I’m overwhelmed. Baffled. There are thoughts in my head that need resolution, but I don’t know how to seek it. Tears pool in the corners of my eyes as I hurry for the door and out into the crowded hall. There are even more people littering the room than when we arrived and even more smoke filtering the air. I hold my breath and tuck in my elbows as I begin to squeeze through the sweaty bodies that smell like salt and alcohol.
Fingers wrap around my upper arm and I’m jerked back as a current of heat charges through my body. Alex guides me back toward the mellower end of the hall.
“I’m sorry,” he says it so softly that I’m not sure I heard it correctly.
I look at him. “Sorry for what?” The list of reasons is endless.
Releasing my arm, he rakes his hand through his messy hair, making it stick up more than it usually does. “I just… I don’t know. Panicking, I guess. But I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” It’s physically paining him to say it. His hand falls to his side and he hesitates. “But, that can’t happen again. We have to… we have to be friends. Just friends.”
It sounds like a copout line. I cross my arms, trying to protect myself from the feelings of humiliation eating away at me. “I didn’t even know we were that.”
He huffs out a breath as his head falls back. “You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”
I expand my hands out to the side of me, nearly hitting a woman as she whisks by. ”I’m not doing anything, except being honest. I don’t know you. You don’t know me, at least, not very well.”
He lifts his head back up and there is a frown puckering at his brow. “But, I do.”
I shake my head, fighting to stay composed. “How come—” The music switches to an upbeat rhythm that pounds through the speakers and asphyxiates my tone. People start going wild, banging their heads and gyrating their bodies against each other. I inch closer to Alex, even though the heat and the disgusted look on his face is ripping my heart into a thousand pieces of nothingness. “How come you’re fine one second and then suddenly, completely offish? I don’t get you. At all. And it’s like you do it on purpose. Like you…” I trail off as he stares at me, biting at his lip, seeming amused. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
He shakes his head as he grins. “It’s nothing.” There’s a pause and he stares at my mouth. “I just realized that I’m going to have my hands full.”
I’m not sure what it is; the stifling heat or the wounding of my pride, but I suddenly lift my hand to hit him. He starts to smile, but then all humor leaves his face as his gaze dashes over my shoulder. He quickly grabs my arm and tugs me down the hall toward the bedroom door. Pressing his hands to my back, he shoves me forward. I trip over my feet and land on the bed.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I sit up as he slams the door and spins around.
He puts his finger to his lips, shushing me, then he races over to the window. Peering outside, he reaches into his pocket and draws out a small pocketknife. He flips the blade open and turns to me with the sharp end aimed at my heart.
“Is that what you stole out of the wall?” I inch away from him with my hands out in front of me.
He glances at the knife, then lowers it to his side and shakes his head. “No.” His boots thud against the floor as he paces with his fists clenched. “Remember that snake-tattoo guy I was telling you about? Well, he’s here.”
I keep my eyes on the knife in his hand. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t…” He spins toward the window and flings it open. A nippy breeze howls at my ears and snowflakes encircle around me. “We’re going to climb out the window.”
There’s no way I’m going to jump out the window and into the snowy forest. I’ve hated the forest ever since my dream. I’m already too close now. Shaking my head, I kneel up and back away across the bed. “Why can’t I just walk out the door and meet you at the car? He’s not after me?”
He turns to me and there’s a cautious look in his eyes. “Well actually he kind of is.”
I climb off the bed and stand up on the other side to maintain some distance between us. “How am I a part of this?”
He sticks out his hand. “It doesn’t matter right now. You need to come with me—we need to get out of here.”
I arch my eyebrows at his hand. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he rounds the bed in quick, determined strides, so I have little time to react. Before I know it, he’s right in front of me. “That’s a really long story that I don’t have time to explain at the moment.” He laces his fingers through mine and hauls me toward the open window. “I just need to get you out of here. I should never have brought you here.”
I remove my hand from his and glance out the window at the forest that stretches aimlessly into the night. “Then why did you?”
His gaze interlocks with mine. “Because I can’t seem to stay away from you for some Goddamn, annoying reason.”
Uncertain how to react, I seal my lips and climb up onto the windowsill. Swinging my leg out, I glance back at him. “You’re coming, too, right?”
