"I'm cold" Brenda's voice was shaking as she tried to speak.
Dylan tried to give her to himself as much as possible, the moon could be seen very well and gave them some light.
"You'll see time they'll come"
"How..." Brenda panics 'no one knows we're here'
Dylan took both of Brenda's arms and forced her to look him in the face.
"Breath... you have to listen to me... take deep breaths, you have to try to calm down, we're here.. we're together," Dylan said.
He was cold too, but he was trying to stay calm so that Brenda wouldn't lose control altogether.
A movement of leaves caught their attention.
Brenda and Dylan looked up and were able to clearly distinguish the silhouette of two wolves who were watching them.
"Shhh..." said Dylan "don't move, don't make any movement"
The wolves looked at Dylan and Brenda and circled around the hole, undecided about how to get to them.
"My God" Brenda's voice was shaking and her face was totally soaked in tears.
Dylan squeezed her even tighter.
There was a strange moment
The wolves disappeared shortly after.
Hotel
"Aren't you going to go and get back Clare?" Brandon asked.
"You'll want to joke, that room is full of women, it would be suicide" Steve raised His eyebrow looking at Brandon with an interlocutory look "why ? do you want to go pick up Kelly?"
"The alternative is to spend the night with you"
"Really witty" Steve got closer to him "Brandon, you don't know what women are capable of when they're all together, they ally, they destroy you."
"But if you go for Clare I'll come too... and there will be two of us"
"They will destroy us anyway"
Steve began to undress.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to bed," Steve said.
Brandon laughed hysterically "don't you want to sleep here?"
"Of course," Steve said, "because when Clare comes back to the room, and I know she'll be back, she'll see that I'm not there and she'll worry"
"Ooohh really..."
"Of course"
"What if Kelly comes back?"
"In that case I'll leave..."
Brandon was surprised at how sensible Steve's unreasonable speeches for a few seconds seemed to him.
They heard a knock on the door.
Brandon lit up with a smile "here's Kelly... put your pants back on"
Steve snorted.
Brandon went to open the door convinced that he was in front of Kelly and instead it was Theresa. Brandon immediately realized he was in boxers and his face became inflamed with shame. He quickly tried to cover himself with the door.
"Mrs. Theresa," he said in an embarrassed voice.
"Oh c'on young man, I've seen men in underwear" Theresa looked over Brandon's back and saw Steve "ahh" exclaimed Theresa "I didn't know you were a couple, what a beautiful thing, congratulations"
Brandon couldn't understand initially then turned to Steve who was in his underwear too and hurried to justify himself.
"No... No, oh my god we are not a couple, he was dumped by his girlfriend..." said Steve
Brandon turned to him "didn't you get dumped by your girlfriend too?"
Steve approached Brandon "Do you think it's time to argue?"
"That's cute ..." said Theresa
Brandon and Steve turned to Theresa and gave up any other words.
"Sorry I didn't want to bother you, but I saw Miss Walsh and Mr. Mckay running out more than an hour ago and they haven't come back yet. They are not around the hotel, they are not on the jetty, they are not on the deckchairs, I'm afraid they went into the woods."
Brandon immediately worried. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Brenda's number. They heard the phone ringing in the other room. Brandon dialed Dylan's number and that cell phone had also remained in the room.
"Okay, something's wrong," Brandon said.
Brandon and Steve thanked Theresa and got dressed in a hurry, went to call David and Ray and then knocked on the girls.
'Who is it?' Asked for Donna's voice.
"Brandon"
"Kelly doesn't want to talk to you," Donna replied and the other girls were heard laughing.
"I Know but You can't find Brenda and Dylan," Brandon said in a serious tone.
The door opened immediately.
"What do you mean Brenda and Dylan can't be found?" Valerie said she was the first to show up at the door.
"They ran out more than an hour ago, and they can't be found"
The girls were in disbelief.
"what.." Donna said
"We'll get dressed right away and see you downstairs," Kelly said, taking the keys to their room out of Brandon's hands and running out followed by Clare.
"Dylan?"
"Mmhh" he replied.
"What was the question you wrote for me?"
Dylan smiled 'a real shame you didn't catch it'
Brenda smiled "it had to be a really good question"
"Very good," Dylan confirmed.
Seconds of silence followed. Brenda's eyes were staring at him. She died of curiosity.
"I had written..." Dylan said "if you wanted to come and live with me" Dylan looked down and crossed Brenda's gaze.
'Seriously?' The enthusiasm in her voice betrayed the answer Brenda would surely give.
"Really"
"Yes!!" Brenda shouted at him and hugged him even harder.
"Obviously if we can get out of this hole," he said.
"Obviously," Brenda replied, laughing.
