Chapter 36

"I still think breaking in would be much more fun..." I mumbled after I slammed the car door closed behind me, the cold air hitting my skin. The icy white flares scattered around us, falling to the ground. So cold out... ugh. Can't wait until Spring gets here.

Glancing over to Luke as he walked around the front of his truck to me after he got out, I heard him scoff softly and shake his head, looking down. With the wind rasping harshly at our backs, I pulled the collar up on my coat more and Luke did the same. However, his was the coat that went along with his uniform - a black leathery material with badges on it and even a place for his radio to hook like it would on his shirt, which he was wearing under it. Before we got here, he needed to change into it. After all, it would not look good if we come in looking for files when this guy wasn't even on duty. So he called in and was starting his shift.

The plan was that once we got the files, Luke would take me to Francis's house for the night since I needed to go to school tomorrow and Luke was starting work right now. I mean, it's not like I can hang out here all night with him without sleep and find a way to school on my own. Nope, even though I would rather do that. We already spoke with Francis over the phone and he said he would happily take me for the night and drive me to school. Of course, he had to throw in that it was probably because Luke couldn't 'preform' and I wanted someone that could for the night. That little bitch... I was anxious to get the files now because the faster we do, the faster I get to go to Francis's house and kick his ass for all his sexually suggestive and smartass comments.

We headed closer towards the building, the cement under us in the back and dark parking lot already covered in snow. I let that snow and the moon guide our path up towards what looked like a back entrance. Apparently, since he was an officer, he had to park in the back.

"You are one of a kind," he answered, responding to my idea of breaking in. "You tell me what your strategy would be, hmm?" he asked, looking down at me as we walked side by side up towards the building. Smirking, I glanced up to the building before me. It was an average sized building... but I knew it wouldn't be as easy as I figured I suppose. Windows were too high up... and there were always people here to begin with. Looking in the windows, all the lights were on... yeah, I'm happy we were going with Luke's plan and just walking in. I wouldn't admit it though.

"Well..." I said, looking over the place once more. "Cut the lights and go in shooting," was my final solution.

Luke scoffed and I smirked, looking up at his amused face. "Oh yeah, brilliant plan."

"You bet your ass," I said in a lighter, teasing voice, to his sarcastic remark.

Despite the teasing, by the time we reached the back door, I could feel the intensity in the air increase. After all, Luke was the most hated guy at the station right now. He would not be welcome here, even though he was now officially on the job. It was an abrupt change in the usual schedule the woman said that he spoke to over the phone. But it would work is what she said. I also had to guess he wasn't too welcome either because he is towing along little ol' me.

When we went into the station, I followed Luke as a guide; he knew this place all too well. There weren't too many people here though I noticed. Must be a boring night with nothing going on. I could change that though if we weren't here for important reasons. I bet I could liven this place up, throw a party, play with some guns - but only Luke's gun guys. I wouldn't touch another guys gun. I was already that faithful to him.

On our way up to the main level, we went through this huge room filled with desks and files, but not many people stationed at them. It must be where all the paperwork is done I would guess. I took in the windows that lined along the left wall, the few people here and working... but Luke and I quickly went through another hall and out of sight. Where we passed a couple guys. Almost all of them, I noticed, offered up Luke and me some dirty looks but they didn't say anything. Of course, when we climbed a few short stairs up to the main part and lobby of the place, that was a different story.

There was that woman, who I saw once or twice before, behind the secretaries desk, partially facing the front entrance. Only this time, we walked in from the side and took her in as well as everyone else. A couple cops were scattered about too. Some spoke quietly to each other, one on his way somewhere, and another stood on the other side of the room, arms crossed, and scanning the room like a retard. I will give you guys one guess on who that is....

I instantly rolled my eyes upon seeing him... Ramper was is? Raper? The title 'idiot asshole' may ring mote of a distant bell. Dumb blondes didn't just apply to women. This dude, with his sharp eyes and yellowish hair, just made me mad in general. Not many people can do that when I've only encountered the guy like twice.

Luke drew my attention back to what we were doing and I followed him as he began to walk over to the woman's desk, the secretary. When she heard us walking and looked up at us, she offered Luke a tight smile - and me just the same with confusion influencing her eyes.

