Don't Leave Me

Chapter 9

"From now on, you will be seeing everything through my eyes." I say and touch my memory self's shoulder. "Are you ready?" 

Cade stares at me for a moment and takes a deep breath. "Do I have a choice?" 

"Of course you do." I say turning to him fully and touching his arm. "If you don't-"

"I'm ready." He says cutting me off and kisses my forehead. "Let's do this."

"Alright. Just relax and close your eyes." I say letting his arm go.

He does and I look back to myself. I touch her forehead and close my eyes. When I open my eyes the memory begins.

"What do you think happened to him?" I ask Nicholas as we carry him away from the pasture.

We both struggle under his weight, breathing heavy and wincing.

"Who knows Anna." He says and scrunches his nose. 

We get him to the trees and lean him up against one. 

"I'll go get the horses, just stay put." He says and walked back out into the pasture.

I sigh and sit against the tree across from the unconscious man. I stare and study him. I had never seen such a man like him before. He was very muscular, but thin, I'm guessing from the lack of food for a few days now. There was something wild about him even in his state. What had happened to him? Where had he come from? He stirred and I froze. I glanced out to the field and saw Nicholas just reaching one of the horses but the other one must have wondered further for it had vanished. When I looked back at the man, my blood ran cold. His eyes were open and he was staring right at me. His eyes were bright silver and he looked terrifying. I opened my mouth to say something or scream for Nicholas, but no sound came. He sat up, off the tree and let out a low growl which caused panic to rise into my throat. We both heard a horse and my brother's voice in the distance. His attention was grabbed and he turned towards the pasture. I slowly felt around with my hands to find anything I could use to defend myself if he attacked and found a rock. I grasped it tightly and put my hands back to my sides. This movement caused him to look at me. His eyes shown in the light and he pulled himself into a crouching position. He inhaled deeply and locked his eyes onto mine. To my complete shock, he jumped forward and I swung my arm, hitting him in the head with the rock. He landed on me, but didn't move. I pushed him off and saw a fresh gash on the side of his head. 

"Anna!" 

I looked up and saw Nicholas bringing the horses to a stop. He jumped down and rushed over to me. He cupped my face and looked me over.

"Are you okay?" He asked sounding worried.

I could only nod my head as I hugged him. After we let go, he turned his attention to the man.

"What happened?" He asked dragging him back to the tree.

"He...he woke up and ...growled...then jumped at me."

"He growled?" He asked looking confused. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said nodding my head.

He wiped his hands off onto his pants and looked at me but didn't say anything. About ten minutes later, my father came into view on his horse. I jumped up and ran to him as he jumped down off his horse. He was a tall man with dark brown hair and beard. He had hazel eyes and tan skin. 

"What do we have here?" He asked walking up. 

"We found him in the pasture." Nicholas said when he stopped in front of the man. "We didn't want to just leave him for the mountain lions."