Hunt

Chapter 31: Walking Away and Waking Up

"W-why..?" A soft voice sobs behind me. "Why did it have to be you of all people..?"

I open my eyes, turning slow in the forest shrouded by mist, praying I wasn't about to see who I knew deep down I would. Even so, it's still like getting punched in the gut. Standing not thirty feet away is the familiar form of Reyna, her brown hair tied back, Green eyes glistening with tears. She was trembling.

"I..." I try to find the words to express what I'm feeling. Suddenly unable to put my thoughts to words as they get stuck in my tightening throat.

Reyna continues, breaking the tense silence, "It makes sense... All the signs were there. The personality, the scars..." she shakes her head quickly. "I just couldn't see past my own feelings..."

"R-Reyna..." I finally manage to say, my voice sounding much smaller in comparison to hers. I want to say so much more, but the words fail to come to me, my anger nowhere to be found at the moment. Just an empty sadness.

"I-I knew..." Her voice hitches, "...I knew that something like this could happen. But I was so sure it would be different... But it just had to be you of all people!" She cries.

Hearing her in this much distress split me straight down the middle. I wanted to rush to her, to comfort her and wipe the tears away. Like a good boyfriend would. But another part wanted draw my gun, to keep her at a distance. Like a hunter would keep its target.

"You... you threatened Julie's life, and mine." I say at a whisper, the only volume I can muster while trying to hold my composure. "It's been you all this time. That night you chased me home, stalked both Julie and myself inside my own home. All those threats... that was you..."

A grimace flashes across her face like I had just slapped her, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, "I-I was..." she stammers, "...I was only trying to protect you." she shakes her head, wiping the tears. "The others, they were on the warpath! I was crossing the street to intercept them and..." her sentence falls short, trailing off into the silence. "I didn't know you and that hunter were the same person..."

"And what? You thought that what you did tonight was the appropriate response to all this? In the playground tonight you saved my life but in the same breath tried to keep Julie from getting to safety!" I say with clenched fists, my voice growing louder, angrier. All my rage finally beginning to find me again. The thought of what would've happened should I had been even a minute later...

"Kyle! W-wait—!" she tries to defend herself.

"No!" I shout, cutting her off, "Because of tonight I had to explain everything to her! What I am, what you are!" I continue to shout, my voice seeming to shake the illusion of a forest. "You forced my hand in a way I never wanted it to go. It nearly got her killed out there."

"I-I... Kyle I'm so sorry..." Reyna eventually says, taking a small step towards me.

I backpedal. "I-I can't keep doing this. Not anymore. Not after tonight. I don't even know who you are anymore!"

Her eyes go wide. Hands trembling as she hesitates taking another step towards me. But eventually she slowly nods, dropping her gaze wordlessly.

I begin to back into the fog of the dream, the mist burning on by skin. "You monsters are all the same..." I mutter as she fades from view. As darkness envelops me something pulls at my heart, a familiar sadness I haven't felt in a very long time. Do I still hold feelings for her? Even after everything that's happened? Despite what she is? The dream fades fully away, a faint knocking sound growing louder and louder.

I wake up suddenly to a knock on my door, my head was pounding, and my heart racing. A similar feeling to all the other times I was pulled into her... Reyna's spell. Another jarring knock on my door clears the fuzziness in my head. This time accompanied by a question.