Chapter 9

"What?" I didn't bother answering. I had to find out more. Who were his other 2 victims? Did we know this 'it'? "Shyloe are you listening to me!" Bruno shouts. "I'm thinking." "What are you thinking about?" "I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm gonna do! I don't know who this......thing has targeted besides me and you! There are two unknowing lives at stake right now as we speak! We have no idea what or who to look for! And yet again my life is in danger because nothing good can possibly happen in my life! Nothing can just go smoothly! Everything is always ruined! I just want to live a normal life..........but it looks like..........that'll never happen. I just want to meet the man of my dreams, have an amazing wedding, start a family, and live a happy life with someone who loves me till the death.........is that too much to ask for?" I look at Bruno and he just walks towards me and hugs me. I struggle to hold the tears back but it's just impossible. He starts to rub my back and slowly we start to sway back and fourth. "You know that song we sang in the studio?" "Yea?" "It's called Marry you........you wanna know why I wrote it?" "Yea." "When you were being wheeled in on the stretcher I was terrified of loosing you.......again but forever this time. So I wrote that song for you......because I still wanna marry you." "Huh?" I look at him confused. He grabs me hand and twists my ring. "I gave you this ring......I asked you to marry me and you said yes.......I never could of imagined of marrying anyone else. I love you and I still do to this day. Will......you still marry me?" I hear Marybeth whisper. 'Do it say yes.' But I just can't it's too much at once. "Bruno listen to me........there's too much going on in my life right now.......we have this thing chasing us, I'm terrified of being in crowds, I have dead people talking to me! My sister who's thousands of miles away is whispering in my ear 'Do it say yes.' I don't even remember what happened in my life before I kidnapped! I don't even know who I really am!.............I'm sorry Bruno I just need to reclaim my life." I watch as his face falls. "Bruno I......." He runs his hands through his hair and walks out. I don't bother following him because I know he'll be back. I sigh and walk out to the cavern entrance. I look out on the beach and see Bruno smoking. I decided to reach out to him.....see whats going through his mind. 'Does she just not love me? Did I do something wrong? I wish I knew if she loved me back. God I'm as terrified as her but.....ah....god! This is crazy! I'm going to go crazy before this is all over. I need her..........so much.' I decided to intruded on his thoughts. 'Well if you love me stop smoking.' He turns his head just enough to see me put of the corner of his eye and hesitantly drops his cigarette in the sand. 'Thats just creepy you know that? How much did you listen to?' 'Enough' He turns around and starts walking towards me. I do the same. We finally meet in the middle. I sigh. "You wanna know the truth Bruno........Life is terrifying me. I'm scared of making a mistake that could hurt you, that could hurt us. I'm afraid that if ........if l make a mistake it could cost us our lives. I'm just plain terrified out of my wits." He nods his head a wraps his arm around my back and we start walking. "I'm scared for you.......I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Houses start to come into view and I finally realize just how tired I am. I start yawning and my eyes become heavy. *****************************************************************************

 "You gettin tired." "Yea." I stop for a minute and scoop her up in my arms. She squeals and shouts. "Don't you dare drop me Hernandez!" I stagger a little and not just to be funny she was actually heavy. She must be all muscle. We finish walking to my house and I open the door and realize she's been really quiet and she's gotten really still. I take her upstairs and lay her on my bed. She look so helpless. I pull off her flip-flops off and covers her up. Should I sleep in here or on the couch? What would my parents and sisters think if I slept in here with her? Oh well i don't care what they think because I did nothing wrong. I get on my knees beside her and just watches as her chest slowly rises and falls. I pushes a stray strand of hair away from her face and kiss her goodnight. I pull my shoes off and slowly climbs into bed beside her and wraps my arm around her. It feels good to be close to her like this again. ******************************************************************************