"Hey, Luke."

"Hi, I know it's kind of a last minute switch but I was happy I could come in. Anyway," he said, leaning against her tall desk, offering her a smile. "Do you think you could do me a favor and check me in? I need to get something done right away," he said, and by my surprise, showed some authority in his voice that made me raise my eyebrows.

"Sure I can," she said all too quickly with a smile. Just as Luke said thanks and we began to turn around and walk across the room towards another hall, I had to say something.

"Wow, you sure showed her she is your bitch," I said, smirking up at him.

He rolled his eyes before looking down at me with a teasing smile. In a low voice, he said, "She has a high respect for officers. She shouldn't jump on command like that but she does. I don't like doing it but in this case, it was needed. Checking in after an abrupt switch in the schedule can be tricky and it's not something we have the time to deal with. So fine, in this case, I made her 'my bitch' but you don't need to worry about that. You are my one and only bitch, I promise," he said, biting his lip and trying to hide the small chuckle behind it.

I elbowed him, and it released the rest of his soft laughter as well as some from me. "You're pushing it officer. Sooner or later, you will be my bitch," I smiled back up at him. But as I did and we continued to walk towards another back hall, my eyes caught Ramper again.

I knew I shouldn't have... with the position Luke was already in. We got lucky the secretary was nice. With others around, it was different. But I couldn't help but obnoxiously raise my hand in the air and wave dramatically at him from across the too silent room. "Hey, hey Rapist!" I shouted to him. Luke must have knew I would have said something because after yelling that, he just came to grasp my hand and pull me along towards a back hall in a faster pace. Smirking, Ramper's eyes found mine, and narrowed. Just as he began to stomp his way towards where we were walking, I couldn't help but laugh. After all, the few that were in the room obviously heard. "It's nice to see you again!"

Luke's hand gripped my arm harder and he led me down the hall, back towards where there were a couple offices, and out of sight - and I had to guess he stopped following us. The moment we were now in the hall, Luke slowed down instantly but it wasn't because of what just happened. I looked up at him in curiosity, unsure what our next course of action would be. From the look on his face, he seemed to have that figured out. His eyebrows were lowered in thought, in determination. However, I knew it wasn't over my small stunt back there because it was expected of me I guess. It was over what we needed to do now, the same thing that was going through my mind.

"Where are we going?" I asked, taking note of how much slower we were walking.

"Well... that all depends on who is down here," he said in a quieter voice, his eyes looking through the halls and lingered in the rooms with open doorways. So far, glancing around with him, we saw nobody. And after going about a quarter of the way down, I felt Luke, whose hand was still on my arm, gripped slightly more and guided me to stop. When I looked up to him, he pursed his lips. I watched him turn around and my confusion disappeared when he entered one of the rooms we just passed and scouted out, only to find there was nobody in this room too.

"Aren't there cameras either way? Why would it matter if someone sees us?"

"If we run into someone, they will likely question me out of pure curiosity. Cameras can't do that. Besides, it wont raise any eyebrows anyway. I'm a cop."

Once he pushed the doorway all the way open and walked into the room after he spoke, I quickly followed him into the office. Shutting the door behind me, I turned back towards him and took it in. This room must apparently be the office in which all the records of the cops are kept. Of everyone that works here - including the sheriff.

"You'd figure they would keep this room locked," I noted, not understanding how this place would be so... carefree about this? Is that the right word?

I watched him from where I stood with the closed door behind me. With the door closed and no sign before of anyone coming down here, it was clear we could take our time. Nobody knew we were in here, after all. My eyes followed him as Luke made his way over towards the file cabnets that were against the left wall, lined up from the far wall up towards the door where I was. About four lrge cabnets really. And Luke was on it instantly. Just as he opened the first drawer, he looked up and answered me.

"You'd figure. But it wouldn't matter if someone comes in here to take something out of their file or change it... it's already documented through the computer and saved in the database. These are just hardcopies so if anything is changed in here, it wont really matter."

After nodding, understanding where he was coming from, I watched as he glanced back down to the drawer he just opened. His light eyes skimmed and shifted quickly over the letters that appeared above the individual files. It was all alphabetized, obviously, which would be a huge help.

