Finding My Wanted in the Unknown

Chapter 14

I woke feeling this loss in my heart. I sat up quickly and placed my hand over my heart, taking a deep breath.

“Eric?” I pushed his shoulder lightly and he answered me but didn’t open his eyes.

“I feel it too. I’m concentrating on it.” He grabbed my hand that wasn’t over my heart and squeezed it. He opened his mind to me fully and I gasped at his power. He was searching for Alem. He was retracing all of his steps. I could see him thinking it all through, going over everything we’d gone over and found out over the last few weeks and there was one thing that just kept coming back into focus.

The trees with the mural.

“Eric, that’s it.” I squeezed his hand and opened my eyes to look at him. Just then I felt a kick in my stomach, almost like the baby was telling me we were on the right track. Eric’s hands moved to my stomach and I smiled.

“I think the baby things so too,” Eric shared my smile and leaned in to kiss me. “I hope it’s a girl,” he whispered against my lips.

“I think it is. I feel different this time around. The baby isn’t as active or responsive. It’s like its got selective hearing and only responds when we talk about Alem.”

“Maybe they are slightly connected?”

“Maybe, hopefully. It’s nice to know when we are on the right track. The baby seems to point us in the right direction. Last time we were in the woods it moved around too.” I felt bad calling the baby it but I couldn’t think of anything else to call it.

“Okay, so get up and let’s go already. I feel really anxious all of a sudden, like something big is going to happen.”

I realized it was about four in the morning when Eric and I finally left the motel room. It was still dark outside and the only things awake besides Eric and I were nocturnal animals. I talked to Eric in my mind a while, asking him about the things he was thinking about earlier. I realized he’d been doing quite a bit of searching while I was depressed. There were quite a few things that I didn’t recognize and places I didn’t know he’d checked. As Eric and I left the paved sidewalk a car pulled around the corner behind us. The headlights were on, making us unable to see who was driving the car.

“Eric, who is that?”

“I’m not sure, stay right here.” Eric squeezed my hand quickly and started walking quickly towards the car. The driver must have noticed Eric’s approach because a second later it was in reverse, moving away from us very quickly.

“Strange. Maybe they were lost?”

“I don’t think so. It didn’t feel right. Let’s get moving.” Eric was back at my side with his hand in mine before I could blink.

The closer we got to the forest, the stronger the pull to it became. It felt like someone or something was calling to us and it was so hard to resist the urge. I tightened my grip on Eric’s hand when we were only a few feet away.

‘Is someone here?’ I asked him quietly in my mind. Something was off.

‘I don’t know. Stay here.’

‘No way in hell are you leaving me here alone. I’m pregnant.’ Jesus I sounded pathetic but I wasn’t staying here while he had all the fun.

‘Fine but you aren’t fighting if anyone is there, understand?’ I rolled my eyes but shook my head yes. He kissed me once and my foul mood suddenly got a little better.

I stayed right behind Eric as we approached the mural of trees. I could see a flicker of light; something that shouldn’t be there. I could hear Eric running through a million different scenarios in his mind on how to kill whoever was here. This was our spot, especially since the writing had appeared.