Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Ronald buttoned up his trousers, angrily aimed at the driver and was about to say something when the stranger just drew a gun.

"That's a joke," Ronald laughed hysterically, but his laughter stopped again.

"On your knees!" the stranger yelled at Ronald, aiming straight at his crotch. "And no, this is not a joke!"

With my mouth open, I looked directly at the visor of his helmet, trying to remember where I'd heard his voice before.

"Love, get up," he then turned to me and after I still looked at him in shock, he took a step towards me and gave me his hand. "Come on, little one."

I glanced at Ronald, who seemed just as stunned as I was, and then took the man's hand and let him gently help me up.

"Wait by the motorcycle," he then whispered under his helmet and turned his head back towards Ronald.

"Didn't I tell you to get on your knees!!!" he yelled at him and Ronald immediately raised his hands in surrender and did what he asked.

"Listen to me!" he then interjected in a trembling voice while pointing at me. "I paid her for it. She wanted it that way. She's a frigging who-"

A bang so loud that I cried out with my eyes closed kept echoing off the walls and then when I opened my eyes again, heart racing, I saw Ronald lying on the floor with a hole in his head.

"Oh my god," I breathed, shaking, thinking I was going to die from the sight, but I just clutched my heart and tried to catch my breath.

"Take the helmet," I heard the stranger say, and then watched him take it off and hand it to me.

His ice blue eyes darted across my face and the brown hair looked just as messy as last time.

"Reahlyn," I just breathed in panic and then threw a look at Ronald before I wanted to leave, but he held me tight.

"Where are you going?" he asked in disbelief at my reaction and I immediately jerked my arm away from him.

"Get off you! You killed him-... oh my god you killed him!" I screamed desperately, but Reahlyn didn't seem to mind at all...

"Just get on the bike," he grinned, and I thought for a moment if I'd be involved in hidden cams somewhere... "Or do I have to force you?"

"How are you going to force me? Do you want to put a bullet between my eyes then?" I asked him, still shocked about what had just happened and trying not to let the fear in my voice get the upper hand, about what but I failed miserably.

He just looked at me lost in thought, not saying a word and the scariest part was that he seemed totally happy, even though there was a fresh corpse behind us.

"Here," he said quietly and carefully put the helmet on my head. "Now please come with me."

He walked the few steps ahead of me to his motorcycle and got on it while I still stood there and didn't know where to go.

"Do I really have to get up again?" he called out to me with a playful smile and after rolling my eyes theadrally with my visor open and taking a deep breath, I just followed him and sat down behind him.

Despite the black leather jacket that surrounded him, his upper body felt pleasantly warm and suddenly all I could think about was wanting to feel safe.

I clasped my hands around his stomach, braced my helmet against the side of his back and closed my eyes as I heard the engine start and savored the feeling of his closeness.

"Just hold on, little one," his voice got through to me quietly and so did I as he slowly drove off and I felt like I was floating.

I felt the curves beneath me and at the same time the cold air, which reached my skin despite the thick coat and made me shiver slightly, until I felt Reahlyn's hand over mine, which was so nice and warm that it made me relax completely.

When I finally opened my eyes again after a period of rest, I looked at the dark forest that was rapidly passing us and I thought for a moment that we were miles away from Juneau, which was fine with me.

I was escaping my own life with a complete stranger, but in that almost unreal moment, it felt absolutely right and I really tried to completely forget everything that was behind me.

There was only me, the strong man in front of me and the big, gloomy forest that surrounded me until it turned into a small side road and we drove through total darkness for a while.

Under normal circumstances I would have been scared to death by now, but I felt safer than ever.

I didn't know why, but I put it down to being far away from Pablo and Ronald, the latter of whom I would probably never see again.

The bike came to a stop here after a few minutes and when I looked around curiously I couldn't see anything but forest around us.

"We're here," Reahlyn said, and I was the first to dismount, noticing immediately that his hand was missing from mine.

What effect did it have on me? That had to be the shock, there was no other way to explain my stupid behavior.

"Where are we?" I then asked far too quietly, almost silently, taking off my helmet, but apparently he had heard me anyway.

"Home," he answered me dryly and took the helmet to disappear ahead of me into the deep black.

I quickly tried to keep up with his gait and only stopped when I saw a huge fire in the distance and gasped in panic.