I watched and waited, feeling more anxious by the minute. Just because nobody saw us come in here didn't mean someone wouldn't find us. I knew my little shout out to Ramper wouldn't do much but if people here were actually working, they could come in here. I kept my mouth shut on the matter. Luke needed to take his time looking and didn't need to be pressured, especially with something as important as this could be.

After he saw that the first drawer only consisted on the names from A to C, he bent down slightly and grasped the handle of the cabinet under the first one he looked through. Kneeling down now, I saw his eyebrows were raised when I saw that the D files were right there before our fingers. Where we knew the name Denport should be.

Biting his bottom lip, he extended his arm more towards the files and began looking at individual random ones to get a good idea of where his name would be located. Pinching each file between his fingers, he would lift one up just slightly to see the name and then slide it back, knowing he was getting closer.... and closer... until each time he did it, he became faster.

Then, there was one he lifted up and stopped for a moment. His eyebrows dropped instantly and I had figured he had found it. When he began to look disturbed, and glanced to the files after the one he held only to look back to the one in his hand, I needed to say something.

"Can't you find it?"

His eyes pinned down on the files before him in the cabnit, I watched as he slowly just shook his head. "No... and I just don't understand," he said under his breath.

"It should be there..." I said almost unconsciously as I stepped closer towards where he was crouched over and looking through the files. I bent my knees too and lowered myself to his level, my hand rested on my knee. Right beside him, I saw exactly what he did now. One of his hands resting on the drawer, the other still was grasping that same file... which I didn't get if he said he couldn't find the one we were looking for. "What's that?"

"This is Robert Denis's file," he said, raising it up more so I could see.

"Well... okay. Why are you telling me this?"

"After Denis comes Denport, the sheriff. And look at the file directly after Denis," he said, pushing that file back and raising the one after it, the file visible now as the name was on it too. He read it aloud after my eyes took it in and my heart jumped. "H. Deprose."

My eyes widened and slowly, I raised my head up to the side and found his face. His eyes looked down to mine with the same amount of realization that filled me. Glancing back down at the file, that clearly read Deprose and not Denport, I felt my stomach begin to turn.

"Where is the sheriff? He should be right after Denis if in alphabetical order..." I said, moving my hand up and looking myself, feeling the space between both files where his folder should have been. "Where the hell is he?"

Sitting back slightly and letting those files go, I just stayed there. I didn't know what happened, what this could mean, where it was. I just shook my head, not understanding like Luke. Would the sheriff have taken it for his own protection? Is it really just lost randomly? Are we sure it should be in here to begin with?

"Maybe... he was somehow mixed in with other files somewhere else," he said, which he hoped was the case. But I voiced a fear not only I shared but he as well.

"Or maybe he took it and hid it, afraid of someone finding it."

Luke looked down to me in and concern was sprawled across his face. Pursing his lips, he said, "Well, either way, we can't exclude any possible reason. We need to look through all the D's at least. Just in case."

That's what we did. Both of us on our knees, crowded around the cabinet sifted through all the D names and we didn't find Denport. Despite my paranoia about getting caught, it just didn't matter any more. The fact that it wasn't here just demanded my need to find it, whether someone finds us or not. I mean... it just wouldn't disappear like this.

We had split the section we were looking through between us and when Luke finished with his files, I heard him heave a deep sigh and sit back. It was clear he didn't find it. When I got down to the last file that wasn't him myself, I took a deep breath myself. I mean... it just made me uneasy and anxious to want to know what happened to it and why. It was here and if it was randomly misplaced, it would still be in this section we just searched through. It made no sense.

Beyond frustrated, I slid back and away from where I was kneeling too until I rested on the floor like Luke, my legs stretched out before me beside him. Glancing over to him, his arms propped behind him on the floor and holding him up, I took in his crooked eyebrows and his thinly set mouth. Staring daggers at the file cabinet, all I could do was purse my lips. We were both aggravated. It should be here....

"Is there any place else possible it could be?" I asked him.

He took a moment to answer me. I had a bad feeling it was because he didn't have a very good answer for me. "Not really," he breathed. "And we don't have the access to the one in the computer. Either way, what's really getting to me is the reason why it's not here."

