Sofia.
12:00 PM
"Love you!"
I closed the door behind me, feverently waving at Carter with a small smile on my face. "I love you too!" I stopped for a second remembering and repeating the same routinized protocol.
I tugged at my white cardigan's sleeves after checking the content of my purse.
Keys...check.
Phone....check.
Pepper spray....check.
And lastly my favourite...my lighter slash taser thingy that Carter got me on Amazon, last week. A smart, small but damaging gadget it was and that was what made me love it.
Kinda crazy but a girl had to be prepared.
For anything.
The world was a shitty place to be in and I was just looking out for myself. Being a single woman was already hard, but being on the run was even harder.
It had been a year since I started working at the Diner Carter's grandpa owned. And walking from it after a long six hour shift never felt so power draining and straight out exhausting especially from someone as energetic as myself to say.
'At least you're free and away from them and him' my subconscious reminded turning my mood sour.
I always tried to not think about them, but it seemed that my brain loved to remind and torture me with the morbidity of the past. But hey, at least I ran away before things....worsened.
Shaking my head, after I had decided to take the shortcut home that Carter my bestie- as he liked to call himself- always advised not to go through at late hours at night.
I couldn't help but snort at my thoughts. Carter Ian James, my bestest friend, was the conspiracy theory kind of guy and his paranoia was too much but at times like these, it was totally justified.
Trust me, I knew that it wasn't the most responsible thing to do, since it was very much the creepiest place in our peaceful small town. Yet, I couldn't get myself to care since I was so so close to collapsing from tiredness.
Plus I was pretty sure no one would be getting to me with the stuff I got in my purse or at least I hoped nobody would.
"Gods," I sighed, tiredly, rubbing my hands down my face in frustration and exhaustion as the pathway came to view.
I pulled my phone turning the flashlight on to guide me through the darkness, shivering as its gloominess stuck to my form like a dead weight making my movements just as sluggish and slow.
Hastily praying to safely reach the safe space that I called my home. Opting to taking hurried steps through the dim lit, creepy pathway and hoping to avoid any dangers as I saw my phone battery reach seven percent.
Just a few more steps and I'll get there. I internally cheered myself on, jogging as I hoped to not have my phone die on me.
Seeing my cabin coming into view never felt so relieving, as I hurriedly walked the last steps to my home I sighed and reached to grab my keys from my purse. To unlocking the door before hastily closing and leaning against it.
Phew, finally.
I kicked off my shoes and turned on the lights heading toward my room to take a quick shower, then, change to something more homey and comfy. Then, sleep my sore muscles, and tiredness away.
After taking a much needed shower. I picked my favourite sweats and matching cropped top to sleep in, then brushed my long brown hair into two long braids after applying some lavender oil and moisturized my face.
I threw my dirty clothes in the hamper, jumped on my bed, and I, thankfully, was out like a light. I was used to overthinking before sleeping and ending up staying longer than I should but this time was different.
How did I know that? Well, I just did.
And because I was stupid enough to not charge my phone like I usually did after I got home.
4:00 AM
Groaning as I got awakened by certain noises I couldn't point out and that weren't very far away from my isolated cabin. Geez, couldn't a person sleep in peace? I repetitively groaned and moaned in annoyance.
"The heck?" I tried turning on the light just to be instantly disappointed. Why right the fudge now, Gods.
I subtly looked out the window of my bedroom to glimpse a tainted black SUV and two men dressed in black clothing, dragging another....man out of the trunk like a sack of fudging potatoes and throwing him near the thick bushes on the side to speed out. Leaving me still shocked at what the heck just happened?
Why would they do that? Who were they? is that man still alive? Oh crap, what if he's dead?
I have a dead body on my property!
My hands shook as I sweat dropped and began pacing around in the dark. What am I going to do? How the hell am I supposed to call the ambulance or the Sheriff when the electricity was off? What if they came back and came after me?!
"No, no, no! Positive thoughts, Sofia. Get out of your head!" Realizing that I had been cooped up in my thinking and shocked state, I shook off that fear that the dangerous looking men might have killed an innocent human being and threw him near my home.
And might possibly, kinda, maybe, perhaps, come after me if they were still out there.
I discarded that last thought, a slither of rationality coming back to me. Maybe they thought that my cabin was abandoned, right? They weren't coming back, here...?
Oh Crap.
I quickly threw on my black hoodie on my hanger and wore my Crocs as I held onto my small flashlight and small swiss knife for safety measures- to help the injured and possibly half dead man outside.
The cold breeze made my skin prickle like gooseflesh as I opened my door, hushed prayers leaving my lips hastily before I jogged in the direction that I'd seen those monsters throw the man.
As I near the thick bush I start hearing, faint groaning and hissing coming from him, I sighed out a breath of relief that the man was still alive.
Softly approaching the badly injured stranger. I found him laid on his back with his dark brown locks on his forehead shielding me from seeing his eyes as I pointed the flashlight at him.
"Sir? Oh, my," I gasped seeing his tattered and beaten self and tried to form a comprehendible sentence as fear struck me like a lightning bolt. I haven't seen that much blood since... don't make this about yourself Sofia!
I shook my head dropping to my knees as I heard the stranger let out strained words leave his chapped lips, "Erm. A-are you, okay, sir?"
Darmnit! of course, he wasn't okay? why would I ask him that? Stupid social anxiety.
I heard the stranger mumble, incoherent words as if he was trying to communicate and my fear for his life skyrocketed with every drop of blood he bled through his white shirt.
"A-actually don't answer that. Here, let me help you, please." I facepalmed myself for my lack of courtesy and stupidness.
I gathered my awkward self enough to revoice my thoughts. "Ah-uh, Sir? My name is Sofia Luna and I'm here to help you, okay?" As I tried, keyword tried, to pull his huge muscled arm to put it on my shoulder and balance us. I then realized how huge his frame was compared to my small one.
"C-can you please try to help yourself up a bit, so that I can take care of your wounds?" I softly uttered.
Groaning out again, the man tried to move but collapsed to the ground, a hiss leaving his chapped lips.
And for a minute the world stopped as the hulking stranger opened his pretty tourmaline eyes to look at me for a brief second.
Something akin to surprise lurked in those eyes of his but I didn't know why I wanted to unravel it. And for a heartbeat before slipping out of consciousness he murmured, his voice harder than gravel, "Thank you."
Beautiful was the only word I thought of when I caught sight of his jade orbs.
Eyes so green that it made the trees and grass surrounding the small lake a few meters away look like nothing. Their natural beauty barely held a candle to his eyes as they shone through. Expressing themselves with a single glance.
Gods, I was forgetting to tend to the matters at hand. Bringing him into my safe space was definitely not the surest thing to do. But it was the right thing. For the sake of his wavering physical state, I had to help him.
The guy can turn out to be a serial killer for Gods' sake but I wanted to help him anyways. My saviour's complex was definitely going to be the death of me.
Crap, I was overthinking again and practically letting him freeze in the cold with his injuries unattended and damnit, I was going to have to drag Hulk, home. My home.
"This is gonna be a long ass night," I murmured to myself before starting to slowly haul the huge mountain man to my safe haven, "I hope that I wouldn't regret this."