Chasing Catalina | Book One: Worshipping Ashes

16. | The Prey

 We moved with a persistence that only Ryker could portray. The way he moved low in a crouch as we rounded a corner and moved down the hallway- it was almost like he had changed while being down here. Which is insane, considering I thought he's been dead this whole time. He was dead... I remember the grave site. I remember the funeral we held for him... how everyone stayed so silent around me. I remembered the weeps that Erika sobbed.

It still didn't make any sense.

Apparently the inward thought lingered in my eyes as I came to a stop just behind Ryker. He pressed his back against the wall in the hallway.

"I know." Was all he said. Adjusting the sleeves of his shirt downwards some as he let his eyes linger around my face. Taking in, what I assume, was a long time not seeing me. Maybe he was seeing how much I've changed. Maybe he was seeing the stress lines around my eyes, how much my eyes have sunk inwards after not eating for however long I've been here. Perhaps he was remembering what life was like before this?

Maybe it was just me staring at him in that way.

"You know?" I echoed with a question mark hanging at the end of my echo. My brows furrowed downward.

"I know... what you're thinking." Ryker said in a raspy whisper. Looking down from me to his knees before turning to gaze down the hallway. Peeking around the corner as if he were being tracked. Which we probably were by now right? Wasn't this about the time that Jakub came into the office? Wasn't this his version of dinner time? Which was just a swig of whiskey and drowning my throat in the same fucking whiskey he drank. Nonetheless... I'll probably never drink whiskey again. I can thank my future sobriety to him.

"What am I thinking-" I asked with a soft shake of my head.

"That I'm still alive... and it's impossible because you remember-" He said so nonchalantly. As if it were a memory equivalent to that one time at a science fair when I didn't even get a ribbon for showing up... or that one time where I lost my favorite keychain. The only one that had my name on it and it was gone. This was so much more than just a lost keychain and losing a science fair award. I lost my family... my brother. I was stunned and more or less offended by his casual speaking about how I felt about his so-called death.

"Excuse you-" I paused with a squint in my green eyes, "but I wallowed in a pitiful sorrow for years after your death. I was a blubbering mess... so much that Erika of all people in the world had to make sure I didn't drink myself under." I said almost past a whisper. A tone was raised in my voice where it sounded angry at him. I was angry at him.

"I know." He said with a nod.

"And if I would've known you were here all these years. I probably would've come after you the day of your funeral instead of crying there in that fucking field of people." I said even angrier now.. But this time it was at myself.

"I know." He said again, his eyes were cold and deadly. Staring straight through me as if I were a ghost. I stared at them and looked for something familiar within them... but there was nothing. Just the faded green hues that once held so much life. So much hope.. All drained from this hellhole. He looked between both of my eyes and nodded once. Turning back towards the corner that he peered around and waved a hand at me to follow him.

I didn't want to keep going. I wanted to stay there and hash this shit out, but I relented. Pushing myself from the wall and following Ryker down the hallway before making our way to what looked like a solid stone door. Compared to the ER aesthetic of the rest of the hallway, this was entirely off base. My brows furrowed as I tilted my head to the left. Trying to make sense of what I was starting to convince myself of that this was just a fever dream.