"Sure me Brenda that it's really what you want, that it's your choice and that I'm not ruining your future by giving up London"
Brenda kissed him. Sometimes Dylan seemed immense and very great to her, other times she saw in him those fragments of the interrupted child who had been, without references and when the child emerged she felt that love armor, to protect him from the injustices of life.
"I swear," she said.
When everyone gathered in the hotel lobby they already found some men that Theresa and her husband had called.
They were American Indians.
Theresa explained that a hundred meters from the hotel the Cahuilla Indian area began and that those men knew the territory very well.
"We want to come with you," Brandon said.
"Yes, we too," Valerie said.
"I don't think that's the case," David replied.
'Why?' Kelly replied "is it a thing of just men?"
"I really think so," Ray said, and Donna looked at him in a bad way.
"So we'll have to worry about you too" Steve snorted
"Shut up, Steve," Clare replied.
"That's enough now," Jamie said, feeling the tension between those guys, "we're going to split into teams and each team will go with one of my men. Theresa do you have any lights ?"
"How many of you," Theresa replied with a smile.
Jamie took a map of the area and divided it into five sectors.
"This area is inaccessible and there is also the problem of wild animals"
'Wild animals?' Clare asked.
Jamie looked at her "wolves , bears"
"Oh my God," sighed Donna.
"If someone doesn't feel like it, I'd better say it now," Jamie replied, looking at the group one by one. Donna swallowed hard, Ray had a strange grin on his face, David exchanged a look with Valerie.
Brandon was looking at that map and his gaze was worried. Behind the hotel there was an endless expanse of woods.
He felt Kelly's hand behind his back "we'll find them"
Brandon gave her a faint smile and then nodded his head.
Ray was happy with that sudden adventure. He was one who was not afraid to get his hands dirty and put his feet in the mud and then was fascinated by Jamie and his men, the way they had to talk and observe them.
The searches started immediately.
They had to proceed at a distance of about three meters from each other and call Dylan and Brenda's name in sequence so that if something happened to any of them they would notice immediately because they wouldn't hear the screaming.
"Dylan! Brenda!" Brandon illuminated the path in front of him, he was reassured every time he heard Kelly's voice screaming right after his.
They proceeded slowly but heard no answers from Dylan or Brenda.
From the walkie talkies they had news of the other groups.
The hole.
"Why did you get so angry at the knowledge about Daniel and Valerie," Dylan asked trying to keep Brenda awake.
"Can I be honest with you?"
"You must always be honest," he replied.
"I don't know. I was with you, so I guess i don't have much to complain about, he had come here for me, and he helped us, he didn't ask questions, he wanted to fight for me even when he realized that there was nothing left to fight for, but it hurt me, maybe because Valerie is a friend of mine, just as it had happened with Kelly, maybe.." Brenda sighed "I don't know"
Dylan understood.
"Daniel didin't call me since he returned to London. Maybe I'm annoyed by his strength, how he managed to turn the page so quickly while I never succeeded with you"
"And would you have wanted to?"
"Sometime. Leaving seemed like the best solution to me, but I never had a single doubt about coming back, didn't it bother you to find out that Kelly was with Brandon?"
Dylan looked at her "honestly?"
"You always have to be honest," Brenda replied.
"No," he replied, "I felt sorry for Brandon more, because he hadn't told me anything, because it's not nice to find out things that way."
"Indeed ," she replied.
"I think Kelly is better off with him. She is happier and he too, he needs to bring out his emotional part and who can help him more than Kelly?" Dylan laughed and so did Brenda.
More minutes of silence followed.
"What are you thinking about?" Dylan asked.
"To the fact that when I come to live with you I want to buy a washing machine" Dylan laughed along with Brenda.
"It's okay"
"And I might upset you but I also want the dryer," Brenda said, laughing even louder.
Dylan kissed her on the lips "I'm upset," he said laughing.
"Brenda! Dylan" David watched Valerie advance and waited for her voice. Three meters away, Valerie was also waiting to hear David's. She hated this fact that she wanted to hear his voice, and at the same time she loved to hear it. David thought the same thing, and he thought he would have to talk to her again, that maybe he had to give her a chance, that they both deserved it.
"Dylan! Brenda!!"
The screams were screaming everywhere.
Dylan seemed to hear something.
"Have you heard Brenda?" Dylan looked at her.
'What?' She asked.
"Shhh"
Silence.
"Dylan!! Brenda!!"
"It's Kelly!" Said Brenda taken with joy.
Dylan and Brenda stood up "we're here!!" Hey we're here!!"
Jamie, Brandon and Kelly kept walking.
The torches illuminated the leaves and the dense forest.
They didn't hear Dylan and Brenda's voices.
