Find Her Keeper

Chapter Two

My chest burns as it tightens. My breath becomes shallow. 'Get out!' repeatedly screaming in my head.  I wake up and run to the bathroom to puke. Barely making it to the toilet. Once I know for sure I'm done puking; I wash my face. I stare at my reflection in the mirror staring back at me. My long, light brown hair is sticking up in every which way. My woodsy green eyes normally bright, but right now are dull with dark circles under them. My face pale. I look so......drained of life.
I sigh, then walk back into my bedroom and lay in bed. Staring at the clock, '4:48am' it reads.
I lay there and think about the event that happened earlier that night.

~

I feel myself start to get off balance, quickly placing a hand on a wall so I don't fall. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping it will help calm me down a bit. I start to focus on my breathing. Making deeper and longer breathes. "I'm okay....I'm okay......I'm okay." I repeat to myself. Slowly calming down and being able to breath properly. Once I'm calmed down enough, I lean my back against the wall. Opening my eyes and looking up at the sky. Deeply sighing. "I'm okay. Everything is okay."

I look around and notice that I'm outside in a back ally, behind the bar. I don't even remember leaving. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, if I freaked you out back there." I tense up, turning to see who owned the soft, yet deep raspy voice. A tall older man, later thirties/early forties, walked up to me cautiously. His hazel eyes are now soft and filled with worry. He seems familiar, but I don't know how. "H-how do you know that name?" I stutter out, wishing I had more confidence in my voice. "You look a bit more like your father; unlike your little sister who looked just like your mother." He stopped about seven feet away from me. "You knew my parents?" He nods. "I did. I knew you and Zelena, as well. Well when you were younger. Babysat you two a few times to let your parents to go on....date nights."

He holds himself in a military manner. But his dark brown hair that's cut into an undercut says otherwise. 'Retired?' A scar cuts through his right eyebrow. 'Maybe discharged cause of an injury?'

"You don't have to do that, you know? Analyse the situation. I'm not a threat. I promise. I just was shocked to see you after all these years." He holds his hands up in defense. "I'm sorry, but I need to go back to work." Without giving him a chance to answer, I run inside.

~

Staring at the clock until it hits 8:30 am. I sit up in bed and run my fingers through my matted hair. My attention gets caught by my photography camera. I debate whether I should get up and spend the day roaming around town taking pictures, or not.

Making up my mind, I get up and take a shower; then putting on some clothes. Grabbing my photography bag, filled with lens and other essentials I may need for my camera to take aesthetic, gorgeous pictures. While walking down stairs I fix the settings on my  camera, which hangs around my neck by a strap.

Once I find my bicycle; I ride around the older parts of Savannah where all the rich history is. Taking pictures of the roads, people, trees, statues, and horse carriages from odd angles.

In the middle of taking a picture, of a beautiful brown and white gypsy horse pulling a carriage filled with people and the river behind it, my stomach makes a loud growling noise. I check the time to see, "Six-thirty?! What the shit?" Getting over my shock, of how long I've been out riding around town; I find a pub to get some food. Sitting down at the bar on the far end, so I can see the rest of the room. A handsome bartender,  with pretty dark grey eyes that seem to glow, takes my order.

Right after my food is set in front of me, a guy sits right next to me. "So you like Supernatural?" I look down at my anti-possession pin on my book bag, which has multiple different pins. "Yeah. You?" I look up to be met by gorgeous crystal blue eyes. "Yeah, you could say that. Granted they get a few things wrong, but at least it does follow lore instead making up its own ways....So I saw you earlier taking pictures." "Stalker much?" He scoffs, "What? No. I just noticed because you stopped in the middle of the road to kneel down to take a picture. I thought you were going to get hit by a car." He raises a finger to let the bartender know he is ready to order. "I'm guessing you're a photographer?" "'You could say that.' You know there are plenty of seats you could sit in. Along with multiple places to eat.." He shrugs. "Well this pub has the best sandwiches and I noticed you. Wondering if I could see some of the work that almost got you hit by a car." I roll my eyes. "I did not almost get hit by a car." "Yes, you did. So can I see?" I deeply sigh. "Fine." I pull out my camera and let him scroll through my pictures. "These are really good." I nod. "Thanks. Still need to edit them." I take back my camera, setting it on the other side of me.

The blue-eyed boy orders his food. He eyes the bartender cautiously before talking about....well I don't know what.
I don't realize I've zoned out until I come back to reality when I notice I just ate my last bite of food. "Well this was fun, but I got to go." Sarcasm is a lot stronger in my voice than I wanted. I get up, setting money and tip on the table. "Oh okay. Well nice talking to you. See you later." "Doubt it." I mumble. I grab my stuff and leave, checking the time. Seven-twenty.

Walking to my bike I get a text from Taylor, from my Art History group, asking if everyone can meet up at her place. I text back 'on my way' then hop on my bike and head to her place. After a few minutes I'm knocking on the door to her dorm room. The door opens, a 5'6 girl with dark skin with bright makeup as always on the other side. "Hey, Tay. What's up with the meeting?" I walk inside to see Ethan and Kirasten already there, sitting on the couch. "Nothing really important. I was just thinking we are all going to be project patners for the rest of the year. We should hang out more. You know get to know each other better so our projects will be better. So since it's a Saturday, I was hoping that everyone could hang out tonight." She sounds so proud of herself to think this up. I look at the two on the couch and they both shrug. "Alright. Guessing Jessica and Autumn are on their way, while Jacob will be late like always." Ethan says nonchalantly. After two hours everyone is there, having fun. Then again alcohol is involved.

~
"Yes, sir, I've retrieved it." A young man with a dark hoodie says to someone on the other end of the phone. "I wasn't able to get here-........ She didn't-......it wasn't my-...." The man looks down at the unconscious body at his feet. "Yes, sir..... I'm on my way." He hangs up the phone, putting it his pocket. "You were a pain in the ass to take down, you know." He kicks the foot to make sure the young man on the ground is in fact unconscious. He deeply sighs before picking up the guy, who just killed a girl. Carrying him over to a car, then dropping him in the trunk. The hooded man shuts the trunk; he looks around to see if anyone is around. His blue eyes cautiously looking around. He quickly jumps in the driver seat, taking off. After twenty minutes of his departure, a slightly wasted homeless man stumbles across the young woman's dead body.
~

We all sit around the living room talking about annoying teachers, classmates, weird things we've had to eat while at college; while a Smallville marathon plays on tv as background noise.

Everything is going well until "Breaking New. Krysta Fosters, age of 25, was found dead by a homeless man under the Talmadge Memorial Bridge." plays on the tv. We all stop and stare at the screen. Autumn grabs her phone and starts texting. "I just saw her in class yesterday." Ethan says in disbelief. "I was just at River Street a few hours ago." I mumble. "So I text my friend, who is a journalist, and apparently her tongue is missing. And a weird symbol is carved into her stomach." Autumn says. Everyone goes quiet not knowing what to say. "Well, now she can't keep reminding the teachers of assignments and tests anymore." Jacob jokes. Taylor slaps his arm. "Ow! What? It's true. She was annoying." Taylor scolds him, "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead, Jacob." "Yes, ma'am." He says sarcastically.