Chris Wood ~ Character Imagines + One Shots

the stranger who knows me - Jake Riley

Quit - Cashmere Cat

The yellow lights from the street lamps were flickering - like the ones do in horror movies when a ghost is about to make its appearance.

If I'd driven alone, such a situation would've been enough to spook the hell out of me, but I glanced over to the person seated next to me on the passenger seat, and exhaled in relief.

It was night-time, almost 9pm, with me and Jake stranded on a desolate highway in my car, an apt environment for any sort of paranormal activity to commence.

It wasn't like I was scared of darkness or being alone in general, but him just being here with me, calmed me down to a significant degree.

I sighed, thinking how big of an idiot I was for not checking the gas levels before being way too eager and offering Jake a ride back with me to Covington. If it wasn't for my absolute stupidity, we wouldn't have been stuck in here in the late hours of the night, in a confined space. Yet again.

I know, ironic.

Ever since the CDC had announced the outbreak of a nasty virus making rounds in the city, I was beyond terrified. As for one, the hospital where I'd come to for my monthly check-up, turned out to be the very place of origin for the spread of the virus.

All the healthy patients were stationed in different rooms - and I was lucky enough to be placed alongside quite a few friendly people and, Jake Riley.

At first, he didn't warm up to me at all. But as time went and the more conversations we started to have with each other, we found comfort in each other's company, growing too close to be apart in the face of probable death.

I saw him as a great friend, one who helped me be sane in the toughest of times, but I didn't realise until the day the virus was officially announced as eradicated, that I now looked at him in a much different light than before.

A gaze which screams more than friends.

It was hard for me to come in terms with my feelings, and I started questioning myself - was this because I'd been spending way too much time with him, and no one else? Was this an instance of those "proximity breeds attraction" things they taught us in psychology back in high school?

But whatever it was, it didn't lessen the way I felt about him. Whenever he would be close to me, or simply even breath in my direction, the butterflies in my stomach would go batshit crazy, with my heart beating at a dangerous rate.

He was beautiful, and when I say beautiful, I mean it in every way. Boys aren't usually pretty, but he was.

"Looks like we're stuck here for now."

I glanced back at Jake, who was reclining in the passenger seat. He had tried to look up gas stations nearby, but happened to have found none. I suggested that we get the car towed and catch a cab, but even the network coverage of this area was so shitty that we had no other viable option rather than waiting to hitch a random ride back home.

Thinking of ways to kill time while we wait, I hopped out of the car to take in the nightly breeze, which felt much better than the stuffy atmosphere of the car. Jake stepped out too, and now we both were resting our backs on the side of the car, standing next to each other and taking in our surroundings.

Across the bridge, we could see the city lights twinkling faraway. The view was mesmerising, something I hadn't caught glimpse of since a long time. The lights looked like a blanket of little crystals, shining brightly across a vast distance.

Neon lights lit half a billboard, with the street lights still flickering. I looked up at the sky, and found the beautiful moon glowing and illuminating the clouds floating around it.