Eat Your Heart Out

I couldn’t breathe. Everything in my chest tightened at the sight of him here. How did he find me? Half of me was screaming and furious and the other half wanted to run and latch onto him and not let go because he had found me. Both emotions were so powerful at the moment that I was planted to the ground.

Travis was yelling at Sean about something – probably the rule about never bring anyone to the safe house without his permission. But Sean was just smirking, making quick apologies. Why was he no longer afraid of Travis?

Damon and I locked eyes again, and all I could do was repeat my question.

He was beside me in an instant, but I still couldn’t move. “I came to take you home. I came to make sure it was really you on the phone, I came to make sure Jeremiah couldn’t touch you, I came because…because I miss you.” His hand touched my cheek, sending shivers down my spine.

Without hesitation, I slapped him. Hard. Then immediately stuck my arms under his jacket and hugged him close to me. His arms stayed at his sides, a bit confused by my reaction. “Um…ow? What the hell?”

“For not listening to me on the phone.”

“And the hug?”

“For not listening to me on the phone.”

He chuckled and then mumbled something I couldn’t understand before finally wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. “Anytime.”

It was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. “Can I bring you home?”

I froze up and he felt it. “Let me rephrase that. I’m going to take you home, now.” He pulled away so he could stare me down. “Or we could spend the night in the hotel down the street and head home tomorrow, but either way you’re coming home with me.”

“We’re not staying in a hotel,” I saw a flash of disappointment cross his face, but he covered well. “Damon, I have a lot of questions that I don’t have answers to and two extremely ticked off brothers waiting back in Virgina. I’m scared, and it doesn’t help that you are what most of my questions are about.”

“Well, we can talk and I will answer all questions you have on the way home. And since you aren’t allowing me the privilege of staying in a hotel room, we should start back soon. It’s a bit of a drive,” he said while dragging me to the car.

“Wait,” I said tugging back.

“You aren’t getting out of this while I’m standing right here-“

“My bag,” I said glaring at him and pointing toward the front door.

He sighed dramatically and let go, following me as far as he could to the house while I ran to the living room to grab my bag. I took a few shaky breaths, trying to waste a few more minutes. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay here, where drama did not exist.

This is silly, I told myself. If it wasn’t Damon, Travis was dragging me home anyway. My heart was pounding about being stuck for at least 7 hours in the car with him. There was so much I now didn’t know about him. But before I had left, he told me he would never be another Jeremiah.

The words echoed in my head, and I was clinging to them desperately. This car ride was going to be beyond awkward when the question and answer session starts up.

“Kris?”

“Coming!” I said, taking one more deep breath. I picked up my bag and walked out of the house and to Damon’s car, throwing the black monstrosity into his back seat.

“Can I at least say good-bye?“

“Yes.”

I turned around, looking around Damon to try and find Travis. Both he and Sean were gone.
“Travis?” I called out, listening for any response. It wasn’t like him to take off, especially if there was a guy with me. And that went for any guy.

It was silent, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“Travis?” I asked a little louder, now concerned. He wasn’t in the house; I would’ve passed him coming back out. Slowly, I started to head to the right side of the home. Maybe he was trying to make his talk with Sean a bit more private?

There was a sick, meaty thump as I turned the corner. Sean was placing a doubled over Travis gently on the ground, but I could see the giant branch that was sticking out of his heart. So I did what anyone else would do in this situation.

I screamed.

I don’t think he thought he would be caught that quick, but the next thing I knew, I was in the car and Damon had slammed the gas petal down so fast I was afraid it would get stuck.

Sean wasn’t far behind in his car, but he looked determined.

I was not helping the situation by having a panic attack.

“Sean was doing so well! Why-why would he do this? Travis has done nothing but help him. Oh God, Travis! Damon, we have to go back-“

“No.”

“What if he’s not dead? What if – what if he’s in just a lot of pain, the branch didn’t go all the way through –“

“Kris,”

“No, think about it. Sean can’t be that strong if he’s new right? Maybe there’s a chance-“

“Kris-“

“Travis isn’t dead. He’s the oldest person I know. Damon, we have to go back-“

“Kris, he’s gone.” It was said with a bit of force, trying to make sure I heard it through my daze.

All this did was start a new round of tears.

~~

She had cried herself to sleep. Whoever this Travis person was, I envied him. She cared so much about him. I’m pretty sure that if the roles were reversed, there would be way less tears shed about me.

The main problem at hand was getting this new-age off my tail. The only thing that I had over him was that I could wait between meals much longer than he did…and my car had better gas mileage.

We had been going strong for about two hours and I was hoping that at SOME point, his gas tank would need to be refilled. And, even though it would do no good, I was praying it would happen soon.

Sure enough, about thirty minutes later, he pulled over. I kept driving a solid hour, taking the smaller roads, before pulling over. If we could stay just far enough ahead of him – it would be one less thing to worry about.

Kris was still asleep when I started to fill up. I started to pull the top back over the car when she woke back up.

“Hey,” I said gently, after climbing back in the car.

“Hi,” she replied tiredly.

“You hungry?”

She shook her head, resting it against the window.

“We still have about five hours ahead of us. Let me know if you are later, okay?”

A curt nod.

I reached over the middle part, grabbing her hand and pulling her over into a hug.

I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to be said.