Chapter 3: Chapter Two

He gives me directions, never once saying anything, just pointing. I think he's mentally unstable, but that's too scary to ponder. Maybe he just has trouble with his speech. I'm hoping he's pointing me in the right direction because if we get lost, it's over. The last house I saw is about five miles away. I hope he knows where we're going. Honestly, I just want to get rid of him. He hasn't stopped staring at me. It's so creepy. And I still need to…"Are you sure this is the right way? To your home?"

He doesn't say anything. I keep driving and praying that everything goes well. I think of Gavin. He's probably called the police by now. I never even got to tell him where I was. It was stupid of me. How is he going to find me now? I'm sure he's called Kelly by now and followed the route I would take from the bar to our house. He's definitely seen the blood. But what if that hasn't happened yet? What if he doesn't find the blood on the road until tomorrow?

I feel the naked man touch my hand, and I pull it away. The car swerves, but I manage to get control of it again. "Could you please not do that?" My voice is small and shaky. I need to conceal my fear a little better. I don't want him thinking I'm afraid of him, even though I'm terrified.

I'm trying not to think of his nudity. I can't wrap my head around this night—it's just too much. I think we're lost. All I see are trees, an endless amount of trees surrounding us. Not a single car has driven past us. There's no way he lives here. No one lives in the forest.

"Maybe we should turn back. There are no houses here."

"Keep going." His voice isn't as throaty anymore. It's pretty clear. I look at him, and he smiles. I get shivers down my spine. I didn't notice that this guy is handsome. How could I when he was acting like a lunatic and smelling me and bleeding all over the place? The blood has dried, and the bleeding has stopped. I'll need to get my car cleaned after this. I keep my eyes ahead, but out of the corner of my eye, I can see he's still looking at me. He's so tall his head grazes the roof of my car, and he's hunched in his seat. I keep driving, but I have this feeling in my gut that tells me something is horribly wrong.

I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. I should have turned back miles ago. What was I thinking? "Listen, I'll just turn back—"

"You can stop here." I step on the brakes, and the car screeches to a halt. It's so quiet I can hear his breathing. I don't dare look at him. He's still staring at me, unmoving. We sit like this for half a minute. My heart is beating so fast I'm surprised it hasn't touched the windshield by now.

"Aren't you going to—"

He reaches out and grabs my keys. My keys. He just took my keys from the ignition. "What are you doing? Don't you live here? Give me back my keys."

He opens the door and steps out. He moves around the car, and I lock my door before he reaches for the handle. I lean over and shut the passenger door and lock it, too. I settle back in my seat, and he's at my window, smiling at me, dangling my keys in front of me. I'm an idiot. I'm a fucking idiot. All this act of being mentally incapacitated was to trick me into thinking he was harmless. I'm such a fool.

"Get out of the car, Bea."

I freeze. He just called me Bea. How does he know my name? I don't remember telling him my goddamn name. "How do you know my name?"

"Just get out of the car, and I'll tell you."

I'd laugh, but my sense of humor isn't this morbid. "Are you crazy? You think I'll get out of my car? Just give me back my keys and go. What do you want from me?"

He smiles and shakes his head. "Don't make me do this, Bea."

I feel my lip quiver. "Do what?"

He steps back and lifts his fist. I put my hand over my eyes just as he punches my window twice, and the glass breaks. I start screaming. I should've screamed earlier when there were houses nearby. I feel his hands on me. He unlocks my door and pulls me out. I kick him, and he grunts. I kick him again and again, but he's already dragging me out of my car. I start slapping him, punching, and scratching him. He doesn't react. He's dragging me to the woods. No one is around to hear me. No one is around to help me. "Let me go! What do you want from me?"

So many things run through my head—he's going to kill me, rape me. And I won't be able to do a damn thing to stop him. I don't have any weapon on me. I've already broken some nails. This is it—I'm going to die here. I'm never going to see Gavin again. Tears are spilling down my face. This guy is going to kill me. Why didn't I drive right over him? Why did I stop? Why didn't I tell Gavin where I was? I'll regret this decision for the rest of my life.

I look back, and I can't see my car anymore or the road. We're deep in the woods now. I've been slapping and scratching him this whole time, and he hasn't even looked back at me. I try to kick him between his legs, but his thighs grip my foot. It's like he can predict my every move. It's terrible and infuriating. The path before us is illuminated by moonlight. I can see all the muscles in his back and arms. And legs. There's no way I'd win a fight against him. He's too tall, and he's thrice my size. I don't stand a chance. Where is he taking me?

