1They spent the last hours of the day unloading, opening up and cleaning the cabin, and gathering firewood. Finally, closer to sunset, they finished all of the chores and Julius couldn't get a fire started. So they spent the night inside of the cabin, instead of outside underneath the stars. When Julius woke up, Willa was nowhere to be seen. So he walked out of the bedroom, into the living room. No Willa. He checked the bathroom and spare bedroom. No Willa. So, as unlikely as it seemed, he checked the kitchen. No Willa. Though he knew he would never find her in there because she wouldn't eat anything that she couldn't eat right out of the fridge. Willa didn't believe in microwaves. Julius was out of ideas, where could she be? He was starting to panic when he heard a scream coming from outside. Julius ran out of the door, his eyes racing in all directions. Then he saw her and couldn't help but double over in laughter. There she was on the dock that went out 50 feet over the water, with a fishing pole in her hand, tangled up in fishing line with the hook caught on the back of her Abercrombie sweatshirt. She let out another scream in frustration which just made Julius laugh harder. Finally, after a few more minutes of watching her struggle and squeal in frustration, he went and helped her. As soon as he unhooked and untangled her, she pushed him into the water. His weight causing the splash to soak her completely. His head bobbed up above the water and he shook the water out of his hair, laughing because she was now pouting because she got herself all wet trying to punish him for laughing at her. Willa stomped back into the cabin to change into dry clothes, when she came back out, her hair was pulled up in a hair scrunchie, and she wore a pair of short khaki shorts and a bikini bathing suit top.
"JERK!" she yelled as she picked up the fishing pole and began to rebait the hook.
Julius just sat on the edge of the dock, fishing pole in hand, laughing at her.
"How did you sleep?" he asked, holding back laughter.
She shot him a look, but realized he was trying to change the subject, "I didn't sleep well, but, that's because I kept having nightmares about A BIG HOOK CHASING ME!" she said, laughing this time.
He laughed back and they just sat in silence for a while, just watching their lines, well Willa was watching her line, Julius was watching Willa in her shorts and top. They spent the day just like that, usually quiet, but they would strike up a conversation every now and again. They caught a few fish. At the end of the day, they went into the kitchen and Julius cleaned a few fish to show Willa how to do it, then he made his way out to the fire to get that going. Willa had gone through all of the fish he had left for her. She carefully scaled, and decapitated them, cutting right behind the front fin. Then, she gutted the fish. This part was particularly difficult for her, mostly because it was gross, but, partly because she had a fish when she was five.
Julius, impressed by successfully lighting a good fire, walked into the cabin just as she was finishing cleaning up the kitchen.
"Will,-" he stopped, suddenly very dizzy.
"Yes," she called, walking out from the kitchen, drying her clean hands on a dishtowel. As soon as she laid eyes on him, she knew something wasn't right. He was standing there, clutching his head, and holding onto the fireplace for support. She ran over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. This must have set off an alarm because he wrenched his shoulder from her reach.She hesitated a moment, her gut telling her to run, her heart telling her to stay.
"Juls, what's wrong?" she asked, deciding to stay, her voice shanking. Julius stood up taller than she had ever seen before, his back still facing her, and he told her to get outside. Willa, then going with her first instinct, walked quickly out of the front door. As soon as the door closed behind her, she broke into a run. Not knowing where to go, she ran to the fire, and just sat down on her sleeping bag, rocking back and forth. She couldn't help but wonder what Julius was doing, when suddenly he sat down on her sleeping bag next to her. Willa was so startled, she jumped to her feet.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," he said in a dark whisper, "I just don't like to be touched when I have a headache." Willa looked down into his face, his eyes were false, but, what could she do? She definitely couldn't outrun him. She let him slip his fingers inside of hers and pull her back down next to him. She didn't know why, but, she felt safe. She knew she should be afraid, because this was not Julius and something was obviously terribly wrong. Once she sat down, it wasn't close enough for Julius, so he pulled her into his body in a laying position, her back to his chest. They laid there for some time, but the longer they laid there, the more tired Willa became. At some point in time, Willa fell asleep. She woke to his soft kisses on her cheekbone, making her giggle slightly. Then the kisses slowly moved down her neck, to the area just above her collar bone.
"Willa," Julius whispered in her ear, "I love you," he said louder, his voice cracking as she felt a cold tear fall onto her chest, just below her collar bone. She knew something wasn't right now, she tried to turn and look at him, but she felt his strong hold stop her. Then, she felt something incredibly sharp painfully pierce her neck. She let out a pain filled scream that was momentarily muffled by Julius' stone like hand. Not knowing what to do, she elbowed him as hard as she could in his ribs. Hearing something crack, and feeling his icy grip melt away, she was on her feet running sooner than she had realized what had just happened. She heard a voice, which she knew to be her own, scream, "HELP ME! Someone please help me!" She felt the tears trickling down her checks, as the warm blood from her neck ran down onto her shirt. She couldn't think, she couldn't see, she had no idea where she was going. Then, all of a sudden, the familiar stone cold grip around her waist again. This time it held no comfort. She tried to scream, but, his hand over her mouth forced her scream back down.