"Hey," he whispered softly and took my hand again, which immediately made my stomach tingle. "Don't worry, okay? I would never harm you and this is where my family lives. You have nothing to worry about."

He looked deep into my eyes and spoke so calmly and lovingly that I couldn't help but give him my blind trust and slowly we walked next to each other until we came to a stop just before the big campfire and I finally came back recognized anything but forest.

Despite the late hour, several people were sitting on logs by the fire. They talked and laughed while behind them I recognized several wooden huts that looked gloomy but also familiar and cozy.

It was like being in a completely different world. In a world where there were no worries.

"Want to warm up?" Reahlyn asked, but I shook my head no, looking up at him for help. Even here in the dark, his eyes had such a bright color that I couldn't look away from them, fascinated. "I'd rather be alone," I stammered, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Okay."

He pulled me by my hand in the direction of a hut and opened it without a key or anything. Apparently they really were all one family here, that they were so careless with their own home.

He walked ahead of me through the door and turned on the light, so that I looked around in amazement.

One would have thought everything alone in the forest would be old and outdated, but it just seemed friendly and inviting.

The walls were dark wood, as were the floor and exterior walls, but there was a large burgundy rug in the middle. Behind it, against the wall, was a single bed covered with white linens and a black dresser with a TV on it at the foot of the bed.

He probably liked to watch movies while falling asleep.

Then I caught a glimpse of a desk and what I discovered there made my heart skip a beat.

I let go of his hand and walked to the table, mouth slightly open, to pick up a drawing of myself.

The drawing was gorgeous, much prettier when I saw myself in the mirror and most importantly, I looked really happy in it.

"How did you know where I am?" I then asked him without turning to face him, putting two and two together.

The constant feeling that I was being watched, the masked burglar... He definitely was and that worried me a bit.

"I can smell you," I then heard him behind me and turned to face him, frowning.

"Smell?" It came out of me almost silently, since he was suddenly only wearing a white tank top and I was amazed at the most beautiful tattoos I had ever seen.

"Yes, I can smell you," he smiled, taking a step toward me, but I held up my hand, stopping him.

"You're a stalker right?"

He shook his head and cocked it slightly, then scrutinized me intensely with his ice-blue eyes.

"Just an observant person."

I raised an eyebrow in irritation and crossed my arms.

"That's what a stalker would say."

I slipped the drawing back onto the table in silence, never taking my eyes off Reahlyn.

He didn't move any more than I did and also seemed busy staring at me with fascination himself, as if I were something very special in his eyes...

It was definitely strange, but by no means uncomfortable, and yet I wanted to free myself from this rigidity.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked in a low voice and deliberately avoided asking him about Ronald again, let alone whether he was the masked man. I preferred to save such questions for the time when we weren't alone in a hut in the middle of the forest.

"Where else should I take you?" he immediately asked a counter-question, unsettling me a bit. He shrugged unknowingly, running his fingers through his brown hair, causing his pecs to tighten, which I could clearly see through the white tank top.

I didn't say anything because I didn't know myself. I didn't want to go home and stare lonely at the ceiling. The nightmares of last night still haunted me too much for that and after all the bad events today, many new ones would certainly have happened.

Oddly enough, all I really wanted at that moment was to be here with him, which I couldn't explain to myself.

"You can lie down if you're tired. I'll sleep on the floor," he suggested, walking across the carpet to pull down the covers of his bed a bit.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after all this," I breathed heavily, holding my hand to my head as if to block out the images of Ronald.

"Love," Reahlyn breathed, immediately approaching me with a worried look to place his hand on my cheek...

I flinched slightly from that touch and looked into his blue eyes intimidated. Didn't know why he was being so loving to me and didn't know how I should behave.

I actually hated being so close... But why didn't it bother me with him?

Confused and overwhelmed with myself, I turned my face away from his hand and walked past him to the bed to take off my coat and shoes. I wanted to escape. Escape from this situation. Escape from my memories and if I had nowhere to go here surrounded by forest anyway, then at least I could escape into the world of a good film.

"Could you please turn on a video for me?" I turned to him, pointing to the old recorder that was behind the TV...

"Of course," he said immediately and he was standing right next to me so quickly that I felt slightly dizzy. "What do you want to see?"

It was starting to feel like he was all about pleasing me. If I hadn't just seen him shoot someone, I would have described him as the most loving person in the world.