"Maybe there is shit in there he doesn't want anybody seeing."

"Could be," he nodded as a clear option. But even I knew there should be more behind it. Either way, we needed to do something about this. Sitting up slightly, crossing my legs on the floor, I turned my body more to face him. Catching his eyes, they offered me confusion over the matter as we just continued to ponder what could possible have happened to it.

A moment later though, an idea came to him. In a curious voice, he said, "It might be in his office for all we know. That would be the best bet, I think."

I nodded. It would make sense too. And when that came to us as a possibility, we didn't pause to think things over much longer. We got up, closed the cabinet drawers, and left the room as if nothing happened, as casually as we could. Luke led me back and down the hall more until we headed towards a room I was in before and found to be familiar. The sheriff's office.

I have been in there a couple times before. Once when Luke was talking with me and Francis about the gang. Then when he finally came to the realization I was telling the truth - when he watched the footage of the school camera of Clare in disguise, leaving after I faced her in the locker room. And again another time when I watched the tape we managed to capture of Clare beating me up in our home from the cameras we set up. Now, as we approached the office I knew well enough by now, I was already trying too figure out where it could be in here.

When we went into the office and shut the door, I knew we were safe to look around freely. There were no cameras inside the actual room so Luke's excuse could just be we needed to check out the computer. Of course, if the sheriff ever walks in and sees us looking through all his shit, we'd be pretty much screwed. I couldn't be any happier that he wasn't working as of now this late at night.

We searched through the office as thoroughly as we could. Through the drawers in his desk, through the file cabinets against the wall of citizens even that had the last name that started with D, and through the papers scattered on the desk too. The office was small so it didn't take too long to look in every obvious place. And what a shock, we didn't find his file. It wasn't until we went through each spot twice that Luke began to pace. In thought, in nervousness... where the fuck is it?

"Could it be in his house?" I asked, trying to find any lead we could take.

He just sighed, shaking his head with his eyes pinned on the floor as he walked aimlessly back and forth behind his desk. Pacing, with each time he crossed over a certain plank of wood in the floor, it would squeak. I just wanted him to stop for a minute ad breath. "I don't know," he said under his breath, his tone hiking up with anger. Eyebrows dipped towards the bridge of his nose, it was clear how frustrating this was to him as it was to me.

I groaned and I couldn't think anymore. I didn't want to. I could only stand there, arms crossed, and thinking as I watched him walk back and forth. I knew he was thinking every possibility over... until I watched him abruptly stop. His eyes lowered to the ground as they had been this whole time... they became fixated on a spot on the floor. I figured he was just staring in thought. Really, he was staring at our chance to find the file.

His eyebrows raised and his lips twisted as he observed the floor beneath his shoes. Eyeing where he was looking, confused, in the next moment, he was in action. He knelt down on the floor right where he was standing and looked down and closer at the floorboard - the one in particular that kept creaking when he walked over it. Then, I realized what he was doing as he pressed his palm on the board, applying pressure and making it squeak again.

I spoke my first thoughts at the possibility. "Do you really think it could be under there?"

Luke raised his head and eyes from the floor and looked at me from where he knelt, a bright smile coming to his face. "Well, all I'm saying is that the floor was just replaced a few years back. It shouldn't be creaking." Pressing his hand harder on the floor again and with his other hand, tracing the edges of that particular floor board, I saw he wouldn't be able to pry it out. Glancing back to me, he asked, "Can you hand me a pen or something on the desk?" he asked me in a sweet voice.

Glancing to the cluttered work space, I walked over and grabbed a pen I found on the desk. I went to his side and got down on my hands and knees as well, facing him. And as I was I handed him the pen and watched in curiosity. After all, I was on edge too in wonder if this would actually be under the floor.

Luke, with the pen in hand, I watched him lower his whole self down to the floor until he was resting on his stomach so he was even closer and could see better. Watching him, I noticed he also reached behind him and he grabbed the little flashlight he had on his belt on his side. He brought it before him, turning it on. Shinning it down to see the floor board better, with the pen in his other hand, he began to wedge the tip of the pen into the crack between that board and another.

