HUNT, OR BE HUNTED

CHAPTER 34: THE ANGEL

I was falling into an endless pit. Falling, falling…falling into pitch black darkness. Why couldn’t this just end? Why couldn’t I stop falling?

Someone slapped me lightly across the face, waking me up. Fingers brushed against my cheek, ever so gently.

“Jared…Oh, thank God you’re okay,” she said, a hand on my arm.

“What…what happened?” I blinked, and rubbed my eyes.

“Seth. He…he tortured you. Oh, God,” she ran a finger across the gash at my torso. I winced in pain.

“What…what do you care?” I was still mad at her. But I knew there was no way I could hate her forever.

“I do care, Jared,” Kora said softly. “I really do.”

I got up, groaning. I heard a couple of cracks as my backbone shifted back into place. I could only remember Seth, that maniacal demon, whipping me across the back with some sort of lash, whipping so hard until my spine snapped.

And then I had probably lost control of the beast, torn this place apart, and then lost consciousness.

“I care for you, Jared. I really do. Ever since I’d met you-”

“You only met me barely a few months ago,” I said, coughing. I was sure I looked like hell.

“I…There is something I have to tell you, Jared,” she sounded unusually gentle. Was she about to confess something to me? Was there some secret she was hiding?

“And how would I even know if what you’re saying is true?” I avoided her eyes. I hated to talk to her in that way, but I couldn’t let her know that I had forgiven her.

“I swear, I’m telling you the truth,” Kora said. “But there is something I need you to do.”

“What?”

“I need you to remember. I need you to try and recall everything that has ever happened.”

“You know I can’t do that,” I snapped. “Are you out of your mind?”

“You can,” she was so certain, I almost believed her.

“Stop lying to me, Kora. Just tell me what you intend to do. I’ll let you win, okay? I just don’t want to get into some sort of stupid mess, being involved with you.”

“Jared-” she pleaded as I began to walk towards the exit. “Please, listen to me.”

“There is nothing that can make me believe you. I can’t let you get me into a mess like this anymore. I’ve had enough of this, you understand me?” I was limping badly, and every step was agonizing.

“No, please. Just…just listen to me for once.” Why did she sound so convincing? Why did she get to me every single time?

“Stop, okay? I’ve had enough of your nonsense. Just leave me-”

“I’m in love with you.”

Those words rooted me right at the spot. I could feel my heart racing. What did she just say to me?

“What?” I turned to look at her expression. If she was lying to me, she hid it well behind that mask of hers.

“I’m…I’m in love with you,” she said again after hesitating a moment.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I obviously did not believe a word. This girl had a way of luring people into her trap with those large innocent eyes.

“No, I swear I’m telling the truth,” she said, and held out a hand. “If you don’t believe me, take my hand, and close your eyes.”

“What, are you…are you serious right now?” It was as if she was playing some sort of game with me.

“I only want you to recall. That is all I ask of you.”

And so I took her hand, and closed my eyes. I focused. Focused on every memory that had been lost, trying to bring it back.

I tried so hard, I wondered if my brain had liquefied. But it worked. I didn’t remember every single thing, but I remembered her.

I remembered my first love, the love of my life. The girl I had left at the bridge, teary and heartbroken. The girl I had never stopped loving, the girl I wanted to forget about because it only hurt me more to think about her.

And when I opened my eyes, there she was in front of me, looking so angelic, and so beautiful.

The love of my life had been in front of me the whole time, and I had completely no idea.

“No,” I stumbled back, pressing a hand to my head. “It can’t be. It’s…it’s not possible.”

“You…remember,” Kora’s mouth was wide open, and her eyes were watery. Just looking at her made my head spin.

Was this even possible? How could I have completely forgotten about her? How could this be part of the memory I had lost?

“I…No, it can’t be. You’re getting into my head. You’re-” I shook my head fiercely. “You’re just trying to get to me, is that it?”

“Jared, please. None of this is a lie. I…I’ve never stopped loving you.”

I couldn’t trust her, I just couldn’t. It was impossible to forget your one true love. “No. I only met you. That day at the woods…that was the first time we met.”

Kora bit on her lip as she dug into her jeans pocket for her phone. She pulled it out, swiped the screen, and turned it so that it was facing me.

My heart sank so low, I thought I heard a thud as it hit the ground.

“That’s impossible,” I breathed when I saw the photograph. Kora was smiling ever so radiantly, and a guy had an arm wrapped around her in an embrace. They were both looking at the camera. I wasn’t startled by the picture alone.

I was startled at the fact that the guy was me.

Kora swiped left, and then again, and again. More pictures of the two of us, even one with the both of us kissing, appeared. How could I have forgotten this?

“No…” I gulped. “No, no…This can’t be real.”

“You can’t change reality, Jared. I’ve suffered, so bad, and returned for you, only to find out that you’d completely forgotten about me,” there was a pitiful look on her face. She was completely destroyed, and I was the cause of it.

“No,” I repeated. “No.”

“Jared-”

I was already striding away from her, away from the history between us that, to me, had never happened.

But I couldn’t change reality. I had to face the truth. Kora, the girl I loved, my angel, had been one of the pieces of my memory that had slipped away from my mind.

How would she ever forgive me?

How was I ever going to forgive myself?