He nods, but his gaze darts to the door as it swings open. I catch a glimpse of yellow that flickers as a cape flaps and then I’m being shoved out the window. Luckily, we are on the first floor, and the fall is short. I land in the snow bank and sink into it. Falling onto my hands and knees, I dig my nails into the snow and claw my way forward, dragging my legs out of the snow bank. Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the window I’ve just fallen out of. It is freezing and dark, and there are shadows moving all over inside the house. I can see two figures in the room, fighting against each other, swinging their fists and there’s a lot of loud banging. I push to my feet and back away, undecided. Should I run? Or wait? As I turn toward the car, I hear a soft thud and I spin around. Alex has jumped out the window and is running for me. Within a beat, he’s grabbing my hand and then we are running like hell around the house. His skin is cold and his body blurs against the darkness. I struggle to keep up, my legs stretching to their maximum length. I’m moving so quickly that I run into him as he stops and it’s like colliding with a wall made of ice.
“What is it?” I stagger to the right as he begins to move again, detouring around a fence and then heading toward the trees. My legs fight to keep up with him as he picks up the pace. I can barely see anything; the sharp features of his face and the solid outline of his body blends with the dark. “We’re seriously not going in there, are we?”
As we reach a small opening where the trees break apart from one another, he stops and glances from left to right. Then he releases my hand and turns in a circle, looking lost as he takes in the trees. His hair is crisped with frost and the way he moves his legs, without quite bending his knees is strange.
“What are you doing?” I breathe and the cold stings my lungs. “Did you get injured? You look like you’re walking funny.”
He remains silent as he hikes toward the trees, crossing his legs with each step. He no longer has the knife in his hand and there’s something off about him—he is too quiet.
“Alex,” I hiss and chase after him, keeping my head low to the ground because the branches of the trees clip my head. “What are we running from?”
He looks at me from over his shoulder and the moonlight reflects in his eyes. His pupils look hollow as if every last speck of emotion has been emptied. He smiles and it’s like looking at a ghost. Something’s wrong.
I shuffle backwards with my hands poised out to the side. The ground is slippery and snow keeps falling from the branches of the trees and down the collar of my coat. Alex doesn’t utter a word to me, he only observes me. The recollection of a memory runs over me like a truck and my knees almost give out. I’ve dreamt about this place before. I was in the trees, it was dark, and the moon was bright. I brace a hand against a tree and squint through the dark. Through the darkness, a dim flicker of light surfaces. I want to run, but my legs are bound to the ground by my fear.
“Why did you bring me here?” I demand. “And who are you really?”
He folds his arms across his chest and stares at me, unresponsive. His stare is weighted and overpowering. My body longs to be near him, but the rage inside my head keeps me put.
“Answer me!” I shout and the sound echoes for miles and snow shivers from the bare branches of the trees. My body shakes from the wrath inside me. “Do you know what’s going to happen? Is that why you brought me out here? Because you want it to happen?!”
Again he’s silent, like a mummy with their lips stitched shut. The shadows of the branches cast across his face and the wind howls around us. I pry my hand away from the tree and force my feet to move. I know what is going to happen and I need to get out of here, with or without him. In a slow, lethargic movement, I rotate around and drag my feet through the deep snow. The sky is a sheet of black and my bearings are mixed up from the cold that possesses my limbs. I’m lost. I glance over my shoulder and Alex is gone. He has bailed on me; left me out here in the dark. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a frightening one.
“Shit,” I curse as I circle around a tree, hunching over as I try to track my footsteps back to the cabin. The light glimmers in the distance, beckoning me to come closer and I keep winding around the trees, trying to get back to the cabin, but all that seems to happen is I grow nearer to the light. It is getting colder and the moonlight is fading behind the clouds.
I halt at the sight of lofty shadows emerging from the trees. They’re just a hallucination, like in the parking lot. It has to be. However, as the figures surfaces move closer, the fear that races through my body and rams into my gut and chest is very real.
“Gemma, what are you doing out here?” Alex winds around the last of the trees and steps out into the open. The remaining stream of moonlight casts across his face and his eyes look normal again, not empty. There are scratches on his face, his jacket is torn, and his hair is disheveled. “Why the hell didn’t you run to the car?”
My gaze drifts to the knife in his hand. There’s blood on his knuckles and on the blade. “You took me out here.”
He stops a distance away and his eyebrows dip together. “What are you talking about?” He’s close enough now that I can see a thin river of blood streaming down his wrist.
“You’re bleeding?” I dare a step closer to him.
His shoulder moves forward and he examines the blood pouring out of his arm. “It’s just a scratch.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s bad.”
“I’ll live, but we have to get you out of here.” He offers me his uninjured hand, but I don’t take it. “Would you just come with me?”
“I don’t know.” I look over my shoulder, noting that the light in the distance has vanished. “I can’t… I don’t…” Confusion is overwhelming me. I want to run to where the light disappeared. I want to run away from Alex. I want to run away with Alex. I have no idea what to do. I’m pretty sure I am the most confused human being that has ever lived.
