Aidan (Natalie)

We sit in silence for a few minutes while Cooper processes what I have shared with him. I’m secretly hoping that he has finished asking questions but I’m wrong.

“What do the monsters do?”

“That’s a hard one, monsters are the cause of human deaths and abductions.” Cooper sucks in a sharp breath, then releases

“How can I help you?”

“Well first off, we need to find Ash, he will be the only other person in these mountains and if that’s not true, we are in trouble.” Cooper nods several times then without further conversation stands up and walks outside. I lay there stunned at how quickly he believed me

“Cooper?” I call out
“Yes.” Is his reply, but it sounded very far away. “What are you doing?”
“I am starting to pack away all the stuff outside so we can make a quick get away tomorrow. If you wouldn’t mind, could you start shoving all the stuff that is not in a bag, into a bag? That would be lovely. I will tell you more when I am finished out here.”

As I go through all of Coopers stuff, I come across several pictures of his family. His father whose name was Jack; his mothers name was Belinda and his little brother Jake. They all looked fairly similar except Jake. Jack had orange hair, a couple of freckles on his cheeks and blue-grey eyes, with a muscular built like Cooper. Belinda also had red/orange hair, but she had loads of freckles. She, also had blue, grey eyes, she also looks pretty athletic. Jake was an odd one; this would look like a picture of my family and me. He was practically the complete opposite with dark brown hair, dull green eyes and no freckles, he also didn’t have a very athletic body, which is helped by the glasses that sit on the end of his nose. The picture looks like it was taken about a year ago. Suddenly I hear footsteps coming towards the tent quickly I grab the last of the gear that is not in a bag, and chuck it into the nearest bag then I quickly zip the bag up and lay down, like I had been before he left. About three foot steps later Cooper appears at the opening of the tent.

“Natalie, have you finished?” I choose to ignore the questions, pretending to be asleep.

“Natalie.” He calls even softer. I hear him step into the tent and slowly approach me; he places his hand on my shoulder and nudges me. I pretend to have been just woken up. I throw my arms up and stretch my legs, then I realise that Cooper is still holding my shoulder. I look up and meet his eyes.

“Are you done packing all the stuff in here?”
“Yes” I say concerned with what he might say next. “Okay good, I was wondering if you would be okay

with me sharing a mattress with you tonight, so I can pack up my sleeping bag, this would only give us two jobs to do in the morning.”

“And what are those two jobs?” I ask with suspicion in my voice.

“To put the mattress away and take down the tent, pack it into this little supply kit I have made and start our journey to find Ash.” That night, we lay on the mattress, Cooper asleep and myself daydreaming about finding Ash. I just hope that he has found his weapon. As I lay on the mattress listening to all the noises coming from the forest I hear a loud bang like a gun going off. I lay still, not daring to breath. As I hear rustling in the distance and several more gun shots. When there’s silence I take a deep breath, which is a mistake. The footsteps speed up and they sound like they are in front of the tent. Cooper wakes up and lets out a deep breathe. Suddenly the person is inside. I can’t see who it is or what gender they are, all I know is that a gun is pointed at my head right now.

“Don’t move.” Says a deep masculine voice. I freeze in my sitting position and Cooper also freezes.

“Who are you?” I stutter

“Aidan and I know who you are Natalie Hurly, you just lost your family and you have been staying with a guy called Ash. Then you fell and Cooper Worthington found you. He also just lost his family.” I flinch when he says my full name. How does he know all this information, just as I am about to ask another question, trying to prolong my death, Cooper attacks. He flicks his legs and takes Aidan’s legs out from under him. Once the gun leaves my head, I make a run for it. I dive over Aidan and grab the gun that he dropped when he fell. Cooper stands and follows my lead. I point the gun at Aidan

“Get out. Now!” I say with as much courage I have, my heart is pounding, my blood pumping through my veins, and my whole body on fire. Aidan doesn’t move so Cooper takes the gun out of my hands and points it at Aidan again.

“Leave, or I will shot, I know you don’t think Natalie will shot but do you believe that I won’t.” Aidan still doesn’t move, so I don’t know what to expect, suddenly I hear the gun go off, then I hear a scream, everything is happening so fast. When I look back at where Aidan was, he is gone. Leaving no sign of being there at all.

“Did you shot him?” I ask with anxiousness in my voice.

“No, I shot his hand and then he just disappeared,”

“What an asshole.” I mutter. I look at Cooper and say “I think we should start packing, I won’t be able to sleep now!”