Touched by light

Chapter 1

"Echoes from the deep, haunts as the chilling memories, of what could have been"

Scared wasn't the word, when I heard a branch crack only a few meters behind me. It was november last year, and I remember it, as it was yesterday. I was out running in the woods, to clear my head for the final exam in college.

I felt a strong grib on my arms, and i was thrown down in the mud. I couldn't see his face, but his voice was rattling, and dark. "Scream and I'll kill ya!" I felt his hands starting to rip off my shirt, and licking my neck. I felt a hairy chin. I began to cry hysterically, wondering if I should scream for help. But again, no one could hear me so deep in the woods. He punched my face several times until he ripped off my pants. I was getting dizzy, I felt pain, fear, and anger. I feared, that my life would soon be at an end. Blood had filled my mouth, after he had punched me. How could someone be this cruel to someone. After maybe minutes, that felt like years, something happened. Something that would change me forever, I just didn't know at the time. Someone had kicked the attacker off of me. "Leave her alone!" I heard a warm voice yell. I couldn't see much, but I could see enough to know, that it was a dark haired man. After awhile everything felt calm, my attacker had ran away, and my savior came to me. He lifted me up, after he had put his jacket around me. "I'll get you to the nearest hospital, don't worry." He carried me to a truck, and put me in it. And then we were driving, until it all went dark.

"It's okay Mel, David is in prison now. He can't touch you anymore." I cried, as I had told my psychiatrist about it. She had always been a friend of my family, and she has been the best help since the attack. With her help, I actually finished college with straight A's.
"It's just hard to talk about." I sniffed. "And I didn't even got to thank the man, who saved me."
"If it's meant to happen, it will happen. Until then Mel, you have to focus on getting better, and that's why you're here." She gave me a napkin to dry my tears off my face. "Time is up for this week Mel, call me if you need me, always remember that, and tell your mom, that I said hi."
"Thanks Alicia, I will." She hugged me, and followed me out to my sister's car.
"How did it go today sis?" Dhalya hugged me as she asked me.
"Well, I told her about the attack today, so I guess I made progress."
"God Im so proud of you sis. Ice cream and disney marathon tonight? It's friday, and mom and pops are at uncle's house."
"You're the best lil' sis someone could ever wish for."

The car ride home went by in silence. We just sat there and smiled.
"Sooooo, I got you something." Dhalya smiled sheepishly at me.
"What did you do now D?"
"Only got you the newest Iphone on the market." She laughed at my shocked face. "You dropped your last phone in the toilet."
"Riiiiight." Both of us bursted out laughing. "Clumsy me."
We watched Pocahontas, Hercules, and then Snow White, until we fell asleep. For the first time since the night of the attack, I didn't have a nightmare. I had a peaceful sleep.

The next morning I woke up, to the smell of eggs and bacon. To my surprise, my sister actually made breakfast. Since when did she make breakfast. 
"Well goodmorning sleepyhead, I'm making you eggs and bacon." She gave me a mischievous look. "Today we are looking for your knight in shining amor."
"Goodmorning, and no, we are not looking for a stranger." I grabbed some bacon. "For starters, I don't even remember a name, or how he looked, and second. He probably doesn't want to see me."
"One, we'll find a way, and two, maybe he's scared."  she nudged me and smiled. "And maybe he is thinking about to right now."
"You are crazy!" I grabbed a plate, took some eggs and bacon, and began to eat. "Where should we even start to look for him?"
"The hospital, duuh." she put her hands on mine. "He brought you in, maybe one of the nurses can help." 
"Well, what are we waiting for, lets go." 
After breakfast, we hurried to the car, and began to drive to the hospital. The car ride was quiet as usual.

