Along For the Ride

Chapter Three

We walked for hours on end, not taking any breaks. Although we were walking through fields and crops and woods, stranger man up ahead seemed to know exactly where he was going, and I was just blindly following. Neither one of us said a word, we just walked soundlessly, the rain dripping from our hair.

He stopped suddenly and I almost ran into his back. We were on top of a tall hill (felt like a mountain when we were going up it), and he was staring into the distance. The sun was just starting to come up, sending rays of light through the gray storm clouds, and over the crop fields of Iowa. Even the rain was beginning to stop. It looked like it would be a good omen, but I'd never been more emotionally freaked out in my entire life.

"There," His voice almost scared me. We'd been walking all night without a word. "That's where we're going,"

I stepped up to the top of the hill so I could see where he was pointing to.

Okay, so let's recap. In the past six hours, I'd been kidnapped by a stranger with pretty eyes, I was thrown off of the third story balcony, watched my apartment blow up, and hiked across the entire fucking state.

I was hoping for some kind of mansion with warm beds, or spa for my aching feet, or big pretty estate with a hedge maze full of exotic flowers. I was looking at none of those things.

"A barn?" I asked. "You dragged me across the country to go to a barn that's supposed to keep me safe?" I didn't even bother to ask what I was being protected from.

"Kinda," He said, and, he took off down the hill. I followed, of course. Like a puppy.

We approached the "kinda" barn, and he unlocked it with a key he fished from his pocket, although it looked like the doors were about to fall off anyways.

He opened it, just enough for me to slip through, and he came in after me and shut the door quickly behind us.

"Great. So now we're in a dark barn, soaking wet, and have no food. And it smells like hay,"

"Wow," He said, sarcastically. I heard him walking away from me, and I'm a little scared of the dark, plus I was so freaked out already, so I followed the sound of his steps.

"What?" I asked.

Suddenly, a light came on overhead and I could see him looking at me. "I'm just glad I've never had to deal with someone as bitchy as you are,"

"Well, what do you expect? A nice hug and a kiss on the cheek? You fucking kidnapped me!" My voice started to raise. Who the hell was he calling bitchy? I'm not bitchy.

Maybe a little.

Stranger boy walked over to the corner of the barn, and pulled another key out of his pocket, and stuck it in a key hole on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. I heard a click, and then stranger boy was climbing down into the floor.

"Are you coming?"

"Why would I climb into a hole in the ground in a barn with someone that I don't even know the name of?"

"Well, you can sleep up here if you want to. Actually, that'd be extremely preferable, if you ask me. But, I have to warn you, there are a lot of spiders,"

"Spiders?"

"Mmhmm. And the moths will probably try to eat your clothes,"

"Moths?" I chewed on my lip, trying to make a decision. I got up and walked over to the door and descended down the ladder.

When I reached the bottom, it was soft. Carpet. The door shut above me, and the lights came on. I swear I'd never been more amazed in my life. A modern looking room, with two couches, and a TV. You would have thought it was a regular house.