WhiteScratch

Trouble Stirring

I smile wide as he brushes my bangs away from my face. 
"Can you stand? I could use a moment to sit down." He says as he chuckles. I do the same and reply, "Yes, you can. I think I've gotten most of my strength back." He nods his head and drops my hands as he goes to sit down across from Grayson. I turn around and rub my face as I scream internally. 
"I can't believe this is real! I can't believe how much I secretly wanted this!" I say to myself. Once I have gathered all my emotions up, I go to sit down with the boys. Nothing is said. Instead, Jake and Grayson seem to be having a stare down. Looking at each other intently with emotionless expressions. 
"Uhh, guys?" I say to break the tension that is clearly building up. Grayson is the first to break his gaze and looks at me.
"What?" 
"Nothing. Just, breaking the silence. Its a bit awkward." I say with a small laugh. Grayson laughs too and inches closer to me as Jake watches him. Again, feeling a little uncomfortable with his actions, I scoot over a little bit and ask him, "What are you doing?". He doesn't answer but continues to make his way over to me. I decide to try and relax, thinking he's only doing this because we haven't seen  each other in a while so I stay still but he doesn't stop until he is basically on top of me. He puts his hand on my face and looks into my eyes again.
"Um...yeah, what are you doing?" I say feeling absolutely unsafe. He caresses my face with his thumb a couple times before I feel Jake's hand gently grasp my arm and pull me over to him. This causes Grayson to fall over a little bit with a grunt. 
"Ever heard of boundaries?" Jake says, irritated. Relived to be back in Jake's arms, I let myself relax in his protection as I listen to their conversation. 
"No, please enlighten me." Grayson says sarcastically. 
"Oh shut up. We let you stay with us which means you follow our rules. Want me to lay them out for you?" 
"I think I can handle-" He starts to say but Jake cuts him off. 
"Rule number 1, back off. I don't what you want but you're gonna get hurt if you keep treating Rachel like that. Rule number 2, you stay in front of us the whole entire time you're here so I can keep an eye on you. Rule number 3, don't try anything and I mean it. Break any of these rules and you don't want to know what'll happen to you, got it?" 
"Aye aye Chief."  Grayson says in a snarky tone. I can feel Jake take a deep breathe and lay his head on mine as I think about what Jake just said. His voice, it was unlike anything I've heard from him. It was incredibly stern, authoritative, protective, filled with so much meaning. You could tell he was angry from his tone but it was more than anger. It was like, pure hatred. His voice interrupts my thoughts.
"Can I talk to you? Alone?"
"Yes of course." He gets up and pulls me up after him. We walk a few feet away from where Grayson is sitting before we stop to chat. 
"I don't like him. He is planning something, has something in mind. I mean, the way he is looking at you and the way he is trying to seduce you, it fills me with so much anger that I can't even describe it."
"I know. I hate it too. Like really really hate it. It makes me sooo-"
"Uncomfortable. I know, I can tell." He says this like he can read my mind. He continues, "Make sure to stay as close to me as possible, please. I don't want him to-" This time I cut him off saying, " I know. I will. It won't be hard." He smiles which causes me to as well. He nods his head and takes my hand as we walk back toward our campsite of a sort where we find Grayson laying on his back, looking into the sky. I hug Jake's arm and ask him, "What are you doing?". As soon as he hears my voice, he jolts up, looks at me, and answers, "Just looking into the sky. It kinda reminds me of your eyes. That soft hazel, yellow kind of color." He smiles and I look away as Jake sighs roughly.
"Yeah. Anyway, we should get going. We've already been here too long." Jake says. I agree with him as he picks up his bag and swings it over his shoulders. 
"Where are we going?" Grayson asks.
"Just walking. Looking for some sort of civilization." I reply. 
"That hasn't worked out well for you though." I freeze, remembering what happened last time we found a village. My grip on Jake's hand tightens as the flashbacks haunt me. The world around me starts to spin slightly as I barely hear Jake say, "How do you know that?"
"I've been following you this whole time, remember?"
"No! No! Even still, you shouldn't know that! How do you know that?!" Jake's voice rises.
"I just do. So are we going or not?" I fall to the ground as the images replay over and over again in my head, making the world seem to fly past me. I look at Grayson who has a smirk on his face and say, "Yes, we're going." He throws his hands up and says, "Okaaay. If you're sure." Jake whispers to me, "He knows something." and I nod my head in agreement. I try to stand up with Jake's help but I fall into him instead.
"We can't go now." Jake says in a worried tone. 
"No, we have to. We can't stay here forever Jake. I'm fine, just help me." I tell him. He reluctantly agrees and picks me up. He motions for Grayson to get in front and stay in front. He does but as he passes, he brushes his hand across my face. Jake gets mad and shouts at him,"Hey! Rule number 1 pal." 
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Grayson says annoyed. 
We walk for a couple of minutes before the world finally seems still enough for me to walk on my own so Jake drops me gently to the ground, taking my hand, and continuing to walk. No words are said until we happen upon something. It looks almost like a ginormous bubble but its different. Its completely black, stretching out for who knows how far but there is something else to it. 
"A big black wall. Hm.." Grayson says suspiciously like he knows where we are and what this is.
"Shh." I tell him, listening intently. Jake whispers to me, "What?"
"Listen." We all fall deathly quiet. "Do you hear that?" I ask them. A moment passes before Jake replies, "Wait yes! It sounds like...whispering."
"Yes, very faint." 
"It sounds like its coming from the wall." Grayson says with a smile as he looks at me suspiciously. Jake notices this and pulls me behind him. I hug his arm tightly. 
"We need to go in there." I say hesitantly. 
"What?! Rachel, are you crazy? We are not going in there." 
"No no, she's right there buddy." Grayson says, still smiling. 
"You'd better wipe that smile off your face before I hit you." Jake says, irritated. 
"Jake...we need to." I say as I look at him sincerely. He sighs. 
"I know we do but I can't afford you getting hurt again." 
"I have you. I'm as protected as I can get." He laughs and says,"I haven't been doing a great job at protecting you lately."
"Jake, I trust you. I'm safe with you. I know you won't let anything happen to me." He looks down and says, "Fine. Lets go." I nod and turn to look straight ahead but then I see something that twists my insides. Before Grayson turns to look straight ahead as well, I see his face revealing the most sinister look I'd ever seen.