Hunted「Book One」

「Sixteen」

Izzy

My heart sunk in an instant.

As soon as that dreadful word left my mouth, I recognized the boy standing in front of me to be Austin - not Liam. Never in all the years that I knew them did I ever confuse them together and a pang of guilt hit me when I saw the look of horror spread across Austin's face. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt him but here I was, confusing him with his dead brother.

"Austin... I...."

I couldn't even finish my sentence. Tears slipped down my face in shame before Austin sat down on the bed and hugged me tightly. No words needed to be spoken to know he wasn't upset with me for the misconception, but it was obvious it bothered him to some extent. I only hoped he realized that a lot had to be going on for me to make a mistake as foolish as confusing him for Liam.

"Those nightmares you've been having... They're about Liam, aren't they?" he said slowly, almost hesitantly as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

I tried my hardest to keep it from him, but I didn't want to straight up lie to his face. After all, Liam wasn't just my boyfriend; he was Austin's brother. If anyone had the right to know about my nightmares, it was no doubt him.

"Yes," I said slowly, my voice cracking.

"What do you see? In your nightmares, I mean," Austin asked quickly. "Is it his death replaying, or-"

I shook my head and at that same moment, Alyssa who was also sleeping in the room mumbled in her sleep and turned over. As much as I trusted her, this wasn't something I wanted her - or anybody for that matter - to overhear.

"Let's talk somewhere else."

* * *

The rooftop turned out to be the perfect place to have this conversation and although the climb wasn't easy, it was worth it in the end. A small breeze drifted over us, not strong enough to make me shiver.

The moonlight shined down and the stars twinkled in the night. It was so mesmerizing that I nearly forgot why we were sitting there for a moment until Austin cleared his throat, cueing for me to start talking.

"Basically, in my dreams...," I started, trying to work up the nerve to say it, "Liam is there, but not there at the same time."

"Huh?" Austin asked, his brows raised in question. For once, I couldn't blame him. I hardly understood what I was saying either.

"I think it's the ghost of him... He blames me for his death saying that I could've prevented it all if I had only just listened to him..."

I felt a warm tear slip down my face and I quickly brushed it away, but not quickly enough. Austin saw my tears and hugged me tightly. I couldn't even pretend to be strong at that moment. I wasn't one to wallow in self-pity, yet I threw my arms around him and bawled my eyes out into his chest. At one point, I think I even heard him begin to cry but I said nothing knowing that it wouldn't do anything other than embarrass him.

"Iz... I hope you know that the Liam you see in your dreams isn't the real Liam - isn't our Liam. What happened isn't your fault and he would never blame you-"

"But it is my fault!" I cried, cutting off his next words. "He warned us before we even left that something bad might happen and I wrote off everything he said. If I had only just listened, then this never would've happened."

Austin remained silent for several moments, knowing what I said was true. I felt no joy in being right, though. If anything, I desperately wished that I wasn't to blame for Liam's death, but there was no way around it.