Searching for James

Chapter 2

We walked through the dense forest. Well, I walked, he stumbled. He probably had never been in these kind of woods before. Probably a city boy. "Could you be quiet?" I whisper-yelled through clenched teeth. He was getting on my nerves. Why had I even let him come along? He was just something else I would have to worry about. He acted like he was "all that" and it annoyed me so much. With all of the stuff I had gone through, he probably couldn't have handled any of it. I didn't exactly cope with my problems, but I locked them away behind a door in my mind. It did make it harder, but I refused to think about any of it until now.

"James? What's happening?!" I asked frantically with a wild look in my eyes. I searched his for any sign of reassurance, but I saw nothing except fear painted across his pale face.

I was on the verge of tears. Something was happening to dad. He was shaking vigorously and was paler than any vampire in a movie. He was sweating buckets and both his eyes and fists were clenched shut as he was clearly in pain.

I was scared. Scratch that, I was downright terrified. I clenched my eyes shut tightly because I couldn't stand to see my dad like that. It was slowly breaking my heart into little pieces.

Tears slid down my face as I cried silently.

"Olivia," James whispered breathlessly.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of my name and my eyes went to him. He was kneeling next to dad and holding his hand. I rushed over to the other side of the bed and grabbed his wrist. His pulse was so faint. I knew he was dying and I had a feeling that James knew too.

I shook my fathers shoulder frantically. "Dad, please don't leave me!" I cried. "Please!" I started crying, hard. Mom had left us. Dad was all I had. He couldn't go too.

His eyes shot open. They were bloodshot and his skin was ghostly pale now. I gasped. "Dad?" He lunged at me in a blue. He opened his mouth and was about to bite me but before I could say or do anything, I heard a loud 'BANG!' followed by a heavy thud next to me.

"Olivia?" Bruce slightly shook my shoulder.

I blinked coming back to reality. I looked over at him and saw him giving me a confused look. I just looked away locking that horrible memory behind iron bars. I blinked back tears and forged ahead leaving him to follow after me.

Around 10:00 PM that night, he stopped. I looked back at him. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"We can't go all night. You know that," he replied.

I was furious that we had to stop so early. He was out there somewhere alive. What if stopping was the difference between life and death for him. I looked away. I stood up from my crouching position and cracked my stiff legs. "We sleep in the trees," I say as I start to climb up the nearest one.

I couldn't sleep. I was just staring straight ahead lost in my thoughts. This was all my fault. I could have stopped him, I could have gone with him, but I didn't. It was all me, I blame myself for everything. If he dies, I'll die of guilt with him.

My eyes watered and a tear slipped down my face. I swiped at it angrily, but this time, I couldn't hold back my emotions. Tears spilled down my face and before I knew it, I just couldn't stop them.

In the morning, Bruce woke me up. I guess I had fallen asleep in the early hours. I was still crying a little and my face was soaked with fresh tears. "Is everything okay?" he asked me softly.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" I snapped.

I glared at him and he hesitantly shook his head 'ok.' I climbed down the tree then, not bothering to dry my face until I got down to the ground.