"Dylan!! Brenda!!"
"Brandon we are here!!" Dylan shouted.
Brandon felt the sound of his name and turned the torch to the right.
"Jamie! I heard something on this side!" He said.
The voices got louder and closer and so did Dylan and Brenda's responses.
"They're coming, they heard us," Brenda said, clutching Dylan tightly.
Suddenly they were lit by torches and Dylan and Brenda had to cover their eyes with one hand.
"Dylan, Brenda," Brandon said, looking down.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you"
"Now we're pulling you out," said Jamie who radioed the others "did you get hurt?"
"I'm at my ankle," Brenda said, "but it doesn't have to be anything serious, just that I can't get up at the moment"
"Okay," Jamie replied, "we'll pull you out and think about your ankle."
"I'm so happy to see you," Kelly said, lying on the ground and looking out at the hole near Brandon, "we're all looking for you"
Brenda smiled illuminated by the flashlight "you know how we're made" Brenda replied "we're a pretty original couple.
"That's true," Kelly replied.
"There are wolves here.. we saw them a little while ago," Dylan said.
"Yes, we know that," Jamie replied. "That's why we have to hurry up."
The others arrived shortly after.
It was even a tragicomic situation, Dylan and Brenda falling into the hole and everyone else talking to them from above.
"But how the hell did you end up in there?" Steve asked laughing.
"There's nothing to laugh about, as soon as I go out I'll show you how I fell theree," Dylan replied, smiling.
Jamie and his men made a moving noose and threw the rope at Dylan and Brenda.
"Put it around your waist and squeeze, we'll pull you up"
Dylan helped Brenda fix the rope and everyone else pulled and managed to lift it quite easily.
When Brenda was pulled up they all hugged her.
Soon after, Dylan was pulled on.
The guys were taken to the hotel, Theresa took a look at Brenda's ankle but immediately realized that it was nothing serious, then she prepared hot tea for everyone and to Brenda it seemed like a blessing, she had never suffered so much cold in her life.
They were all tired but they were happy and the dawn was about to rise.
"Since you're standing, why not go and enjoy the sunrise on the lake," Theresa's husband said, it's a sight not to be missed.
The boys took the blankets and went to sit on the deck chairs near the lake.
The tensions of before seemed to have completely vanished.
Donna stood between Ray's legs who was relaxed, they covered themselves and waited for the sun to rise.
So did Steve and Clare, Dylan and Brenda and Brandon and Kelly, only David and Valerie remained.
"We can only bury the war axe for these five minutes," said David who really wanted to be with her at the time.
David opened the blanket and waited for Valerie to sit with him.
Valerie hesitated for a few moments, but none of the others were looking at her.
Clare and Steve were kissing and something suggested that their sex bet had already been shipwrecked, Donna and Ray were together, Brenda was resting in Dylan's arms smiling at him, and Kelly was saying something to Brandon's ear and had just given him a kiss on the neck.
Valerie sighed "it's okay" she said and it was very nice to sit and get lost in David's arms.
"If you want" he whispered in Valerie's ear "if you want I'm ready to be with you, I mean seriously"
Valerie looked at him and at that moment the sun flooded the lake with golden light.
Valerie smiled.
They went back to the hotel, they were really tired.
They thanked Jamie and their men.
"If you want tonight we have a celebration that we care a lot about" Jamie told him "you are all invited"
"We'll be happy to go," Brenda replied.
They all retired to their rooms, Brandon and Kelly, Dylan and Brenda, Clare and Steve.
David wanted to be with Valerie but maybe it wasn't time to reveal to everyone that the two of them, in front of the rising sun, had made a decision.
They heard Donna screaming as soon as she turned the key in her door patch.
Someone had walked into her room and left a rose on the bed.
"Was here" Donna was terrified as Ray flocked "who? Who has been here?"
Everyone else arrived too.
Kelly immediately approached Donna.
"He was here," she whispered in her ear.
Kelly hugged her tightly.
"What's going on?" Dylan asked.
Donna was forced to explain to everyone what was happening to her, that she thought she was safe so far from Beverly Hills but apparently she wasn't. She was never safe enough.
Ray proposed to Donna to sleep together, he would protect her.
When they lay down in the bed, he took her in his arms and squeezed her tightly.
"You should have told me," he told her.
"I was scared, I didn't believe..."
He stroked her hair "I'm there now, I'll take care of you".
Donna managed to fall asleep while Ray kept his eyes wide open.
Valerie went to David's room.
They were tired but no longer felt the sleep.
She put her arms around his neck.
"Are you sure you want it?"
