Chapter Two

He looks up at the big moon with me, and I find my gaze drifting, turning to look at his eyes so that I can see the moon’s reflection in them. Sure enough, it’s like I’m staring into a lake’s surface. “I grew up a mile or so that way,” he points towards the tree line ahead of us. I turned away from his face to follow his pointed finger, where I saw the lights and heard voices earlier. “I grew up with ten younger brothers and sisters.”

“That’s a lot of siblings.” I say, looking back at his handsome face. His jaw is clean and sharp looking, his lips thick, with a scar going through the top and lower right corner. It has a brother, going across his right eye. I move my gaze down to his neck, where I can see dark blue lines wrapping around from the back. I gently nudge his jawline, and he complies, twisting his head so I can see the back of his neck. I try to ignore the spark I feel when I touch his skin. A large circle tattoo, which is sliced like a pie, is on the back of his neck. Each slice has smaller drawings in it, but he looks back at me before I have enough time to study each one.

I move on to his chest, which is broad looking, as though he works out every day. Tons of physical labor was probably more accurate. Something about him and this place made me feel like he wasn’t spending his free time lifting weights in the gym. And his muscles weren't super defined and cut looking, but they were definitely big and present. 

“I do a lot of the hard work.” He smiles at my blushing cheeks. His legs are long and covered by dark brown pants, and his feet are huge, covered by scruffy looking wool socks. I was noticing he was… abnormally tall. 

“You shouldn’t walk around barefoot.” I say. I feel silly as he looks down at my bare toes, which are painted a pale pink that I thought complimented my tan complexion nicely. He nudges my foot with his as though emphasizing the ridiculousness of my statement. 

His eyes travel up my body, and even though I had just done the same to him, I am suddenly aware of the fact that I’m only in a thin tank top and cotton shorts. I’d never been lacking in the chest department, and the top stopped a bit too low for my taste. I cough, wiggling around a bit. 

“Why are we here?” I ask, playing with the hem of my top. He chuckles, and graciously plays along with my subject change.

He scratches the back of his neck, avoiding my gaze suddenly. He grabs a handful of grass and rips it from the earth. I flinch a little, but ignore it and focus on him. He stares at the ground, ripping the grass into smaller and smaller pieces for a long moment before speaking again.

“I’ve been waiting for the right time to talk to you since you were born… but now I think I may have waited too long.” I sit up now, listening fully. 

“Explain that, please.” I stare into his eyes, searching for an answer to the mysterious and ominous thing he just said.  Something in me was telling me to stop talking to him, to run away, to avoid this conversation. 

But an even bigger part of me was demanding answers.

At that moment, everything starts to blur away, like a watercolor painting being washed away in water. The edges of my vision, the huge old pine trees, are melting away. I stood up quickly, my heart rate increasing as the world around me dribbled away rapidly.

“Don’t be scared, you’re just about to wake up.” I calm a little at his hands on my arms suddenly. He stares into my eyes, something in his that I can’t quite place. 

“This time, you’re going to remember.”