"Eyes Closed"

"Hey, Tori. Your daddy and I are going to work now, okay?" The little girl turns her gaze away from the television screen and gasps as she wraps her arms around her mother securly without ever letting go. Mrs. Hanson smiles in awed as she returns the hug with a tight squeeze to the shoulder. "Don't you worry, Honey. The nice gentleman will watch over you until we get back."

"No, Mommy! I don't want to stay with him!" Little Tori screams horrifyingly. "Please! Take me with you! I promise I'll behave." Her lips trembled with the rest of her petite body as she puts on her puppy dog look. Mrs. Hanson frowns on her behalf.

Momentarily, there was a sudden knock on the door. Mr. Hanson went running down the stairs to get it. "Ah, here he is." Tori's father steps aside to let the stranger in. "Thanks for watching out for my daughter." The two ladies overheard voices from the livingroom.

"Oh, it's my pleasure. Tori is truly something."

"Ah, yes she is."

Mrs. Hanson looks down at her daughter and smiles. "I have to go now, sweetie. He will take good care of you. I promise."

"No!" Tori refuses to let go as she grabs her mother's leg and drags herself with it.

"Tori. Stop." She looks down agitatedly, trying to shake off her daughter's grip from her leg. "I have to work."

"At least let me go with you." She begs in her sweetest voice.

Mrs. Hanson sighs when suddenly her husband and the sitter walks in. "Honey, our daughter wants to come along." She chuckles.

"You know that's not gonna happen." Her father says in a serious tone. He turns to the gentleman and smiles. "There's money on the kitchen table, along with snacks and drinks. Our numbers are posted on the refrigerator door in case something comes up. We'll be home in a few hours, and make sure Tori cleans her room."

He smiles and winks at the little blonde. "No problem, Mr. Hanson. It's all taken care of. We are going to have lots of fun, aren't we?"

Tori glares at him as she hides behind her mother's back. His eyes were so wicked, so deceiving, there was no way to turn away from it and feel safe afterwards. But Tori knew she could no longer hide from the fear. He will always be there, watching her every move, as her parents remain oblivious to his kindness and motives to what he's really after. It sure wasn't the money. "We'll be going now."

"B-But---"

"Behave, Tori." Mr. Hanson points a finger at her as he and his wife exit out the house with a goodbye-flying kiss. The little girl begins to panic as she slowly turns herself around to face the man. He folds his arms and grins wickedly at her.

"Well it's just you and me tonight, cutie. One word, and I'll make sure you'll never see your parents ever again."

"NOOOOO!"

Hunter, Dustin, Shane, Cam, and Mr. Smith were situated in a round table, laughing away with a few jokes and memories he end up sharing to the group about Hunter when he was just a baby. The guys were having late lunch at an Italian and French restaurant as they wait for a guest before taking their orders. Dustin takes a quick glance of his watch, and noticed an hour as already passed since they first arrived. "Dude, I wonder what's taking Tori so long." He grumbled impatiently while scratching the back of his head. "I'm starving. Can we just start without her?"

Hunter shrugs. "I can't argue with that."

"About this Tori girl," Mr. Smith starts off out of curiosity, "I can see that you're all very close, but since Tori is the only female in this picture, did any of you guys ever dated her?"

Dustin and Shane immediately choked on their water as all eyes directly turn to them. "Well, I guess one of us did." Cam murmured with a grin.

Hunter wrinkles his forehead suspiciously. "I had a feeling one of you guys dated her." He smirks. "So which one of you did?" Dustin and Shane exchange worried glances once the question was brought up. "Come on. It's time to let it all out."

The goofball sighs. "Okay. Okay. I'll tell you what happened." Everyone in the table all stared at him intently, waiting nosily as ever. "It was this dude right here."

Shane gasps once a finger was pointed at him. "Hey! You dated her too!"

Cam arches his brow surprisingly. "Both of you did?!"

