You're Not Imagining

Chapter 10-

It was about 8:30pm and I heard Kai in his room playing on his computer. I knew I had to be smart with this because it would be weird for Kai to see me suddenly go out of the house alone after to being able to for two weeks. Luckily i'm majoring in being a crime scene investigator so I'm naturally smart.

"Kai I'm going to go head over to Jades" I called out.

I heard his game pause. "Do you want me to walk you over" he called out to me.

"I'll be fine, Jade is waiting for me".

I lied.

I felt bad but if he knew I even seen Nicholas he would be calling the police immediately.

He yelled out a goodbye to me and I left the dorm. This trip would have been a lot easier if I had a car, but I sadly didn't so I was forced to walk 30 minutes to the destination.

The walk felt shorter than it has been though and I finally made it to the path trailing down to a river.
I knew about this place because after big college events, teens would swarm to this area to get drunk and swim. When there weren't events though, the river was peaceful, only the sounds of frogs, trees and underbrush rustling, and moving water can be heard. As I passed by a couple trees the area finally opened up and there was a bench.

Sitting on that bench was Nicholas.

I'm pretty insane meeting up with a stalker in a secluded area right by a lake. Maybe after he was done murdering me he could dumb my body in the moving water to never be seen again. Whatever, I gave him an easy job.

I stayed quiet walking up to the bench and sitting down beside him. His knee was bouncing up and down and his gaze focused on the water. My gaze though stayed on the man.

We sat like this for a few minutes, he didn't acknowledge me.

I had enough though.

"Explain" I said quietly. His head turned and his gaze went from the water to me. His eyes met me and locked on.

He took a deep breath in.

And a breath out.

"When I was 13 I met this girl" he began, looking again at the water. "It sounds funny saying this but even 13 year old me knew she was the love of my life, and I loved everything about her. She had the most beautiful smile, the cutest laugh, and the most piercing eyes". He smiled after saying that and I could tell he was remembering good memories. Memories that made him happy.

"We started dating, and she fulfilled me. When we were 16, a year before the party, we went to a house party for her friends birthday. We got drunk that night, and-" he paused for a few seconds processing his thoughts. His voice got raspy as he continued on. "I was driving us back home after the party". He put his down to his knees covering the tears and shame littered on his red face.

"I went through a red light speeding, and crashed" he said slowly. There was silence in the air
after that as I soaked in what I was hearing. I could hear him trying to hold back sobs and he lifted his head back up to look at the river once again.

"There was so much blood and there was no saving her even if I tried. She was gone at impact and I knew it. I panicked and ended up leaving her and the car on the road. I couldn't take seeing her lifeless any longer, the thought ate away at me".

My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't even know how to process any of this. My face felt hot and my stomach felt sick.

I felt so bad.

"Soon there were posters and announcements around town looking for me since they had footage of me leaving the car scene. I couldn't handle turning myself in though. I was scared to have to talk about how I murdered the girl I loved, then how I left her on the side of the road. I was scared to admit to it all even though I came to terms that I'm a fucking horrible person who deserves to rot" he rambled on stumbling over his words.

"I didn't end up going home, instead I ran. I ran for the whole night, I ran so far. I left town and attempted to start over. I was homeless getting money from side jobs I would be fired from a month later and stayed in motels. I was barely passing by, that's when I ended up at the party."

He turned his attention from the river and looked at me.

"Then you came" he smiled weakly. "The party was meant as a way to get drunk and take my attention from the shit hole I was living in, but I found you. The dance we had together, the way you were smiling and laughing during it, everything about you reminded me of her. You are her to me".

My heart sunk.

I was her?

"So I saved you during that fire. I couldn't bare to see you getting hurt because I didn't want you to end up like she did". He paused, his eyes filled with grief and sadness as he looked back to the river.

"I left the bathroom after you passed out, scared you weren't going to wake up like she did, though a few days later I was recommended your profile on imstagram and found out you were safe. I found it funny you nicknamed me the 'mysterious man' who saved your life" he smiled at the thought of the post and memory of it soon came back to me as well.

I'm at the hospital for smoke inhalation after there was a fire at Jades house a few days ago. The doctors said I was lucky to have been in the bathroom and have put those towels underneath the door cracks. I can't take credit for doing that though. A mysterious guy ended up pulling me into the bathroom, and saving my life. All credit goes to him, I hope to see him again to thank him!

"I wanted to see you again but I was scared, though I did stay updated on you and what you were doing. I felt attached to you, like I had a purpose to protect you after all the things I fucked up on in the past. The rest is self explanatory, I ended up finding out what college you were going too based on your Instagram story and I was always there. I was always scared to approach you though, I was scared how you would react to seeing me. So I stayed quiet".

He stopped talking.

Tears fell from his face faster, and he started sobbing. He buried his face into his hands, and through his sobs I heard some words I didn't know how to process.

"I realized I was in love again, and I was scared of it".

Without thinking I wrapped my arms around the man allowing him to bury his face into my shoulder.

And we stayed like that for a while.

The cold wind brushed across our skin, and the rustling to the bushes and trees made background noise for the man's cries.

He was hurting, and I was there for him.