When he began to try to wedge it up with the tip of his pen through in the dusty illumination of the flashlight, and it didn't work. He continued to try it a few times until he knew we needed something else. "Albany, on my belt is a little knife. Can you hand it to me?" he asked as he tried it again with the pen.

This time, I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm getting tired of being your bitch," I warned.

"Well, I'll be your bitch whenever you want after this," he said, smirking up at me and making me laugh. "And you know damn well you are nobody's bitch, ever."

Smiling, I crawled over towards his side more and his belt - and his nice tight ass - that came in sight. "Where on the belt is it? Or am I given freedom to 'feel around?'"

He chuckled. "In the pouch next to the talkie," he said from below where I was kneeling over his backside.

"Aye aye, officer," I said as I located it with my eyes, undid the little pouch, and pulled out the small little knife that I could tell was only used as a tool for stuff like this. Just as I began to crawl back around and into his sight again, I spanked his ass and held in my chuckle.

When I came to sit back in front of where he was laying on his stomach, I couldn't stop myself from stifling a laugh with the look that was aimed at me from his face. He gave me the most serious look he could manage without smiling, eyes asking as if I was serious. But don't blame me. That's what he deserved and that's what his tempting ass asked of me.

"I have means to file for assault against a police officer," he threatened. "That was sexual assault."

I shrugged and winked jokingly. "Kinky."

He finally gave a throaty chuckle before he got back on track. "Alight, anyways, I need you to start to pry the board out with the knife because the pen needs to make the space in between big enough to do it."

"Okay," I nodded, lowering myself fully towards the ground like he was, laying flat on my stomach and facing the board, the little blade in my hand poised towards the board and ready for when he lodged the pen in. "I'm ready."

When he wedged the pen in this time and created a big enough space, I slipped the knife in right next to it. But this time, with the pen not moving and keeping that opening there, I moved the knife back and forth, trying to push the board up from the rest of the boards on the floor. It took a few tries... moving the knife back and forth but eventually, it worked. The edges of the flat piece of wood rose up until it was no longer kept in place by the others and popped up.

I felt my heart jump in slight excitement at what we did because now, we would find out if Luke was right. And sure enough, with his hopeful expression, he pushed the board aside and we looked down into where the board once was. We couldn't see anything but the shadows... until Luke moved the light from his flashlight down into the hole in the floor. And there it was, I saw. The file was laying there.

I felt myself gasp and Luke scoff in delight at the sight. I stared down at the file there below the floor in amazement that we found it, proud of our effort. "Oh my god," I chuckled as I watched Luke set the pen down and reach down in the small hole, just enough space for his arm to fit. He grabbed the file when he began to move back on his hands and knees now, a smile resting there.

Smiling, I sat up myself and watched Luke brush off the dust that caressed the folder in his hands. His eyes rising to mine, that bright green light appealing to me, he just shook his head - but not just at the joy to find it. With that brightness came the realization. The sadness and disappointment that entered him. He glanced back down to the file, his smile dipping dissolving slowly as his eyebrows went low. "Hm," he said under his breath. "I was really hoping Francis was wrong."

I pursed my lips, knowing what he meant exactly. I mean, earlier tonight when Francis told us the sheriff might be involved, Luke denied it and said he couldn't be. The sheriff was a very close friend to him. He trusted him. And so part of this was to just find out if Denport was even involved. The fact that he had his own file hidden under his floorboards sure raises suspicion that there is something in there that is off. It was validation, ultimately that this sheriff... was up to something.

His face... disgust, disappointment, and anger reached his eyes subtly. However, thought his realization of his involvement was clear now... there was even more to it than that. Which we soon discovered.

Before we leave with the file, or even look through it, Luke knelt up and slid the knife back into his belt and threw the pen back up on the desk. However, as we lowered back down to put the floorboard back in place... something caught my eyes. His flashlight shinning to the opening for me to put it back... I was at an angle to see more down into the hole. And just before I placed the plank back into place, something caught my eye.

I paused in putting it back... and just stared down into the opening. There was something else there... off to the side a little more than the file was but it was still something down there... I squinted my eyes at it for a moment, looking closer until I came to the conclusion that... there was something there. That was an edge of something I noticed and the color was lighter. It wasn't until I set the board down and took Luke's flashlight and shinned it down there that I realized what it was with a turn of my stomach.

