Paranoia

"Argh!!! No! Let go!!! Sto-" the blood-curdling scream rang out before the frantic pleas of the woman I was just speaking to. the blizzard started to Howl, and it felt like I was suffocating. Then I heard his voice, he was laughing.

Trey…

Then I found the car all cleared off and running. I jumped into the driver's seat and quickly pulled out and got back to the highway. A few seconds later an ambulance went barreling down towards where we just left.

"No. No. No. I hate blizzards, how far is this resort? 10 minutes!?" I shot a look at the GPS. "Damn I want to be off this road already!"

"Calm down. what's going on?"

"That woman that screamed… I was just talking to her… I just left her, and she started screaming bloody murder. And-"

"Woah, Woah, Woah, slow your roll freckles. What screams? what are you talking about?" Astonished, I shot a quick glance at Trey to check if he was serious. then checked Brandon through the rearview mirror but he was too busy trying to warm his hands with his breath.

"You guys didn't hear that?"

"Look Bax I know storms freak you out but don't you think this is being a bit paranoid?" He was probably right.

"Anyone want to play DJ?" I tried to calm myself a bit, but it didn't work until I noticed the seat arrangement

Ah, so the tornado won… unexpected but interesting.

"I will!” he chuckled, “shotgun privileges.” he twisted to wink at Brandon before playing a string of songs that I normally listened to, I was finally calming down and singing along with everyone. then suddenly.

I saw the car in front of us swerve which made me uncomfortable. Then I saw a man walking near the middle of my lane and seeing him immediately explained why the front car swerved. I swerved to avoid him as well blaring my horn as I did so and accidentally tagged his shoulder. My heartbeat was uncontrollable as my attention darted to every rearview mirror in the car trying to get a glimpse of him…  trying to make sure he was alright. But I couldn't. My nerves were a horrible mess again… 

what if I hurt him? What if I knocked him down and the car after me ran him over? Would he die? Would I get in trouble? Oh no! Oh shit!

Due to us being on a highway I decided that continuing to drive would be the best course of action. 

I didn't head on ram him… and it’s too snowy out, so he didn't see my plate… Besides he was the one in the middle of the lane... on a highway, aw but what if he needed help and I just tagged him?

My attention started shooting all over the place again… 

Should I go back? Will someone else stop and help him. No, If I hurt him then maybe now he'll be more careful… I should go back. I brushed it off but dismissing it mentally doesn't mean everyone else in the car understood, that being said I immediately came under fire by a worried Trey and a frustrated Brandon.

"Bax!" Brandon was white knuckle gripping the seat and the handle on the ceiling.

"Freckles! I don't want to die two minutes from the resort! Do you think you can make it there in one piece or do you need me to drive?" I shook my head, declining his offer.

"I saw a guy walking in the middle of the lane, so I swerved to avoid him… he ended up hitting the driver-side mirror thing."

"Bax just get us there in one piece, please… and the side view mirror was probably knocked by the snow off the car in front of us."

All I could think about was the fact that I saw the car in front also swerving to avoid the same obstacles, but I didn't want to seem more paranoid by persisting. So, I let it go but not before checking all the rearview mirrors for a man I know wouldn’t be visible.

You have arrived at your destination

"Finally, all right guys I'll park the car, you two get us signed in." I found a parking spot right in front of the lobby door. Perfect. I parked and quickly waddled inside, noticing the weather was getting better. I gave Brandon his car keys and he gave me a pair in return. After reading the label I found out that they were cabin keys… Cabin 777.

To me, it's a  number that will be unlucky when it wants to be. It’s supposed to be a lucky number but I never had much good luck with it. Quite the opposite actually. I was both cautious and excited I wanted to see the inside of the cabin now.