The two lowered their heads in embarassment as they sink down on the chairs. "Well, it's uhh kind of complicated." Dustin stammers nervously. "You see umm...I had this huge crush on Tori since pre-school, and we didn't actual get together till like 8th grade." Cam makes another stunning face. '8 grade?!' He thought it was a fairly young age to start dating, especially when he didn't start going out till college, but that didn't exactly work out perfectly. "But anyway, we broke up because she just wanted to be friends. So, then we entered high school together as freshmen, and that's where Shane comes along."

"Yeah, and uhh let's not go there." He wanted to ignored another subject and move on to a new one. "You could figure out what happens after that."

Hunter laughs. "And you all managed to be the best of friends. How nice."

"Yeah. Well, Cam had a crush on her at one point." Dustin added while winking towards his direction. The computer wiz gives him the evil eye in return. He knew that was coming sooner or later as their attention were now drawn on him.

"Really, Cam?" Hunter nudges his shoulder. "You had a thing for Tori?"

He grunted. "So? She has a good heart, not to mention utterly gorgeous."

"Dude. Dude." Dustin scoffed excitedly. "Isn't that weird? All of us had a thing for Tori at one point."

Hunter snorted. "Yeah, except for me though."

"I wouldn't say that." Shane winks.

The dirty blonde raises one brow. "What does that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on, dude. Don't you see a pattern here?" Dustin observes critically. "First it was me, Shane, Cam, and Blake. It all means one thing. You're next, man."

Hunter blurts out in hysteric laughter. "You're kidding right?"

Shane leans back on the chair and folds his arms. "Don't tell me you never looked at Tori and say to yourself how good she looks."

"Okay, I already know she's beautiful but I'm not crazy about her unlike you guys were." He chuckles. "Or shallow."

Cam rejected the comment with a cold glare. "I am not shallow."

The guys sat down in silence, staring carefully at the dirty blonde and studying him as if they were figuring out some kind of plan. Annoyed with their awkward behavior, Hunter tried to avoid their presense but somehow he couldn't. "I give it a month." Dustin blurts out.

"Nah. More like a week."

"Whoa. Whoa. What are you guys getting into?" Hunter questions in bewilderment.

Mr. Smith smirks. "Son, they think you'll like Tori sooner or later."

"But that's just crazy!"

"Want to bet on it?" Shane grins.

Hunter stares at him disapprovingly. "NO! That's just way too easy."

"Hey, if you think you can win it, then there should be no problem on your part right?"

Dustin nods. "Yeah. Come on, man. What do you got to lose?"

He thought about it for a brief moment and nods. As ridiculous the bet sounds, Hunter could use some cash; easy cash that is. And plus, he knew for sure he was going to win. Hunter has never looked at Tori as more than a friend before, nor would he ever want to, which gives him the advantage of winning. 'I got this.' He thought with a grin. The dirty blonde faces Shane and nods. "Fine. You're on." They closed off the deal with a friendly, competitive handshake.

"Hey guys." Everyone looks up as the blonde rushes inside the restaurant right after Mr. Smith excused himself to go to the bathroom. She walked in with her hair soak and wet, barely well prepared for the day. It has been a week later since the accident, and her arm has never felt better than before. "Sorry I'm late." Tori takes an empty seat next to Dustin and Shane as all eyes remained fixed on her. She slowly looks up at the guys and figured they wanted an explanation. Tori decides to play dumb with them. "What?"

Cam sighs. "Well, that took you long enough. Where have you been?"

"I overslept."

The guys exchange looks. "You overslept?"

Tori sighs. "Yeah. I'm having those nightmares again." She pursed her lips while fiddling with the salt and pepper shakers just thinking about it.

"Nightmares?" Dustin questions worriedly. "Like what, Tor?"

"It's nothing important. So where is your father?" Tori faces Hunter while shifting her body towards his direction on the chair. "You kept going on and on about him yesterday. Seems like you two are getting close."

He smiles. "Yeah. I mean despite his history records, he turns out to be a really cool dad. He even does motorcross!"

"No way!" Dustin exclaims happily. "That's totally awesome!"

"Yeah. We're going riding later. You think maybe you want to tag along with us?"

He nods. "Sure, man. Count me in."