He looked at her with those eyes that made her heart tremble "I'm sure"
They began to kiss slowly. It was no longer having sex for fun or to satisfy one's own pleasure, it had become making love in a sweet way, they caressed each other's naked bodies for a long time, they knew that no one would disturb them and that they could take all the time they wanted, they needed, they used the slowness of time to discover through their lips every inch of each other's bodies. Valerie had never done it that way, not even with David. He was a new man, she feared that he would never be able to do without him again and that this would make her vulnerable.
When they were done they collapsed naked and intertwined, they slept like this. As one.
By the time it was afternoon, everyone slowly woke up.
With rest Brenda's ankle didn't hurt anymore, they all gathered on the jetty for another day on the lake. It had been two very intense days starting from the trip on the road, then the night spent looking for Brenda and Dylan. Kelly looked at her stepbrother and Valerie, she noticed something new between them.
"I think something happened and is happening" she said to Brandon and beckoning him to look in that direction.
"Valerie and David?"
Kelly nodded.
"Even in my opinion," Brenda said, "they're different... they made all those fake stories not to share the room though.."
"Yes, I agree," Kelly replied.
They seemed to know something that Dylan and Brandon escaped.
"Do you understand them?" Dylan asked.
"No, and I don't even try," Brandon laughed.
Donna always stayed with Ray and that made her feel better. Soon that rose faded, she could make it, she could start over, Ray would take care of her.
Theresa made them a great dinner and Jamie picked them up before it was dark.
They walked for about half an hour into the woods.
"Dylan and Brenda please take a good look at where you put your feet," Steve laughed.
"Nice joke Steve" Brenda laughed.
They arrived in a clearing. Other Native Americans were waiting in circles around the fire.
"It's a rite to give thanks of life, to bring us closer to our spirit."
The women were separated from the men and brought into tents in which large pots of hot water that gave off steam burned.
The air was unbreathable.
"I'll at least open my pores and I'll do my face cleansing for free," Clare said.
Everyone was invited to undress and the Native American chants began.
Jamie's wife approached the girls "get comfortable and close your eyes. If you're good enough to focus you'll see images of your future," she said.
The idea of seeing one's own future intrigued all.
"The air is unbreathable," Ray said.
"You're not making me focus," Steve replied
"Ahhh so sorry mR native American" Ray told him.
Everyone closed their eyes. THERE was a time when Dylan seemed to be out of his body. He got scared and opened his eyes. He looked around.
He had a deep spirituality, his mother Iris always told him.
He wasn't sure he wanted to close his eyes again.
"I'm falling asleep," Clare said.
"Shhh" Brenda replied, she opened her eyes for a moment and then closed them.
Kelly was able to see herself in a wedding dress, a man from behind who could not distinguish was waiting for her. She had a bouquet of flowers in her hand and strangely cried. This scared her. She tried to get close to the groom, to see him, but he walked away until he disappeared. Kelly opened her eyes.
'Are you all right?' Brenda asked her.
"Yes" Kelly answered with difficulty.
It was an experience bordering on the mystic but it wasn't for everyone, Clare and Steve were too skeptical to be able to see anything, Ray didn't want to know anything about his future, Donna was afraid to see the man in the face who wanted to hurt her. Only Kelly could see but that vision had upset her, and she didn't talk to anyone.
Dylan saw nothing but felt the same sense of despair he had felt when the heroine became his partner. Was that his future?"
They returned to the hotel, each with their own thoughts.
The next day they had to leave.
In the secret of their rooms everyone made love, except Donna and Ray, of course, although Ray could hardly hold back anymore and thought he would probably go to Valerie's this week.
Kelly didn't say anything about what she had seen in her dream, she was so happy to have seen herself in a wedding dress, and she was sure the groom was Brandon, she had called him and he turned around, he was him, even though he was too far away, so far away to disappear.
She watched him as she was above him, as they were consuming their love, and he was squeezing her breasts. She lowered herself and sucked his lips as they pushed their bodies towards each other, inside each other. The image of that man walking away in a groom's dress was Brandon. That was their destiny.
They rolled into the bed, reversing positions, Brandon stood above her and began to kiss her everywhere until he pushed his face in the middle of her thighs. Kelly closed her eyes, felt him, brushed his hair She took a deep breath. She turned off that image in her brain.
Dylan and Brenda were not in their bed.
They had taken blankets, they had gone out, they had talked about it all day, Brenda unbuttoned Dylan's pants, they were out of anyone's sight, and they wanted to be part of that spirituality, of that magical place that had brought out the best and the worst of them, they chose to make love there, and they would continue everywhere.
Two wolves stared at them from afar. They heard BD's moans. Dylan and Brenda didn't notice anything, they were fucking hard... them, the wolves... them ...the wolves were their own twin spirits recalled by the fusion of their souls.