Dear past, untangle me

12.

A D I T I

“We need to run.” A soft yet dominating voice reached my ears before I felt his warm hand curled around my wrist as he pulled me away from the situation I was stuck in. I was clueless about the situation. The only thing that occupied my memory was those cheap talks of those roosters and then everything—got blank.

I must've stepped into that state but how did I step out of that nightmare? How can I hear the yells coming from the mouth of those goons? And on top of that—who is this person? I was so clueless that I doubted everything happening around me—I somewhere believed that I was still stuck in the nightmare.

But even in the nightmare, I still followed the path of the stranger, the stranger who felt like a saviour from the romance movies. “Shh!” He pinned me to the trunk of the tree as he placed his palm on my mouth and covered my body with his. “Search for them, they must be somewhere near.” I hear them yell.

My heart racing, I stood frozen, my back against the trunk of the tree. It was uncomfortable and the situation wasn't really perfect for it but I was shamelessly looking at the man standing in front of me in a black helmet.

The stranger's palm was still over my mouth, his body pressed against mine, shielding me from the outside world. His hand smelled like leather and smoke mixed with strong spices. I tried to process what was happening, but my mind was a jumbled mess so I decided to drop that idea because It might not do good to me.

I slowly lift my hand, ready to lift the visor of the helmet when a strong hand stops me. Despite the black screen in front of us, I could feel his gaze on me—pricking my skin and clawing the warmth.

I froze, my hand hung in mid-air, as the stranger's grip on my wrist tightened. His fingers were like a vice, holding me in place—He leaned a little closer to me before removing his helmet from his head and hands in my hand. “You can use this to hit them if they approach.” He whispered.

I couldn't take my eyes off him, his face however was covered from his nose to his neck with a mask. Our eyes met for a second, before he leaned closer to me, eating the air between us that our front touches that only made me suck in a breath because never have I ever got so close to someone—a man minus last night.

My lungs fill with his cologne. “Do you think—” My voice was cut off when he placed his hand on my mouth again, cutting me off midway. “Shh, don't speak.” He whispered. His eyes focused on the goons while I shamelessly looked at him.

Now that I have got a closer look at him, I kinda find him familiar. “I think they ran in this direction,” One of the goons suggested and we found them rushing to the other direction.

I placed my hands on the stranger's chest, pushing him away from me as I dropped the helmet on the ground. “Who are you?” I asked him and he looked at the helmet before slowly shifting his gaze to me.