Content warning: mention and discussion of a suicide attempt

I don't know what happened, but I was innocently walking out of the Battle Planning Tent when Genny pushed open the gate with such force I was nearly turned into a pancake over.

"Whoa hey Genny what's-"

"Not now Justin!" She snapped, heading straight towards the tent where we keep the training equipment.

Will popped up out of nowhere. "Is she okay? Are you okay?"

The last part was directed at her disappearing form.

She waved him off. "Please, guys. I just need some time with no boys."

Will instantly looked guilty. "You don't think this is my fault do you?"

I threw up my hands. "I don't know how girls work!"

"Oh great what are you talking about now?" Sabine appeared at my shoulder, I felt my cheeks grow red.

"Nothing!" I said quickly, she gave me a look like she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"No I don't mean it like that!" I blushed.

Both Will and Sabine were giving weird looks now. Sabine gave me a look that said riiiiiiiiight. Will was glancing back and forth between the two of us like we're were bathed in a new light.

    "Oh." Was all he said.

    "What?" We both asked at the same time.

    "Oh nothing." He shrugged, smiling. "No-thing at all."

    "Alright, if you guys are going to continue be suspiciously vague, I'm going to bed." Sabine gave up.

"Me too." Will agreed.

I followed then back to the huge oak tree and climbed into my hammock, brushing off a few leaves. A little ways off, I watched as Dylan seemingly melted from the dark, following suit with the the rest of us.

I woke up to someone yelling.

    I blinked open my eyes and realized how late in the morning it was. Wow, I never used to sleep in like this back at Gifted. I cringed as I realized I also didn't have to hide my wings here.

    Right, back to the yelling.

    I rolled out of the hammock and walked outside, then I was awake.

    There were already other people who had gotten up earlier then me peeking their heads through tents. I ran forward, holding up my hands.

    "Hey! Stop it!" I commanded.

    Tyler was backed up against one of the walls, snarling and swiping at Dylan who was crouched and growling at him. I jumped in between the two of them, holding out my hands in front of them.

    "Stop!" I demanded, breathing hard.

    Dylan growled deep in his throat, baring his teeth and sending his spine chilling yellow stare at me. He glared at me for a few more seconds before stalking off.

    I sighed, relaxing slightly. I turned to see how Tyler was doing. His expression was still frozen into a vicious snarl as he stared off at something no one else could see. His eyes were blood red.

    "Tyler? Hello?" I asked nervously, I knew when he got angry he kind of...lost it, but I'm not sure if he could hear me.

    He blinked suddenly, groaning and clutching his head. "What happened?"

    I sighed. "I don't know, I just woke up and you guys were going at it."

    He blinked a few more times. "I don't know either, I just remember hearing a growl, and turning around."

    Tyler frowned, pulling his dark black hair away from his face and shrugging. "You shouldn't get so close to me next time."

    With that he walked off. I was about to see if I could get anymore sleep when Theo was all up in my face.

"Who started it?" He asked.

"Uh, It's sounds like Dylan did, I'm not sure why-"

"Come on." He dragged me along, toward the dark area underneath the large oak tree where it bordered up against the wall of wooden spikes.

"Dylan?" Theo yelled, "come on out."

I nearly squeaked when I saw his yellow eyes blink open nearby, and I watched as they turned blue again.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

Theo face twisted with annoyance. "Listen, you have a problem with someone, you do not pick fights with them, okay? And you especially do not use your powers on them, here it's a gift, don't you dare misuse it or I will kick you out."

Even I thought 'gifted' was a hopeful word, I certainly didn't feel gifted, Dylan must have agreed with me because he certainly didn't look happy.

"Yeah? Kick me out then." He growled, stepping forward, his eyes flashing yellow again.

    Theo pushed me back as Dylan leapt forward changing in mid-air, teeth bared as he sunk them into Theo's shoulder. Dylan's reaction was immediate, he let out a horrid animal-like scream, letting go of Theo and whining as he retreated into the shadows again. Theo sat up, clutching his shoulder, his shirt had a dark stain on it. I watched as the cloth dissolved before my eyes.

    "He's going to have one heck of a toothache, but I'm not done with him." Theo grunted, as the wound started closing.

    Right, acid blood. I carefully helped him up, and he brushed himself off, cracking his neck.

    "What's going on?" Will asked, there was a crowed growing as everyone heard the sound of the growling.

    "Dylan's acting weird." I explained.

    "What?" Icie inquired, apearing from another tent.

