The next morning She decided to go for a walk in the pine forest. There were a few trails in the woods closer to town that did a three mile loop. She used to go play there as a kid. It used to be so much fun to run through the woods and carve secret symbols into the trees with your friends. It was warm out as the girl laced her jogging shoes on and headed out the front door. Before leaving the yard she shot Brandon a text asking him if he wanted to join her. But he responded saying that he was working today. Pouting, she tucked her phone in her pocket and set off.
She was a quarter mile into the loop when she saw a familiar figure ahead of her and her energy came to life. She quickly dove behind the nearest tree and peeked out. It was James. Dressed in a plain navy hoodie and black jeans. He must have taken her advice in dressing like a normal person. He seemed to be talking to himself and Audrey inched closer to listen.
“Calm down you idiot. There’s nothing wrong with you. You knew the whole time that the baba yaga cursed you and has forced you to work for her. This isn’t new information so why are you making a big deal out of it? Just do what you’ve always done.” James rubbed his head as if he was on the brink of insanity. Not that he already is. I’m sure this prima donna act is normal. Audrey was pulled from her thoughts as James started pacing impatiently.
“But what if I don’t want to keep doing this? I don’t want to be somebody’s pawn. I want to be my own person. And that strange girl is clearly the answer. I could definitely use her.” At this point James turned his back to her and She couldn’t hear everything he was saying but she managed to pick up random tidbits and none of it seemed to make sense. Then he abruptly turned back in her direction and he froze. His face turned to look right in her direction and she sucked in air. For a long moment he just stood there, deep in thought, then he shook his head and went back to pacing. Whatever he was going through she was impressed at how well he kept it together around her. He acted almost human out here in the woods talking to himself. But at the same time she understood. Sometimes the only way to sort things out is to talk yourself through it. God knows she’s had to do that quite a few times after her mom got sick. She ducked lower when his voice suddenly raised a couple of octaves, drawing her out of her thoughts.
“I can’t think straight with that girl in my head.” He kept pacing, mumbling angrily to himself. As Audrey watched him she noticed that he seemed to be in pain. Maybe something was really wrong with him. However, she didn’t feel very inclined to help. He’s not exactly a good guy. But he was still human. She could see his chest rapidly rising and falling as if he was struggling to breathe, and his forehead shone with sweat, ashy bangs sticking to his skin. The more she looked at him the worse he seemed. He normally had pale, ivory skin but now it had a sickly hue to it. Audrey was pulled from her thoughts a second time when James suddenly grasped his head and dropped to his knees like someone was pounding on his skull. He let out a low wailing sound and shouted rather loudly.
“Get out of my head! I can’t think!” Something in Audrey’s chest snapped and an ache filled her whole body. At the same instant, James slumped over on the ground and stopped moving. An icy fear crept into her as Audrey slowly came out from behind the large pine. She stood there, out in the open, feeling bare and conflicted. She had half a mind to just turn around and leave him there but something deep inside her refused to move in any direction but towards him.
“James?” When he didn’t respond she jogged over and dropped down beside him, carefully rolling the boy over. His eyes were closed but he was still breathing rapidly. Audrey pulled out her phone and dialed Maggie.
“North pine loop. Bring your car. And hurry.” Without giving her friend time, she hung up and pulled her jacket off, rolled it up and put it under his head.
“hey, wake up.” James didn’t respond and Audrey squeezed her hands together tightly, worried that something was seriously wrong with him. Why do you even care? Don’t you hate him? Ignoring the voice in her head Audrey waited almost five minutes before Maggie showed up and got out of the car. She ran over but suddenly stopped when she saw who was on the ground.
“What the hell?”
“Thank God you’re here. Help me get him to the hospital.”
“Wait. So now we want to help the guy who single handedly destroyed our entire summer?”
“Mags please, we’ll discuss this later. Just help.”
“Why? He’s evil! We should be leaving him here to die.” Audrey looked up at her best friend.
“You and I both know that you wouldn’t leave him up here by himself. You’re too kind of a person. Look, I know he’s bad. But the poor guy just suddenly dropped to the ground. What was I supposed to do?” After a few seconds of hesitation, Maggie helped put the unconscious James in the back of her shiny red Chevy Malibu. Audrey sat in the back with him, his head on her lap. The closest hospital was twenty minutes away and The young girl prayed that he would be ok, whatever it was that made him sick. They were fifteen minutes into the drive when James started to stir. She looked down at him just as his eyes started to open. For a moment he seemed dazed but as he started to come to, the young boy started breathing hard and panicking. Soon he was jerking around screaming.
“I can’t do this anymore! I want my soul and my eyes back! Let me go!” Terrified Audrey grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.
“James stop! James!” Audrey tried to calm the young man down but something had spooked him too much for her to be able to get his attention. All she could do was watch as he struggled to breathe. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead once more and his hands were shaking as he covered his face and groaned. Finally his eyes looked up at Audrey and he froze, all of his struggling stopped and he went silent. Audrey felt as if he could see her and she couldn’t help but blush as his eyes gazed into hers. Slowly James lifted a hand and placed his palm gently on her cheek. Her body went rigid, unsure what to do. His hands were clammy but warm and she was surprised that they were rough and calloused. He had worked hard in his life. She was also shocked to learn that though his hands were rough his touch was gentle. He lightly thumbed her cheek and goosebumps rose on her arms and neck.
“Audrey?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” His unseeing eyes gazed up at her for a long time before he finally whispered.
“You’re more beautiful than I thought.” Stunned, Audrey stared down at him as he closed his eyes again, letting out a low breath. Once again, he was passed out.
“He saw me?” Audrey looked down at the boy as they made their way to the hospital, too shocked to say anything. She idly played with his hair, hoping that it would help keep him calm. She was glad to learn his hair was as feathery soft as it looked. She twirled a couple strands around her finger and somehow felt comforted by the silky smoothness of his ashy bangs. The little voice that she had pushed aside started whispering to her again as she sat silently in the back of her friend's car. Why didn’t you just leave him? You could’ve just let him die and ran away with Brandon. The two of you would be free right now!
“Shut up! I know!” Maggie looked into the rearview mirror to see her friend sitting in the back shaking her head as if there were spiders in her hair.
“Audrey, are you ok?” Smokey hazel eyes looked up into the mirror and the two girls stared at each other for the briefest of seconds.
“I’m ok. Let’s just get him to the hospital.”
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