I walked out into the parking lot to get my bookbag but remembered no one had their jackets or boots, I also noticed that the blizzard was slowing down a bit so I went back in to tell the guys to come and get their stuff, I wanted to take advantage of the break from the heavy snow so we don't have to shovel the car to get our warm clothes. The three of us pulled out jackets and boots and other small odds and ends like soap and rags. Then we all marched through the lobby and straight back out the other door. While walking through the store district something made me look left and I saw a food court. My stomach growled at the sight of it and I grabbed Brandon's hand.

"Can we buy something to eat now?" He paused and realized that we forgot to eat at the mall and eagerly made a beeline towards the Chinese food restaurants while Trey marched towards the pizza, and I slid into the burger shack line.

Brandon ordered and paid for his food and walked over to Trey and paid for his food too. I was about to pay the cashier when Brandon slid in and paid for me. This was yet another thing that I wanted to do by myself but didn't mind others doing for me. He then winked at me and grabbed my free hand. I blushed like an idiot the whole way to the table. It was the closed table to the floor-to-ceiling window. Trey chose it for the view and of course, chose the chair facing it. Brandon chose the chair beside him which left me with the only chair left, the one facing into the food court. I didn't mind that, we would see and explore the entire resort soon enough.

For once things felt normal… happy even. But you know what they say about storms.  I finished first. I was starving so it was honestly not a surprise to me, Trey was the next to finish. Brandon was almost done and had left the table after saying he needed to go to the bathroom. When Brandon came back, he finished his food, handed Trey his computer, and excused himself for some fresh air. We both nodded and stayed put and conversed about any and everything.

"Have you ever skied before?" Trey shook his head "No" in response.

"Have you?"

"A few times when I was younger, trust me it's easier than you think." We continued like this for a while before I started noticing him occasionally getting distracted, I asked him what's wrong and he denied that there was a problem. He excused himself to the bathroom.

I sat alone at the table for a while and ended up getting bored, so I pulled Brandon's open laptop over and started reading the material and answering the questions. That's when Trey came back snow-covered.

"Was there a blizzard in the bathroom? What's with the snowflakes?"

"Oh, nothing, I just paid Brandon a visit." I scrunch my eyebrows and slid the computer back over.

"Okay. I'm going to go use the bathroom I'll be-" I stood up to push my chair in and turned in hopes of seeing the scenery but instead there was Brandon kissing a random girl, his hand pulling her closer by the belt loops.

It was my turn to pay him a visit. I made it out of the door in seconds, picked up some snow, and packed it tightly before Chucking it and nailed him straight in the back of his head. I continued to storm over the now angry Brandon released the woman and started searching for the one who threw the snowball. When he saw me, he started walking up to me. I noticed his cheek was bruised.

So Trey was here first… he knew… he saw what he was doing and said nothing to me about it.

"Babe…"

"Don't you Babe me! What are you doing? Who is she? Are you fucking kidding me?" he tried to usher me away and I pushed him to the ground.

"Who is she? You know what? Fuck you! … Who are you?"

"I'm Tiana. Brandon's tinder date. We've been talking for about two months. Who are you?" I was outraged and turned to face him.

"Two months? I've been your girlfriend for three years!!!" I said that and turned to see she had a smug look on her face. I swallowed my frustrations and glared at her.

"You must be utterly boring. It's a shame though… he said he was single." I reached my wits end so I struck her hard across the cheek. My handprint left a red mark on her face and when she tried to hit me back, I dogged. She then tried to close the distance, so I stepped forward, placed my foot behind her legs, and pushed her backward by the throat she slammed on the ground hard, and I listened as all her air left her body in one go, I watched her bloodshot eyes widen in panic and squeeze shut in pain as she rolled to her side.

Brandon pulled me back by my arm and rushed over to her aid. After taking a second to check on her he came rushing back over to me. making sure to keep some distance not trying to repeat her mistake.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You're the one cheating on me with some stoner! You tell me!" When I went without an answer I snapped and brought my foot up with as much force as I could muster and connected it with his balls, he folds with a groan and I marched closer to strike him again only to be stopped by Trey who looked at me in the eyes and dragged me back to our table I then deleted all the work on the computer and smashed it then threw it back into this bag