"Nurse Collins, do you have time to talk?" my sister asked her politely, and with a very innocent smile.
"Sure Dhalya, and hey Mel, how are you feeling?" We went to an empty office. "I'm better, thank you."
"So Collins, we are actually here, to ask if you can help us finding the man, that saved Mel. Maybe the surveillance can show, how he looked?"
"The luck is in your favor girls, because I remember him pretty good. Tall, very muscular, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and he had this tattoo on his neck, a dreamcatcher, he was tanned, like he had been on a vacation. hang on, let me call Stu, our security man."
After a short while, she had returned, but with only with bad news.
"I'm sory girls, but Stu said, that we've had problems with our recordings lately." I felt sick to my stomach, I had hope, that I would be able to meet my savior.
"Its okay, do you know anything else?" Dhalya had her arms around me.
"Maybe, I think I head him talk about the forest, that he has a cabin deep in the forest."
"thanks Collins" we gave her a hug, and went to the car. A tear went down my chin. I really wanted to meet him, but I can't go back to the forest. Never again. 
"I think I'm gonna walk home sis, no offense, but I need to be alone right now." Dhalya looked at me, worried, but understanding.
"It's okay Mel, call me if you need anything." I nodded, and started to walk. And after maybe 10 minutes, it started to rain. The smell of rain were a bit refreshing. On my way home, I had to walk past the edge of the forest. Even that, made me feel anxious. In my range of vision, I spotted lights from a truck. It got me nervous. I tried to look away from it, in case it was some old creep. Instead, it was a man, who probably only was a few years older than me. 
"Hey, why are you out here alone?" I heard this crispy warm voice, it reminded me of something, but I couldn't remember what.
"Just tryin' to get home, ya know."
"Let me help you out, it can be dangerous out here, so close to the forest."
"Yeah I know, but I can get home by myself."
"Come on, get in the truck."
"No thank you, and I don't even know you."
"Oh, but I think we've met before." I looked up, and to my surprise, I saw a man, muscular, dark brown hair, brown eyes. 
"Who are you?" my voice were shaking at this point. I couldn't even get away, if needed be.
"I believe I'm the one, who saved you last year. Call me Justin." he stepped out of his truck, and gave me his jacket. "Come on, get in the truck." I got in his truck, and so did he.
"So where can I drop you off?" he asked me calmly.
"I really don't wanna go home right now, my sister treats me, like im fragile, like a piece of paper." I looked down at my knees, and realized, that I was soaking. Tears filled my eyes.
"Would you mind staying at my place tonight, so we can talk? You look like you need it."
"Yeah, but I really don't want to intrude on your privacy."
"It's okay, at least I'll have some company for once." He smiled, and turned on the heat in his truck.
"I guess, I'll call my sis, to let he know." I looked at my phone. "Shit!"
"What?" 
"My phone is busted, from all the rain."
"Hey, use my phone."
"Thank you." He handed me his phone, and I started to dial my sisters number.
"Who is this?" My sisters voice souded.
"Uhm hey D, uhm, my phone is kinda busted. So you'll never guess what happened."
"Damn Mel. So who own this phone?" she chuckled on the other end.
"Justins. Uhm, so you know we tried to look for the man, who saved me?"
"Uhm, yeah, duuh."
"Well his name is Justin. I'm staying at his place for the night, just to talk."
"OH MY GOD!!!!" 
"Geeee, chill D, I just called to let you now, I'll be home tomorrow or something."
"I want details Mel, ALL of them." I hung up, and turned my attention to his neck, and saw the dreamcatcher. It remindedme of one I saw, when I was a kid. It looked like, it was flowig in the wind. So peaceful.
"Sorry, that we have to drive through the forrest. I'm sure its hard for you."
"Its fine."
For the rest of the car ride through the forest, were filled with silence. He was focused on driving safely, and I didn't know what to say. I wanted to talk, but the words were stuck in my throat. I couldn't even look him in the eyes. I felt so weak, so disgusting. What happened last year, will forever haunt me. And this forest reminded me of it. It was raining, and it was dark, just like last year, at that night. 

After a while, Justin stopped the truck. We were in front of a wooden cabin. 
"Lets get inside." I nodded, and we walked inside. 
"I'm Melinda by the way, but everyone calls me Mel." I stuttered a lot, and my cheeks were turning more red.
"Beautiful name." He smiled gently. "Hit the couch, while I find something to eat in the kitchen. Do you drink coffee?"
"Yeah, black coffee, no cream, no sugar."
"Sure thing, comin' right up." He chuckled. So when he went to the kitchen, I laid down on his couch, waiting for something to eat, and coffee. Coffee is gods gift to mankind.
"I hope you like cold pizza. I wasn't expecting company." He looked a little embarrassed.
"It's perfect, don't worry." I took a bite, and it was perfect. "First of all, thank you for saving me that night."
"No problem Mel."
"But why did you vanish? My sister told me, that o one one was at the hospital with me, when she got there."
"I'm really sorry about that, truly. I actually went to the sherifs office, and told him what happened."
"Really?" My heart skipped a beat, when he said that. "So you are the reason, why David's in prison now."
"Yeah, I guess." He looked at me. "Look, I didn't mean to just vanish, but I didn't kow what to say, or do."
"I just wanted to thank you back then, I was devastated, that you weren't there. I needed to see you, to thank you, and just meeting you."
"I'm really sorry, if I could change it, I would have been there, every second of the day." He let out a sigh, and he let out a tear. "I'm so sorry." I put the piece of pizza back on the plate, and put it on the nearby table.
"Justin." I whispered, andslowly put my hands in his. "Look at me." His tearfilled eyes looked at me, with more regret than I had ever seen. I suddenly felt the urge of hugging him, and I put my arms around him.
"How can someone, hurt someone so gentle as you. I don't get it." 
"Because sometimes, the world is a cruel place." After maybe a minute, the hug broke up, and we looked each other in the eyes, and smiled. Somehow my gut, told me to feel okay, with being here. A tear fell down my cheeks, and he wiped it away.
"I'm here, from now on. And when you're with me, you'll forever be protected." his words started to melt my soul. I let out a little smile. 
"I don't know what to say, wow, thanks Justin, it means a lot to me." He quickly got up, and found a blanket.
"Here, you must be freezing." He looked a little nervous.
"Justin, are you okay?" 
"Yeah, yeah, it's just." He sighed. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but I wanted to kiss you, but you don't know me yet." I giggled, and grabbed him by his shirt, and kissed him gently. It felt like fireworks. Under the kiss, I could feel him smile. 
"Mel, you are something special." He whispered under our kiss. The kiss broke, and we giggled. "You have the most amazing blue eyes, you know that right."
"What about your brown eyes?"
"Oh them, they aren't that special."
"Let me fetch a t-shirt for you to sleep in." 
I couldn't hold it in anymore. I grabbed him, and kissed him more passionately. And he responded the way, I hoped for. He kissed me back, and before we both knew it, we were in his bedroom.
"We should slow down." he whispered. "Not that I don't want to, I really want to, but for your sake, we should know each other better." 
"You're right." I smiled, and we laid on his bed. I snuggled in his arms, where I felt a little more safe. "I really want to know you better."
"Yeah, me too." He kissed my forehead. "Goodnight beautiful, sweet dreams." 
"Goodnight Justin." 
I fell asleep in his arms, safe and sound. No feeling of anxiety. Only the feeling of being safe.