"Holy shit," I breathed, blinking... an yes, that was what it looked like.

With Luke looking down with me at it, I felt his breath catch too. "What the hell would another file be doing there?" he asked.

I shook my head. But sure enough, it was a file. Just like the sheriff's file, it looked the same. Of course, we couldn't see the name, any writing on it, and it looked even most dusty. I was so lost at this point either way. I mean, my head was scrambling for an explanation of what that other file could be of. "Um, wow I uh... maybe another file on himself?"

Luke just stared down at it in confusion as answer enough. Taking a deep breath, I watched him lower back down and towards the opening again, reaching down inside and into the dirty space that I can only imagine was cluttered with mice shit. A moment later, he rose up again with this file with him, backing up and coming to rest on his knees, looking it over as he began to mindlessly brush it off.

However, once his eyes looked over the file... his fingers froze and his eyes went wide and blank, staring in shock at it, from wherever it was he was seeing. His jaw literally unlocked and his eyebrows furrowed. His body, completely tensing up, I noticed his breath catch and cut off. And the sight, well it even scared me a bit and sent my chest fluttering. It wasn't often you see such a shocked look from him - to the extent I was seeing of him now. I didn't like the look that reflected in his eyes when he just continued to stare down at the file.

"Luke, what is it?" I asked, on edge myself now as I watched him.

I didn't get an answer out of him at first. I don't know if he even heard me. He just stared at it, stunned and shocked and it only made me that much more nervous. Then, his parted lips finally let a whisper out. "Fuck...."

"What is it?" I asked, a little more urgently.

He didn't tell me. Instead, he handed me the dusty file in almost a rush for me to see. And when I took it... and when I looked at what he saw, I felt my own heart beat skyrocket and stomach drop at the same time.

The file... plain like every other one was. But also like all the other files, there was a name on a tab of who the file is of. And this file... held information of a woman by the name of Clare Higgins.

***

Needless to say... we were both stunned, shocked, and paranoid now you could say.

We didn't open either of the files and look through them. We knew if we did, we would be sitting there fore hours looking through the stuff and we couldn't do that when the sheriff's office is frequently used. We needed to leave and put the floorboard back as it was before so nobody suspected anything. Luke concluded that with how dusty these files were that the sheriff wouldn't know that we took them since he maybe even forgot they were under there. He wouldn't soon check under the floor board anyway so we weren't about getting caught. Our worry and nervousness... lied in what this meant. Of the sheriff's file... what it contained. But even more nerve racking was... why was Clare's file down there too? Out of every person in this town, it was hers he also hid under the floorboard with his. Why? How were they connected? What did these two files hold that was the reason the sheriff put them under the floor?

"Don't look so anxious," Luke whispered to me as we began to walk out and down the hall, towards the main lobby. Walking beside me, I felt his arm come to rest around me in a comforting way as we walked slowly. Holding my coat in tightly, hiding the files I pressed against my body under them, I looked up at Luke. He was just as on edge as I was. However, he conducted himself properly where he didn't look shaken up. He was obviously not relaxed but at least he looked the next closest thing to calm.

"How the hell am I going to handle going through these files without you? This is urgent shit and we both need to go through these files."

After all, Luke was taking me to Francis's house right now to drop me off for the night since he needs to get back here and continue working up and past the time dawn came. He was working all night and I had school. The plan was he drops me off with the files and he comes back here. However, that was when we came to believe that if we found anything, it would only be the sheriff's file. Not another one of Clare's that was hidden with the sheriffs!

He told me in the calmest and lowest voice he could as we walked out into the lobby, "Just go over them with Francis. And when you do, talk to me over speaker phone because I don't want to wait to learn what you find out. Because this is serious shit right now," he breathed, clearing his raspy throat. He offered up a few people that passed smiles and I did the same - as best as I could anyway.

Heading down now and towards the open area, the huge room with all the desks for paperwork, I spoke when I saw nobody else was around. "Why do you think hers was there... I thought we had every file on Clare...."

