R&R lol hopefully its good lol its starting to get a little more interesting and stuff... hope you enjoy!

Baileyzzzzzz

Chapter 2

For the next few weeks I never sat alone, always with my friends at our usual table. I refused to talk to or about Heath with my friends, or with myself (I even took a new route home everyday so I wouldn't have the possibility of running into him).

"He's staring again," Bridgette would inform me.

"Let him look," I'd snap back.

Lunch was a very uncomfortable time. I could feel his stare like a dagger in my chest and it never went away. The staring never ended. Everyday, all day. Finally, some time in the fourth week, I looked at him. He wasn't glaring or gawking, just looking (admiring?). He seemed calm, cool, though I was tense, angry, and annoyed above all else.

That's the day the dreams started. Every night, without fault, the dreams would come. Each one peaceful and happy, and that bothered me. Each one of him, and me, together, and that bothered me... I remember one in particular. We were in a field, underneath a huge, oak tree. We were just lying there together, smiling at each other. He sat up, looked me straight in the eye and said it would all be alright. That I was never alone. That he would always be there with me, there for me. Then, I woke up. I cried, alone in the dark, for hours after that dream.

The day after this dream, during lunch, Erin gave Heath a glance. Today, he wasn't staring, gawking, or glaring (or admiring). He looked concerned. Genuinely concerned with his eyes open, brow scrunched, and his mouth open slightly. And then, very, truly sincere. He nodded his head once. She shivered and never looked back, though she felt him there.

That night she decided to give up on sleeping altogether. She went for a walk and forced herself to keep walking. She knew she would be tired, but the sincerity and truth in his eyes haunted her, reminded her far too much of the dream.

She walked down a road she hadn't before. Never had she been afraid. All the walks were just the same, and stars were comforting. All of that changed when she heard the rustle in the bushes. She was suddenly very, very afraid. She kept going though, deciding it was simply her imagination. She kept a close watch on the bushes out of the corner of her eye and began to sprint when she saw the hand emerge from the green. Erin couldn't remember a time she had run that fast, thought that fast, feared that much. She headed towards the woods and climbed the first tree she saw. She waited. Soon, she was asleep.

The chill of the wind woke her and she lost her balance, but only for a moment. She corrected herself and tried to stay calm. Who was that? She thought franticly. Why are they here? What do they want from me? Am I just being crazy? Was it Heath? A million burning questions that she feared, and knew, would never be answered. The wind blow again, and this time, because her mind was off somewhere else, she lost her balance completely and she fell.

I landed with a thud and a groan. I was on my back and my leg was twisted, but I only felt a dull ache. Heath was leaning against a near tree staring at me, much like he did in the lunch room, not counting today's look. He walked over to me- skimmed over the grass would be a better description. He knelt beside me and stroked my face with the back of his hand.

"So sad," he said, not exactly to me, with fake concern, "Such a..." he paused, tilting his head. "Such a pretty girl…" He got up abruptly and turned away from me. "Get up," he snapped.

"I-I can't," I stuttered. His touch of ice burned my cheek.

"Yes you can, don't be dramatic," he was still turned away, and from the look in his eyes, it seemed like he was searching for something. I tried to move and sure enough I could stand, and walk.

I didn't recognize where I was, this was not the same forest I had headed toward. And though I knew this, only one question stood in my mind and I was dying to ask him. Why were you following me, what do you want? But then a thought suddenly hit me and I shuddered. He hadn't been the one following me, the hand hadn't been his. I asked him anyway.

He looked at me and smiled weakly and wistfully, "I follow you every night." And before I even had time to take that in, he continued, "But that was not me in the bushes, that was not my hand you saw. And we are going to leave it at that." He stared me down.

There arose more burning questions, "You follow me every night? Why? For how long?" I had barely even heard that last part. I couldn't talk fast enough.

He looked annoyed, and then sad, and then puzzled. He looked at the ground and shook his head, amazed himself, "I……. I don't know why I follow you…" And he left it hanging there in the dark. I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran.

I ran for a while until I decided it was safe to look back. When I looked forward again I saw his brilliant green eyes and felt his cold arms around me. A smile spread across his face as he cupped mine in his ice hand. He seemed amused, but said sternly, "Don't."

I wiggled and jostled and did all I could to get out of his grasp. Hating to feel him so close, to have his hand on my face, but hating it more because I knew I was enjoying it more then I should.

"Let me go," I gasped. He only pulled me closer so that I felt just how cold his body was. That was very strange, the chill he gave off. My heart was going far too fast and he knew it.

"You like being held, Erin?" he breathed in my face, stroking it with his thumb. The smell of his breath was intoxicating, and again, I enjoyed it much more than was safe. My heart sped up even more and I couldn't get enough air in me. I simply shook my head "no". He let me go and I fell to the ground in a heap. Well what was I to make of that? He just looked at me.

He, then, crouched down next to me again, exhaling in my face, "Do you know where you are, Erin?"

Man, I love it when he says my name. No! No, I don't love it!

"Um….. I don't know…." I said, scared and shaken (and smitten, maybe?) from his embrace, his voice, his touch.

"It's better that way. Just know you're not in Missouri anymore." He then mumbled, looking away, "Or the American continent for that matter."

I forced myself not to cry, not to shed a single tear. But the tremor in my voice was easy to detect.

"I want to go home!" I pleaded with him, "Please Heath… please I just want to go home."

He was suddenly companionate, "I know…. I know," he looked away, "but she's seen you, you… you can't go home," then looked back. "Not yet… I'm sorry and I know your leg hurts, but we have to go." He grinned that smirk that made my heart stop all together, "But I saw you run so…" he laughed, "you can't be that hurt. We have to go." When I continued to sit there he said with feeling, "Like, now."

I got up and dusted myself off. "Where are we going? What are you doing? Who saw me?"

"What? Don't you trust me?" he said with a mocking grin, his hands palm up. Suddenly I was airborne, and cold. I was in his arms and he was running, skimming over the grass, with great speed. The trees zoomed by in a blur of greens and browns. I clung to Heath's neck and I thought I heard him laugh. That was going to be embarrassing. Embarrassing because truth be told, I hoped he would never stop running, flying, whatever.

When he did stop, I was forced to let go and open my eyes.

All I saw was a broken down, one room, brown wood, shack and it smelled terrible. It smelled of sweat, rooting food, and other rooting things I don't want to tell you about.

"You like?" he said gesturing around the room. There weren't many things: a sword, a shield, a bow and arrows, an old, crumbling fireplace, and, the only thing I recognized, his school backpack and gym bag. There as no bed, no table, no furniture at all.

"What is this place? Where am I?" I meant generally, this world, where was I? But he only answered as if I was talking about the building.

"This," he gestured again, "is my home…"

A draft blew and his hair moved away from his face, away from his ears. I gasped when I saw they were very high, and pointed. I took a step back.

He chuckled and put his hair behind his ears. He smiled at me again and I shivered. I couldn't look away. Seeing his was like watching a car crash, as much as you want to, you can't take your eyes off it. I keep taking more steps back.

"What? Don't you like my ears?"

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