You'll Find Me Under the Stars

“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?” I asked Max from where I rested on the couch.

Max was sitting on the floor, sifting through some pictures for a project in Mr. Rook’s class. He glanced up at me for only a brisk moment. “Clarify what you mean, please.”

“Well, like is there any place you never have been that you want to go and live? I want to go to Italy or Australia. They look like such beautiful places. Or even somewhere up in the tundra.” I sat up on my elbow and looked at Max with wide eyes. “I should go to Alaska this summer!” I flopped back onto the couch and began to daydream. “I’ve seen so many pictures of Alaska. It looks so incredible.”

“It is. It truly is a beautiful place. But nothing is better than where the ones you love are at.” Max commented in a rather disinterested manner.

“You want to know something?”

“Hmm?”
“You sound way older than you are.” I rolled onto my stomach and tucked my hands underneath my chin. I watched Max.

His hand froze over a picture before he settled on grabbing it. Eventually, Max looked at me. “Desiree, my love, I wish I could show you all of the world that I have seen in my short amount of time living. I’ve gone to England, Ireland, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Montana, Alaska, and so many more places. That is barring where I live now and when I lived In Russia. My angel, those places are of great beauty but they seem so colorless now that I have met you. You bring light, life, and such vivid color to my world. I’m not sure what I would do without you. You became such a big part of my life in such a short amount of time.” Max’s gray eyes were alight with a steely flame.

He had made me speechless like the many times before. I sucked in a breath and began to cry.

“Oh, don’t cry, my love.” Max began to stand up.

“I have nothing to say back to you. You make me speechless with your sweet words.” I sobbed. I was completely ruining the moment.

I buried my face in the couch in an attempt to hide my tears. Max’s warm hand pushed hair back from my cheek. “Look at me,” he whispered.

I peeked at him like a child. He smiled warmly at me. “You are so beautiful.”

Water being splashed on my face woke me up from my daydream. I few words were curtly said to me in an alien tongue. I opened my eyes to be startled with one of the women. She looked down on me with compassion in her green eyes. Her round, wrinkled face was also dark with concern. Oddly enough, the first thing I noticed was how her gray hair fell out of her bun to frame her face with straggly wisps.

She began talking slowly then gave up when she realized I still didn’t understand her.

My mind drifted away from her and back to Max. I cried out for him. My love – my heart – was still vitally missing from me.

{Max}

I woke with a start. My dreams were laced with memories twisted by my fear. I couldn’t take it. I felt that I couldn’t rest until I was with my angel.

I heaved myself out of my bed and walked towards the bathroom in the dark. The soft rustled of cloth against a wall captured my attention. I froze mid-step and held my breath. I scanned the area in front of me as best as I could. A faint line of someone approached me in silence.

My body tensed and I prepared for a fight. The very little light, however, was in my favor. It caught the glint of something metal. A gun, I assumed. I waited for the intruder to advance a few steps forward before I lunged to the side and grabbed his wrist. The gun went off into the air. The silencer on the end suppressed a majority of the noise. I jammed my elbow hard into my intruder’s ribs. A satisfying grunt met my ears.

He fist flew at me, connecting briefly with my jaw. I nearly stumbled and fell away from him but I kept my grip on his wrist. I brought my fist back and rapidly proceeded to hit his face. He blocked a majority of my blows.

I wrenched the intruder’s wrist, causing the gun to skitter across the tiled floor in the bathroom. I whipped him across the opposite side of the room. I mentally thanked my odd feelings which forced me to safely pack most of my artillery away. I lunged for my brass knuckles in the drawer of the nightstand. Once my fingers were slipped securely into the holes, I bolted into the bathroom to grab the gun.

I calmed my heavy breathing and focused my adrenaline to my senses. There was a scuffle in the other room and then a window sliding open. I whipped around the corner and shot twice. A guttural scream erupted before a body slipped through the window to fall hard onto the ground.

Was Dmitri trying to scare me? Or just let me know he was after me?

These were tactics that I would never expect of him. I shook my head in annoyance. Fuck him. He took my only love. He can fucking die.