Harrison Woods is a 17-year-old girl attending Arbor Coast High, a boarding school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her dark past including her rocky relationship with her parents and her esteemed older brother's suicide are the reasons she landed herself at...
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Otto was around 50 steps ahead of me at all times, leading the way down the mountain. We mostly followed the trail, but occasionally he would take a leap off of a rocky edge or a shortcut through a crowd of bushes in order to get down faster. Needless to say, I was terrified. There were drops of blood every so often that left stains on the rocks, and I couldn't believe that what was happening right now was actually real. Unfortunately, it was all too real.
Jason talking about Otto's book was stuck in my head, echoing on an endless loop. He didn't say much about what was in the book besides the numerical pattern I had caught onto a while ago, but I needed to know more. Why did he assign all of his girlfriends a number? Why did he keep a secret book that apparently had something to do with those numbers? And where had he been hiding it?
When I got out of my head, I noticed that the parking lot was right in front of me, and Otto was already there, holding Jason and waiting for me beside his car. So he wasn't planning on running away. I ran down the final stretch of the mountain and made my way to where Otto was standing, panting as I tried to catch my breath. Running down a mountain? Definitely not my workout of choice. "Where are Jason's keys?" I asked.
Otto lifted his hand up to turn over the keys to me and my heart raced as I noticed the shakiness of his hand and the blood covering it. I shook myself out of my daze and quickly unlocked the car so that he could lay Jason in the back seat. Jason held Otto's jacket in place, keeping pressure on the wound. His eyes were squinted shut and he was fighting to breathe indrawn breaths constantly escaping his mouth. Otto shut the door to the car, and as I was about to open the driver's side to get in, he stopped me, his hand landing on my wrist. Chills ran down my arm at his mere touch and he must have noticed because he swiftly let go of his grasp on me.
"Sorry, sorry... Just wait," Otto said.
"We have to get him to the hospital now. We can't wait."
"I just need you to promise me one thing," Otto said. "Promise that you won't turn me in? I know... I know what just happened is bad, but I didn't know what was happening. He wouldn't let me wake up, he kept me away. Please just promise that you won't turn me in. I can't lose you like that... I can't lose Jason like that."
I kept my gaze on him, noticing the frown he wore. He was pleading with me because he was afraid that I would turn him into the police, and he didn't want to lose me? What kind of a sick game was this, and why was I left in charge to make such life-altering decisions? Why was I being forced to decide whether or not Otto was to be trusted, whether or not I could continue to love him?
I remained calm as I reached out to pull Otto's face up gently, forcing him to look at me. My fingertips grazed his chin before moving to his cheek, wiping away a tear that fell from his right eye. "I won't turn you in," I said. "I promise, Otto. I promise." He gave me a weak smile and moved to get in the passenger's side of the car. I got in, keeping my hand steady as I inserted the key into the ignition, starting the car and immediately driving away.
