CHAPTER NINE - DAY 30
When the sun rises on day thirty, I do not hesitate to grab my day pack and scramble down the ladder: it's Emmett Day.
I decide to hike all the way back to the parking lot to meet him, and I start down the trail and to the switchbacks. I don't see any strange male hikers, just the hemlocks and pines standing as watchtowers. Birds chirp joyfully in the branches above me, flitting back and forth from tree to tree. The pines give way to cedars as I traverse the last switchback, and I know I'm getting close.
When the trail levels out again, I find Emmett, who is carrying a twenty pack of Labatt Blue Light and what looks like a bag of candy, in addition to his pack. He doesn't even look burdened. I immediately sprint toward him, dropping my pack on the ground, a huge grin on my face. Something like relief courses through my veins.
"Hey, Baby B!" He yells, setting the beer and candy down just in time for me to jump in his arms.
He smells like home. It triggers something inside of my chest.
"I missed you," I say as I start to sob into his shirt.
"Aww, B, stop, it's okay," he says, one of his giant hands cradling the back of my head. "What's up?"
"Shit's been weird." I mumble into his shoulder.
"Huh?" He pulls back and looks down at me.
I hastily brush tears from my eyes. "Shit's been weird," I try again without my mouth pressed awkwardly into his shoulder.
He frowns at me, his blue eyes - Mom's blue eyes - look bewildered. "What happened?"
"I don't know how to explain it," I start slowly but then it comes out in a rush. "This guy is at another lookout but we shared a dream and then these three hikers I saw went missing."
I sound stupid. When I say that, it feels like I'm overreacting, right?
His brow furrows. "That sucks about the hikers." He frowns as he picks up the beer and candy.
I shift uneasily on my feet. "Yeah. But you don't think it's weird that the other fire watcher might've shared a dream with me?"
"Probably just fuckin' with you. You're out here all alone, weird shit is bound to happen." He shrugs his shoulders and hands me the bag of candy. "Got you your favorite." I head to stuff the bag of candy into my day pack up the trail. "I mean, I just thought I saw a weird guy in the parking lot." He calls, jerking his head back. "Being out in the woods alone fucks with your mind."
I stop in my tracks. "What weird guy?" I picture the two men I saw my first day here, how the one with bronze hair made my skin crawl.
He catches up and promptly passes me, looking back at me strangely. "You coming, pipsqueak?"
The nickname makes me move my feet. Emmett starts regaling me with stories of his work drama. We walk for twenty minutes or so - it's hard for me to cut Emmett off when he's on a roll, but I struggle with waiting patiently to ask him about the parking lot situation. I'm almost bouncing on my feet with anxiety as we head deeper into the forest.
As we approach the first switchback, I ask, "Are you going to continue with the parking lot weirdo story?" I try for sarcastic but it sounds like I'm begging just a little bit.
"Oh," Emmett exclaims, remembering. He's always been easily distracted. "So, I didn't see anyone when I come in, yeah?" I nod. "I get out and start getting my shit out of the back of the truck. When I pause to buckle on my pack," he mimics the buckling for me, "there's this tall, pale dude just standing at the trailhead. No pack. No jacket. Just jeans and a tee. I thought 'I must've missed him when I first pulled in.' I nod at him in greeting and reach back in the cab to grab the beer. But when I look back, he's not there anymore." He huffs. "I looked around the whole parking lot for a second, but there was no sign of him. Really threw me for a loop." He pauses for a moment and adjusts the beer in his left arm. "I was like 'did I just see a ghost?'" He looks at me with a one-dimpled grin and winks.
His carefree facial expression doesn't ease the unease bubbling in my chest. "Huh. Erm. What was his hair like?"
"I don't know." He shrugs again.
I push down the annoyance that rises in my chest. "Like reddish? Blonde? Short?" I push. "This is important. Try to remember."
"Looked kinda brown. Could've had red in it." He shakes his head. "Why, you know him?"
"No, I just saw someone like that on my first day here." I suppress a shiver. "He gave me the heebie jeebies," I jest, punching him lightly in the arm to distract myself from the way goosebumps crawl over my skin.
He snorts and glances at me. "Don't think it was the same guy; I think you'd remember this one."
"Why?" I kick a rock and watch it fall off the side of the trail, tumbling down hopelessly below.
Emmett chuckles. "Dude was smokin'. I don't roll that way, but if I did…"
I spin to look at him so fast that my braid whips around to the other shoulder. My heart rate picks up, eyes widen. Am I fucking crazy or…
Edward's voice echoes through my mind: I'm ridiculously good looking.
No. Nope. Can't be.
"What?" Emmett stops to look at me, one eyebrow raising.
Deflect. I clear my throat, roll my shoulders. "Nothing." Start walking again. I don't want him to think I'm crazy. It's bad enough that I think I'm crazy.
"Bells…" He cautions. I feel his right hand clamp around my upper arm. I flinch, not from pain but from surprise.
A loud growl erupts from the forest. Birds shoot out of the trees in a cacophony of screeching, like a black cloud of smoke. We both startle.
I know that sound.
"What the fuck?" Emmett whispers as we both freeze. He drops my arm; the growling stops immediately.
Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck.
"Em," I mutter. A bead of sweat drips down my arm.
"What?" He hisses.
We are still and I mean absolutely still in the middle of the trail. Just our mouths move.
My mind is whirling. "I know that sound. I heard it the other night."
Emmett looks at me, his eyes wide. "What?"
"Do you know if the Sourdough Mountain Lookout has someone stationed there?" I whisper it like a secret, like I don't want to even admit it to myself.
"Huh? I dunno. Why? Was that a fucking bear?!" His eyes look around frantically.
I shake my head; I know in my soul it wasn't a bear. "I haven't seen bear scat since I got here," I reply softly.
I realize I might be really fucking fucked.
What if - and this might be a big what if - Edward and I weren't sharing dreams? What if all those weird evasive questions and his preoccupations with Hell and his worries about us being friends weren't unfounded?
What if that growl wasn't a fucking bear?
I let the small part of me that's been wondering, been panicky, out of its cage for just a moment: What if he's been inside my lookout? What if he did something to those hikers?
I watch as the underbrush moves in the wind - but there is no breeze on my skin.
Holy shit. What if… I actually kissed him? He actually tasted me?
My stomach flips at the same time that my core tightens, raw want and need pulsing.
I swallow down the stomach acid that shoots its way up my throat. This would be insane. This would make me literally insane. What if I am literally going insane?
There's no other sound besides our breathing for a few minutes. Then the birds start chirping again, so we continue up the switchbacks without a word; both of us clearly spooked now. I let Emmett lead and I follow closely behind, needing him there. I stare at his curls, a bit too long and in need of a trim, but they remind me of Dad. My eyes prickle.
As we climb the next switchback, I oscillate between sheer panic and sudden grief. I mean, am I losing it? And if I'm not, what do I tell my brother?
A/N: There's a super short chapter before this one that was posted simultaneously in case you missed it.
Thanks for SunflowerFran and Katinki and anyone else for recommending this WIP to others. I appreciate everyone commenting too; it's fun for me to see what you're thinking.
I've got the next chapter written and hope to spend some time today writing, but expect a few days until I upload next.