"I... I don't know," he said in a defeated voice, his arm around me tightening a little bit as we moved from the room and down the hall that led to the back door where we came in. The door in sight, I couldn't think of anything besides trying to go through reasons, maybe acceptable answers... I mean, what the hell? How and why would those two people be connected? And to the point where it needed to be carefully hidden?

I didn't know - and it made me very anxious to leave and head over to Francis's house to go through it with him. However, when we walked out the backdoor and into the cold air of the back parking lot... I figured out soon enough that would not happen.

Luke, his arm still resting around me as we walked towards the car... I felt very safe with him beside me like this. But... after a moment of walking towards the car, I could tell... something was very off. Very wrong. Everything was so quiet and when our feet shuffled on the ground, it seemed to be a screaming echo for all to hear. I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach... of the darkness that surrounded me. Of it... almost watching me. In amusement, in entertainment, in delight... as prey, as to be hunted, and as to observe. It felt nicer when Luke's arm came to tighten around me, at the same time his body tensing... but it only made me question why.

"Luke...?" I asked in a low voice, slowly looking up at him and I noticed his jaw was locked and even his feet picked up a bit. Something was wrong... and it was clear he felt that instinctive sense as I had, the eerie feeling around us. In a smaller voice, I asked for clarity as quietly as I could manage. "I feel someone watching me."

"I know," he whispered when he turned his head more towards me and my ear. "I can feel it. And I think I saw them."

"Them?" I moaned. No, no... this wasn't happening. What happened to catching a break. My stomach flared up again. But not in the shock like before. In the tremendous fear that entered me. Because I knew now that we were not alone. And that this wasn't good. I had a bad vibe come over me and shivers ran over my entire body and covered ever facet of emotion in me.

"Three... four people. I don't know."

I tried to stop in place, fearful and shocked and not wanting to venture anymore out towards the darkness, which was casted over Luke's car. Right now, the moonlight lit up and around us. But I felt it would be dangerous to keep going, as an instinct. However, Luke seemed to strongly disagree. He didn't pause in his quick steps and his arm around me stayed strong, pushing me to keep walking. "Don't stop. Don't. We can't stop... and we can't go back inside. I can tell there is someone following behind us."

He continued at that fast but casual pace and I could feel my breathing picked up. My mind whirled... and ached by all that was going on. Followed... hunted... watched, I felt. The gang was the only answer that came in my mind. Who it was was not my concern. It was getting out of this. And I know Luke will do it. He's a professional officer and knows how to protect me and stay safe himself. I just... at the moment, wished more than anything to be back home with Luke.

I bit my lip and felt my stomach almost heaving in way. Because... as we neared the pitch darkness, I was filled with fear. "Please tell me they wont be by the car," I whispered.

"We can't risk it," he said softly against my hair.

"Oh god," I sighed and just wanted to close my eyes. But I wouldn't do that. I couldn't - and I felt like if I do that, it would be a type of betrayal of myself and Luke. I needed to face what was about to happen, even when I didn't want to. I trust Luke, I trust what we are doing... even though I don't want to get any closer to this darkness that I felt was staring at us. "Then where are we going?"

"The woods," he spoke in a softer and sweeter tone. "We need to be in full darkness so they can't see us but hopefully where they wont be. We don't have a choice," he said and in the next second, I felt him with his free hand reach across towards me and grab my tight fist at my side. Raising it closer to him, I didn't bother looking at what he was doing. Instead, I felt him press something cold and hard into the palm on my hand. And with my throat beginning to burn, my stomaching flipping... I felt my lips part and let out a soft sigh with the realization of what he just handed me. Pepper spray.

"You have a better bet with that than a gun in the dark... don't leave my side, honey."

"Luke...."

"I wont let them do anything to you," he said with passion against the side of my face when he turned towards me more, even through I could tell him eyes were scanning ever inch of this area. "I'll die before I let them touch you!" he whispered with his lips brushing against my head.

And with that, we entered the darkness and headed into the woods, with who knows how many people following us, hunting us, preying upon us with nothing but the two of us to stop it. With Luke at my side, all I could do was press closer to him and tightened my grip on the can. I hope that whoever these assholes are... they better know we aren't going down without a fight. Because despite my radiating fear, I was filling up, second by second, with rage.

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I didn't get to edit through it so sorry for the rough spots.