 4am

 I wake up and look around. Where am I? I feel something draped across my waist. I look down and realize it's an arm. I look over my shoulder and see Bruno's laying beside me. I sigh and get up and make my way outside. I need answers, and something tells me I'll find them out there. I manage to find my way out without making any noise. I walk out to the water and get a feeling that someone's behind me. I turn around and gasp. It's the same little girl that told me about the thing that was coming. But this time she has a friend with her. I swear being a medium sucks because this can kinda just get creepy. Sometimes the dead people's sprits get stuck because they have unfinished business and those are the people who visit me. Who warn me. "Hi there......you scared me." "Sorry....this is Jason he needs to tell you something very important." "Wait what's your name?" "My name is Brooke." "Oh alright well Jason what do you need to tell me?" "I know what it looks like." Ha! I knew I'd get answers! "What's it look like Jason?" "Well it's not a person......it's a sprit. It's evil though. It comes and kills while you sleep.......that way know one will know who it is. It's kills with hate. It tears it victims apart so they won't be recognizable." Brooke interrupts. "But it wants you, Bruno, your sister and Mariska to be scared........he wants you to be terrified........and trust me he's scary.......he sure scared me....." "He scared me too!" Jason adds. "Wait so it's going to be me, Bruno, My sister Marybeth, and who's Mariska? You've seen the thing before?" Brooke looks at Jason questionably. "I don't think she knows." She said to him. "I don't know what?" She sighs and Jason opens his mouth to speak. "Wait I'll tell her....." She looks at me with sad eyes. "Marybeth was our mom.....we were 3 days old when we died......we were a little sick when we were born but we were getting better but then he visited us one night.......and killed us. Mariska is mommies new baby she's very pretty she's only 1." I look at them in horror. Then it hits me. They both have brown eyes, brown hair, their thin and tall, and they look just like Marybeth. "Oh my god! So after I was kidnapped she had you two and then lost you and then had Mariska?" They nod their heads. "So why is she a target? Why are we a target?" I ask Jason. "She came to see us the same time the thing did, she saw what it did to us, then the thing saw her and came after her, but she was strong she fought him off, he swore he would come back, it traumatized her so much it left her physic. So he's decided to come back. But he needs everyone out of the picture. He knew we would tell you this and he knows without you and Bruno out of the picture you will be able to put him back and shut the door in the gray time so he will never be able to come back and hurt anyone else ever again. And Bruno will....." ".......give me the strength.....he will protect me." He smiled "She told you that part already?" I nod my head. "He's your shield....." He sighs. And I watch as they start to fade away. "Remember true love is the strongest shield........it never breaks and is always strong....he loves you.....love him back just as much...if you come out of this together.....then things in your life will return to normal and the man of your dreams will be standing beside you the whole time." "Wait don't go! When will it come? How much time do we have?" Brooke opens her mouth to speak but it's too late. I watch as they fade away completely. Well I got answers but not the most important one. When will this thing be here? I sit down on the sandy beach and try to figure out what to do next. I sigh. Well Shyloe your not with them anymore, its time to stop living in fear, it's time to quit hiding from your past. It's time to start remembering it. I close my eyes and start getting lightheaded. Then I watch as my life before my kidnapping unfolds. *******************************************************************************

 5am

 I wake up shivering. Geez it's freezing in here! I rub my eyes and prop myself up on my elbows. I look around and then it hits me. Shyloe's gone! I scramble up and look all around the house. I run outside and she her sitting on the beach. I let out a huge sigh of relief and walk over to sit down beside her. "Hey babe." She opens her eyes and looks at me and smiles. God that amazing smile could kill. "Did I wake you Bruno?" "Naw I got cold and then I saw you weren't in bed so I came looking for you to make sure you were ok." She let's out a sigh and turns to face me. "Bruno I need to go back to Georgia and you have to come with me." "Why? What happened?" She looks away and I can see the tears threatening to fall. She tells me everything. She tells me about the little girl and boy who came to warn her and how they were her sisters kids and she tells me about how her sister saw them kill the twins and he swore to come back. After she finishes telling me about the warning she starts to shake. "Shyloe.....I.." "This is all my fault! Were gonna die! Your gonna die you have this amazing life and now your gonna freaking die because of me! There's no way we can possibly fight this.....this thing! I'm so sorry Bruno!" I grab her shoulders and shake her. "Stop it! Look at me!" She looks at me and her face in painted with pure terror and grief it's heart wrenching. "Your strong...very, very strong. To live through everything that's happened to you and still be able to laugh and smile that takes strength. Now listen I'll stand by you and protect you...." "Because you love me." "Exactly..." "Why? Why would you want to love a person like me? I'm carrying such a heavy burden and my past......who would want me after that?" "Stop it! I don care about that! Do you not get it? I love you because your you....funny, beautiful, strong, and when you smile or laugh or just get near me....my heart skips beats. Never has anyone done that before. Now no matter what happens I'll be here for you. Because I love you. You need to stop living in the past. That's behind you now. Have fun, live life, don't be afraid for your life every waking minute of everyday. You here, now, and that's all that matters." She looks at me and cracks the biggest smile. *******************************************************************************

 "That's exactly what I would say about you....you make me feel safe and your right! I'm living in the past! I'm finally free and I'm acting terrified and scared like I'm still with 'them' but I'm not! I'm here with you again and I have the chance to take my life back! All we have to do is get through this and everything will be back to normal and...." I stop because I don't know if I should continue. "And what?" ".....Jason said that if we come out of this together.....and the man of my dreams will be standing beside me the whole time........" Then it finally hits me. ".......Bruno, they were talking about you. They said true love is the strongest shield, it's always strong and never breaks. You said you loved me then and you still do. They said you would protect me, you would give me the strength." I look at him and he's smiling. "Of course they were talking about me I would never hurt you I will always be here for you." I smile and then yawn. "Cmon let's get you to bed we gotta long day ahead of us." Bruno stands up and grabs my hand and reaches down to pick me up. "No Bruno don't I know I'm to heavy for you." He looks at me and shakes his head. "That's creepy." "I know." We walk up to his room and we flop down on his bed. I lay on my side so I'm facing towards him. He pushes a stray hair away from my face then I see him start to lean in. I do the same and feel his lips brush mine. When they finally meet theres nothing soft about the kiss. It's not like the one in the cavern, this one is long and hard. I feel his wrap his arm around me and he slides me on top of him. Then I feel something hard pressed against my stomach. Oh god! When he pulls away were both breathing heavily and smiling. I slide off of him and lay my head on his chest and drape my arm over his stomach. He puts his arm over my side. "Bruno?" "Yeah babe?" I'm falling in love with you again. But I don't want to admit it because I'm afraid of losing you again like last time. "Goodnight." "G'nite." And with that we drift off into a peaceful, worry less sleep in each others arms.