Fellow hooligans of the internet,

I'm so sorry about the hiatus, I'm back, and I hope you like this one, it's pretty intense ;)

Chapter 10

We drove all the way to… well I'm not sure where exactly but Jared keeps repeating it's far enough we won't have the same incident again. We stopped at a motel in the suburbs of a city, and Jamie is already hunting. Every time he sees someone that remotely seems like a woman he makes some kind of hawk like sound and runs around, all excited. I really think he should have stayed home.

Ian grabs hold of my hand as we are taking a walk outside. They're all wearing sunglasses even know the sun is setting, and to avoid suspicion, I force them to wave to other souls.

"So, where are we going first?" Inquires Mel.

"Well I thought we could just walk around, browsing," replies Jared with a smirk.

I roll my eyes at the ridiculous joke. Ian squeezes my hand; he knows how troubling it is for me to have us objectified like that.

"No seriously, where are we going?" Insists Mel.

"Well I thought we could walk around, there's a nice view," he answers.

Mel sighs, knowing that Jared is only doing that to annoy her. We walk in silence for a little more until Jamie decides to share his brilliant idea with us.

"We could go to a restaurant."

We all freeze, like lightning struck at our feet. The idea seems so mundane, so normal, yet so dangerous. I, for one, am considering it, but I can see that the men aren't.

"Too dangerous," snaps Jared.

We keep walking, staring at our feet. I know Jared wants to tell Jamie how truly stupid he finds the idea, but he would never do that to the kid.

I don't want this tension, everyone is so uncomfortable.

"Let's go back to our room, we can order something from there," I suggest.

To that, everyone turns around and we head back. I can see Jamie's shoulder's lifting up as though my proposition erased his.

I shine a smile at the lady behind the motel desk, and the others are hurrying to our room. I want to stop for small talk, since we seem so suspicious, but Ian drags me along.

"Ian," I hiss through gritted teeth, "we look too suspicious!"

Ian doesn't answer and we make it to our room, where everyone finally breathes. Jared turns on the TV and groans at the screen. Mel sits beside him and we all watch. It's another one of those emotional stories about partners who found each other.

The lady on screen is telling how she looked around for months, asking about him, but she heard he was transferred to the wrong planet. Such mistake was outrageous to her. She found him a year later, in a café, he had been looking for her too. He was in the right planet, just the wrong city.

The soul cries while telling the story and they put on a quite moving reenactment of the moment. I wipe the corner of my eye. I feel truly happy for them, I couldn't imagine what I would do if that happened to Ian. I turn to see the boys clutching at their bellies, rolling on the bed. Mel, who was also touched by their story, scowls at them for laughing.

Jamie grabs a sheet, putting it around his head like a headwear and puts on an overly dramatic face.

"What could I possibly do without him? I mean, there are millions of us who are practically the same, but why him?" he whines.

I am about to protest, but their roaring laughter makes me laugh too. Ian is laughing so hard tears are streaming down his cheeks, which makes Jared point and laugh even more.

Mel jumps on Jared, profiting from his moment of weakness to tackle him. Turns out he's surprisingly ticklish and he jerks, falling off the bed with pillows and sheets. Jamie throws himself on top of them, and their screams grow louder.

Ian turns to me, with a mischievous look on his face. I smile and try to run but he pounces and holds me down as I blush fifty shades of magenta and laugh like a hyena.

The ruckus and playful fighting keeps going. We don't hear her approaching. We don't hear her knocking. We don't notice her before the door swings open, and the counter lady stares at us worryingly.

The light from the bright hallway pours inside, illuminating our shocked faces. Our eyes stare at her. Only one pair reflects the light.

The soul gasps and she runs, leaving the door open. We are still lying in a mess of pillows and sheets and bodies. It takes us a few seconds before we bounce up. Jared grabs the keys and Jamie's hand and runs. He makes it to the hallway but he stops. He doesn't know where to go. We are behind him, adrenaline rushing through our veins, our brains too slow.

"HERE!"

We jerk towards the voice and a soul with punk clothes, piercings and tattoos is waving at us. Her door is open just enough so that her upper body is out.

I, who usually isn't the one to make decisions, let go of Ian's hand and hurry towards her.

"Wanda!" he yelps.

"Oh, come on!" the soul snaps.

My friends surprisingly follow her order and follow me into her room. She shuts the door behind Mel and turns to us.

"The pool." She simply says.

None of us know what she means, or why we're here, or why she is helping us, or if she's helping us.

She runs to the back of the room and opens the curtains. She opens the glass door leading to her balcony.

"Jump." She orders.

She hurries back to the door, locks it and pushes us to the balcony. I look down at the 5 meter height separating the balcony from the pool. There's even a 2 meter distance. I shudder at the thought of jumping.

Mel is hopping over the railing as we stare open mouthed. She looks down for a second before jumping. Jared shouts her name, and she crashes, splitting the water.

"The seekers won't see you from here, but you have to hurry," the souls adds urgently. She shoves Jared.

"You're next."

Jared jumps without further questions. Jamie leaps seconds after him. I'm too scared and shocked to see if they're okay. Ian helps me over the railing and holds me so I don't fall. Tears of fright roll down my face.

"Go!" orders the soul.

I stay there, with Ian no longer holding me. My fingers are clasped around the bars and they won't let go.

Something pinched my upper arm, probably the soul, and I'm too scared to think. All I know is that she scared me into jumping. And so I leap, too scared to scream, too scared to think.

I fall towards the ground.

Sorry about the cliffhanger! Also I'm sorry for the long break... I'll keep going though. I can't give up now!

Thank you,

As usual,

MaliceWonders