CHAPTER 13

ABBY POV.

“What about this one?” I asked as I held a red dress in front of me. Audrey sat on my bed in my little one-bedroom apartment. Audrey tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes as she mulled the image over. “Well… it depends.” She said as she righted her head and looked from me to the dress. “If he is taking you out to dinner at some fancy type place, then yes, but if he is taking you back to his place and cooking dinner for you then something more casual will do.” Audre said and I sighed. “But that’s just the thing! I don’t know where he is taking me and I can’t call him because I never got the chance to get his number.” I said annoyed as I hung the dress back in the closet and started to rummage through more options. Not that I had a lot… my social life wasn’t exactly glamourous so I had like only three dresses to wear to occasions.

Audrey sat in thought until she got up and stood next to me. “Well then, why don’t we mix and match it then.” She said and I looked at her curiously. “Forget about wearing a dress.” She said and started to rummage through my other clothes and pulled out a long black business-like pants. I looked at her strangely before she pulled out a blue top. The top was strapless except for a silk strap that went around my neck and the back of the top hung low which meant that I couldn’t wear a bra with it. I blushed as I stared at the top and Audrey smirked. “This, with a nice jacket and a pair of high heels and you are dressed for any occasion.” She said and I eyed her choice as she spread them out onto my bed.

“I don’t know…” I started but Audrey shook her head. “This is the best you are going to get with the amount of information that we have.” She said and turned to look at me. “Why did he have to leave so suddenly?” She asked and I shrugged my shoulders. “He said that he had a meeting with his father.” I said and I thought back to earlier. “Maybe he forgot about the time and had to hurry up.” I said, not sure myself. “It was nice of him to pay the bill though.” Audrey said and I nodded.

“Well then, I better get into the shower and get started.” I said and Audrey winked at me. “Yes, you do and I have to get going. It is almost five and I promised my parents I would drop by before the end of the day.” Audrey said. She waved as she left my apartment and I turned to look at the outfit again. I sighed. It’s too late to look for something else now, I thought to myself. I was about to turn to my bathroom when a stabbing pain pierced my side over my ribs. The side of my neck where it met the shoulder burned like a ball of fire and I sank down to one knee as I clutched at the side of my ribs and neck. I cried out in pain as the pain continued to course through my body and just before I couldn’t take it anymore, it subsided. I breathed heavily as I sat on my knees on the bedroom floor and I suddenly felt nauseous.

What the hell just happened? I asked myself and I suddenly had a bad feeling about Marcus. It was like I felt that he was in danger and that thought continuously nagged at the back of my mind and I had to fight the urge to leave now and go to him. I took a few more deep breaths as the pain vanished and I kneaded the skin on my neck. It was tingling now, just like that time after Marcus gave me a love bite.

I got up and looked around, suddenly feeling very wary of my surroundings. It felt like I wasn’t alone, someone was watching me and that someone was in the same room as me. I felt this before but not as strongly as now and it was unnerving. GET UP! GO TO MARCUS! My thoughts raced as I shot up to my feet. I ran out of my room, grabbing my car keys and nothing else. Something was wrong and needed to see Marcus now. My heart pounded as I ran down the hallway of my floor, ignoring the looks of the other tenants as they were coming and going. I skipped the lifts and ran straight for the stairs and I ran down them, skipping a few along the way and before I knew it, I was outside and getting into my car.

Even when I turned the wheel and sped out of my parking spot, I wondered what the hell I was doing but I couldn’t help myself. My heart raced with fear that something had happened to Marcus and I had to make sure that he was alright. I swerved to pass cars and I prayed that there weren’t any traffic cops around as I was sure that I was more than double the legal speed limit.

I took the dirt road that was just outside of our little town. I hoped it was the right way. I have only been down here twice, with the ambush party of Kate and with the drive back with Marcus, but somehow, I felt like I was heading the right way. My heart hitched when I instinctively made a turn of the road and a treeline sprang into view… but that wasn’t what drew my attention. Something large… some sort of creature was running by the trees… or so I thought. It disappeared. Goosebumps ran up the back of my neck and I drove faster. For some reason I didn’t feel safe but I was already here so I might as well get there faster. I looked over to where I saw it. Whatever that thing was, whether it was my imagination or something else… it was gone now. I looked back in front of me and I had to slam on the brakes… directly in my path of the road at the beginning of the trees, stood a man.

My chest heaved in fright as I made eye contact with the man. He stood there, his bare chest also heaving like he had just run for miles. All he had on was a pair of ripped shorts and no shoes. He had long wavy blond hair that stood wild around his head and brown eyes widened when saw me. He had blood on the side of his face and I paled as a feeling of dread fell over me. The blond man sprinted to my car and got into the passenger seat. I didn’t feel that he was a threat to me, but it was obvious that something was definitively wrong. “DRIVE! AND DON’T STOP…” He said in a hurried voice as he pointed forward. “GO!” He said and I jumped into action and sped off, past the tree line onto the property.