? Had she somehow gotten an interview because of her aptitude test thing? Were mountains what they were looking for? And not the kind of mountains Shelly had alluded to. Right? Or was it some sex trade ring and the mountains Shelly had alluded towerein fact the mountains they wanted? Bloody hell, her obsession with mountains was getting as bad as Shelly’s obsession with herhymen.

Tara smacked her hand on her forehead. “Pull yourself together, man.” She glanced at the time on her phone and realized it was later than she’d thought. She needed to take a shower and stop analyzing Elias’s elusive “See yousoon.”

“See you soon?” She muttered as she headed into the bathroom. “Who the heck says ‘see you soon’ to someone they don’t even know? Weirdos, that’s who.Great job not analyzing, Tara. Way to be committed to your decisions. And who’s the weirdo if you’re the one talking to yourself?” Tara pointed her thumbs at herself. “This girl.” And with that final, completely out loud and spoken to an empty room declaration, she climbed in the shower and turned on the water. “Son of a baker! Elias Creed, I’m going to kill you,” she yelled as she looked down. She was so preoccupied with “seeing him soon,” she’d climbed into the shower fullyclothed.

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