Out of Your Life

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!

Chapter Three

St. Augustine, Florida

Nearly an hour after Jackson had gotten on the bus, Lisa began to finally stir. He tried to act composed and to remain facing forward, but he found it increasingly distracting. He wanted to see her face—to stare into her green eyes as she came to and realized that he was sitting there. At the same time, he did not want to scare her too much.

"Mhmm," Lisa mumbled, straightening in her seat. She rubbed her eyes; the jacket falling off her slender body.

Jackson's fingers twitched inside his jacket as they reached for the KA-BAR strapped on his hip. He always had to expect the unexpected with Lisa. He had learned his lesson on the red-eye and the events following it.

"Hello," she said pleasantly to him. "I don't remember seeing you here earlier. Are you heading home?"

"As a matter of fact, I am, Leese," he said with a sinister grin, turning to face her and carefully showing her the blade that he carried. Lisa froze in shock; her eyes darting in every direction as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Jackson," she croaked; her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Miss me, Leese? It must have been so hard on you—trying to get by on your own. If you hadn't stabbed me, then I would have stolen you and life would have been much better."

"What do you want with me? Haven't you done enough?" Lisa asked, her voice slowly gaining confidence.

"Ssh, Lisa, we don't want to bother our neighbors with our little quarrel, now do we?" teased Jackson, sliding closely to her, stretching his body across the aisle to whisper in her ear. "Now slide over."

"No," she said firmly, holding her ground.

His hands found her arm and tightened. "Move into the next seat, Leese, or I'll snap your arm in two."

Lisa looked into his cold eyes and knew that he would do as he threatened without a second thought. He was simply beyond caring at this point. She had hurt him and now he was doing his best to hurt her in return.

She acquiesced and moved into the window seat, mentally berating herself for having lowered her guard enough for him to slip onto the bus beside her. This vacation was supposed to be an escape from him and all the trouble he had caused, but now he was once again sitting beside her as she had always feared.

"What's wrong now, Lisa?" he demanded, grabbing her chin as she tried to look away from him. "Scared? You should be."

"Why do you always have to be a jerk?" she hissed, daring to reach out and slap him across the face.

He dropped her chin and grabbed her wrist with his left hand and dug his nails into the sensitive skin. Lisa yelped and Jackson delivered a stinging slap to her face as well. With her free hand, she reached up and touched the reddening flesh on her cheek, shocked at his audacity.

"When are you going to learn to listen?" Jackson scolded her, his face pressing closer to hers. "You need to stop trying to fight me. It won't get you anywhere."

"Last time it got me away from you. If I remember correctly, you weren't going anywhere fast…"

"That was just a lapse of judgment. Things are different now."

Lisa snorted. "Like I really believe that, Jack."

Jackson dug his nails into her wrist again, drawing pinpricks of blood this time.

"Lisa, Lisa, what do I keep telling you?"

"You haven't told me anything. Now, what the hell do you want from me?"

Jackson made a funny sound in his throat—a half-laugh, half-snort mixture. "What I want is for you to do exactly as I say—"

"I'm not going to roll over and play dead, if that's what you want," hissed Lisa.

He smacked her. "You are going to pretend that we're a couple and we might just both be able to get off this bus alive."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'd say that there's a bomb on the bus, but that's too unreliable. There's something fishy about this entire situation. After all, what are the odds that I'd end up having this lovely chat with you?"

"Stalking me again, Jackson? How sweet of you," Lisa said with a falsely sweet tone and equally fake smile.

"If only it were that simple."

"What—" Lisa began but was cut off by a sharp cracking sound and the bus swerving on the road.

Jackson and Lisa were tossed around in their seats and Jackson ended up loosing his grip on her to keep himself from sailing into the aisle. Lisa fell forward and cracked her head on the plastic cup holder. She slipped into a crumpled heap on the floor and took one last look at Jackson before the pressing darkness consumed her.

Author's Notes:

Just a short chapter! There's probably only going to be five chapters total with an epilogue. It should be finished by Friday. I finally figured out what's going to happen and I need to finish it before I lose it. Thanks for reading/reviewing!