"Let me go." I start begging. It's all I have left to do. "Please. You don't have to do this."

"I do."

We reach a small cabin in the middle of the woods. So he does live here? What's going on? He starts dragging me up the steps. I fight against him, and I pull away. Something in my shoulder pops. Pain radiates down my arm, and I scream. He opens the door and walks in, dragging me inside. It's so dark in here.

The door shuts behind us, and we're in complete darkness. I stop moving; he lets go of me. I feel him circling, and I close my eyes. "What do you want from me?" I ask for the hundredth time. "Just let me go."

"I can't do that." I hear him right next to me. My legs start shaking, and I can't stand straight. I fall to my knees.

"Why not? If it's money you want, I don't have any money. I'm of no use to you." My voice is shaky, and my throat hurts from all the screaming. "Let me go. I'll forget this ever happened."

"I can't do that."

I feel a spark of anger. No, not a spark. Somethings lights up inside of me. "Why not? Why the fuck not? You keep saying that, but you don't tell me what the fuck you want from me! Just kill me and get it done and over with. DO IT!"

"I'm not going to kill you, Bea."

"How do you even know my name? I never told you."

"It was written on the moon."

I don't know why, but I start laughing. I guess my sense of humor really is morbid. "You really are crazy. I can't believe this."

"I'm not crazy."

"Yeah? Then what are you? What the fuck else could you be?"

"Let me show you."

Then it gets really still. My bladder feels too full. All I can hear is my erratic breathing. My heart's about to burst from fear. I've never been this scared before in my life. And then I hear the sound of bone snapping right behind me. I start crawling away from it, and my head hits a wall. I sit back, and I come face-to-face with a pair of green eyes glimmering in the dark. I scream and push it away—a snout. I feel a snout, a wet snout.

"Ugh. Don't touch me!"

This animal gets closer to me. It starts sniffing my neck. I slap at it, and I back away. "Stop." Where'd that lunatic go? It's so dark. I can't see a thing. Then that sound again. Of snapping bones. Then a hand touches my face.

"Bea. My Bea."

I scoff. "I'm not your Bea. I'll never be your Bea. I'm Gavin's Bea. Gavin, my boyfriend, remember?"

I hear a whoosh and something cracks right by my ear. The wall, he just punched the wall. "Don't say his name." He says it so calmly, you'd never think he just punched the wall. Or maybe he meant to hit me. How can he see in this dark? I look up, and I gasp. His eyes. What's wrong with his eyes? "Your eyes. What?"

"I can see in the dark."

I stutter. "Hh-how? No one can see in the dark."

"I'm not human."

My heart drops. I back away from the man, but he follows me. The animal. Where'd it go? "Where'd your dog go?"

"I don't have a dog."

I lose my patience. "That thing with the wet snout that was here just now smelling me. Where is it? What was it?"

He doesn't answer me. I'm having a hard time looking at his eyes, so I look away. What have I gotten myself into? I could have sworn I saw a flash of black fur, but then he shows up passed out in front of my car, naked. Now we're here having the strangest conversation. There was an animal here just now, and now it's gone.

"Bea."

"Don't call me that!" I shout. "Just tell me what you want!"

"You."

My heart skips a beat. Maybe two. The conviction in his voice is unmistakable. My voice cracks. "Why?"

"Because the moon chose you."

"You keep mentioning the moon. What does the moon have to do with any of this? Can't you just give me a straight answer? Why do you want me?"

I feel something sharp pierce my neck. I wince, and my hand flies to my neck. I feel something wet and warm trickle down my neck—blood. It's blood. "What did you do to me?" I feel around my neck with my fingertips. I find one hole, then another next to it. Every time I touch them, I feel a stabbing pain. "You stabbed me. You pricked me with something." My neck starts burning, and I place my hand over the wound.

"I bit you."

Everything starts fading. Which is weird because I'm in complete darkness. My eyes feel heavy, and I close them. My heart rate decelerates, and I feel so calm and peaceful. Unlike anything I've ever felt before. Is this what dying feels like? Am I bleeding out? I feel him touch me, but I don't have the strength to fight him. I force myself to think of Gavin. His smile. His eyes. His kiss. The way his eyes droop in the morning...warm tears cascade down my cheeks. Something cracks inside of me, but I don't feel it. Everything goes dark. Then, there's nothing.