"Why does everyone care?" Dylan screamed.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"We're your friends Dyl." Icie said, walking towards the shadows he was hiding in.

    "No you're not." He said forcefully, something gave me the impression he didn't mean it, but he covered that pretty quick. "You're just a bunch of filthy mutants, none of you have the intelligence of a common toad."

    "What?" Will frowned.

    "Dylan what's wrong?" Icie asked him, stepping forward a few more steps.

    "Stay back, don't touch me." He snarled.

    Anakin and Hiyami had joined our crowd, Josie had saddled up and was clinging to my shirt.

    "Dylan, you're being immature." Theo warned.

    "You're a freak." He shot back.

    "Well so are you!" Theo held up his hands.

    Icie shot him a look. "Do you want us to leave you alone?"

    Dylan appeared from the shadows, already beginning to change, as a thin layer of gray fur appeared over his skin.

    "All of you are wretched monsters that deserve to die. I'm the only one smart enough to see that. I'm leaving, try to stop me and I'll kill you myself." After he left out the last few words he dropped onto all fours and his eyes turned yellow.

    "It's dangerous out there." Icie warned.

    He growled deep in his throat, clawing open the door, and leaving pale scars across the wood. He didn't look back as his paws dug into the dirt and he ran off, letting out a fierce howl.

    "What's going on?" Josie tugged on my shirt. I picked her up and squeezed her lightly.

    "Well, Dylan got a bit angry and now he's taking a break." I said sweetly, I felt a strange connection with the small girl, she was like a sister to me.

    Josie frowned. "Oh, I just thought he was sad. He's always very sad."

    I thought about that for a few moments before she wanted to be back on own feet again. Icie was still standing in front of the open door, her foot pounding against the ground.

    "This makes no sense." She mumbled.

    "Uh guys?" Genny pushed aside the clot covering the girls section of the hammocks from the boys, she was holding a piece of paper. "Has anyone seen Dylan?"

    "He just left. I think he plans on living on his own." I gestured to the clawed door.

    She paled. "Oh no."

    "What is it?" Icie demanded, Genny handed her the note.

    Icie chocked and clutched at her heart. She handed it to me and Will read it over my shoulder.

At first I would like to say I'm sorry. I never meant to truly hurt anyone in the beginning. I should have realized sooner, then the pain wouldn't hurt so much. That's the problem, when you fall in true love, it becomes nearly impossible to hate. Some things weren't meant to last on this earth. Some people love only to live. Some monsters are weak on the inside. I was a monster who dared love. The only way to spare love the pain was to become a monster again.
Because who would miss a monster?
-D. D.

I felt a cold feeling settle over me as I gave the letter back to Genevieve. That was a lot to take in, there was a lot of words there with different meaning, I'm not exactly sure what all of it meant. We passed the note around until mostly everyone had read it.

"What does it mean?" Will asked, thankful I didn't have too, I hated breaking awkward silences.

Icie exploded. "Are you stupid? He's going to commit suicide you idiots, I knew there was something strange about the direction he was going."

"Why would he do that?" Will asked, shrinking before her wrath.

Genny coughed. "He...uh...had a crush on me. I kind of turned him down pretty forcefully. What are you talking about directions Icie?"

Her ears were back as she paced about nervously. "Not to mention we were all being huge jerks! He's had a really hard life guys, and now he's going straight towards the Lab."

"Why?" Will asked again, he had turned a bit red when Genny mentions Dylan's infatuation with her.

We were all watching the girls as everything began to unfold. "I saw him eavesdropping on the tent a while ago, were you guys talking about anything serious?"

Sabine swallowed. "We were talking about how a a small group of one or two people could easily infiltrate the Lab to get the information we needed, maybe destroy the Lab for a second time."

"Except he doesn't plan on coming back." Icie gasped. "Guys, he was acting like he hated us because he didn't want anyone to miss him."

    The rest of us bathed in our guilt while Icie look about ready to start world war three.

    Will, stepped forward. "I'm going to go get him, he has a head start, I have wings, I can get to him in time."

    Icie practically shoved him forward towards the gate. "Go go go GO!"

    I watched as he ran forward, flapping his huge white wings as he took off into the air. his outline disappearing above the tree line in seconds.

    I guiltily thought about all the times I could have become better friends with Dylan, if it hadn't been for my own friend's biases holding me back. I cringed I asked myself, could I have stopped all this?

    I hoped Will would hurry.

___________________
Finally it took them all long enough to realize everything
Am I right
Let's see if I can finish this book this week, I hope you don't mind typos.