"Alright." The two shared a quick high five when suddenly Mr. Smith arrives from the men's room. He approaches the table and noticed a person was added to the party. He fixed his white dress shirt a bit to remove the wrinkles before joining the group.

"Hey there." Mr. Smith clears his throat out as he extends a friendly hand towards the lovely blonde. "You must be Tori."

She looks up and returns the greeting with a warm smile. "Hello, Mr. Smith. It's nice to finally meet you." Tori brings her hand out and shakes it when suddenly a sudden gasp escape her lips. She shuts her eyes as a sharp jolt entered her body. While trying to escape another memory trance, the picture of her terrifying dream came into view once again.

"Ow! Let go of me!" Tori struggles to release herself from the man's grip once she tried escaping out of the house. He was pulling onto her wrist when she refuses to touch his bare chest. "Go away! I hate you!" She screams from the top of her lungs. He grins as he blocks her way from the front door and came walking towards her direction, ready to put his hands on her.

"NO!" Tori snaps out of it and noticed she was still holding hands with Mr. Smith. She looks up at him and immediately pulls her hand back away in a flash. The guys all gave each other quizzical stares, and concern for Tori. Something was obviously not right as Tori and Mr. Smith stare at each other carefully. Hunter's father, however, felt confused along with the others due to the way she reacted. It was a random, unexpected occurrence that never happened before and it made the guys question themselves after witnessing such odd behavior.

"Is something wrong?" Mr. Smith asks worriedly.

Tori remains stunned with her eyes fixated on him, and mouth slightly open. She found herself off to her own world until Dustin snapped a few fingers to get her attention. Tori shook her head and turns to him. "Huh?"

The goofball arches his brow. "What's wrong with you?" He questions anxiously. "Why are you looking at Mr. Smith like that?"

Tori sighs. "N-Nothing." She placed a hand on her forehead and takes a deep breath to soothe her nerves. "Sorry, Mr. Smith. You just reminded me of someone that's all."

He nods with the concern look in his eyes. "It's okay as long as you're alright..."

She chuckles. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just--" Tori trails off as she takes one good look at him. "I swear you look so familiar. But maybe I'm just going crazy."

Hunter snorted. "Yeah. Probably."

Tori glares at him. "You know, I should go."

"You don't have to." Mr. Smith insisted.

She forces a weak smile. "Thanks, but I have some errands to run anyway. I'll umm...see you guys later. Bye."

"Tor?" Dustin, Shane, Cam, and Hunter all turned around as they watch their blonde friend walk out the door. All eyes then shift over to Mr. Smith as he sat there, bewildered as they were. "What was that all about?"

Later on in that day towards sunset, Hunter, Dustin, and Mr. Smith arrived at the track to have some fun before heading on home. This was a good way to take their minds off of things, including Tori's odd behavior towards Mr. Smith but somehow, the guys managed to forget all about it and figured it was just one of those days girls have whenever it was their time of the month. They raced a few laps around the track until Mr. Smith led them off into the woods. Hunter and Dustin trailed off not too far behind, until Mr. Smith got carried away and became a distant figure. The duo tried to keep a steady pace to prevent themselves from losing him, but eventually he became too far off. Once they made a full stop in the middle of the woods, Hunter and Dustin removed the helmets off their heads and began breathing heavily.

"Dude, I hate to admit this, but your old man can ride. Better than you even!" Dustin added with a chuckle. Hunter ignored the comment and looks off to their surroundings to see where he headed off to.

"Hopefully he doesn't get lost." He says worriedly.

The former Yellow Wind Ranger scoffs. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Race you back to the track!" Dustin pulled on his helmet and prepares to take off. Hunter grins as he follows him behind.

In the meantime, once the two arrived at the track, they parked on a nearby hill and stared off into the distant skies. It was already dark out; hardly any clouds blocking the shining bright stars and the full moon. It was a lovely view as Dustin and Hunter enjoy the cool light breeze being pressed gently against their faces. They were off to their own world until the thought of his father being gone for quite awhile worried him. "I think we should go back there." Hunter suggested with full concern. Dustin agreed to help him.