A Twist in Fate

Chasing After a Memory

The door crept open ever so slightly as a foot shoved it ever so gently. It seemed like the persons hands were occupied with some sort of tray. A guy enters the room, he had dark brown hair with soft waves and honey colored eyes. I wonder if he's American.

The tray he carries is filled with food. An omelet with mixed veggies and ham, bacon on the side and freshly toasted bed smothered in butter. Yum. My stomach rumbles louder and louder as the aroma fills the room.

"You up?"

His voice was raspy but gentle.

"..." I stay silent.

He smiles as I turn away. I feel like he knows that I'm feeling a bit anxious, so rather than forcing me to talk he speaks to me calmly.

"Here. I made this for you." He lays the tray on top of the bed and walks away.

Who was he? I stare at the food that sat beside me and without hesitation I began to eat. To be honest I was actually stuffing myself rather then actually chewing. I began to choke on my food and gulped down the bright orange drink that sat there at the night stand. No pulp, just smooth juice, it must have been fresh because the taste was incomparable to anything else I've tried.

Why would he do this? He doesn't even know me.

The door opens once again. This time he brought a chair and sat next to me.

"I'm Zackery." he pauses. "Its nice to meet you..."  he waits for a response that won't come.

"I found you passed out in the forest. What happened, if I may ask?"

The moment of being kidnapped replayed through my mind. "Ugh" I let out. "I- was just" I sigh again.

"If you don't wanna talk about it that's fine" he seemed dejected so I decided to let the cat out of the bag. 

"I was kidnapped; but I managed to escape"

"Wait what?"

"Two men, Caleb and Ryan, they were using a white van. There's evidence of it happening, I'm sure of it, since one of them burned one of the trees to a crisp and they brought the van deep inside so there should be tire marks. I need to go after them."

"Woah woah, you can't go out, at least not in the condition your in and why would you even go after them? Call the police!"

"I'm fine all I need is a nice nap and I'll be good for the next twenty four hours, plus I don't think the police should be the ones to handle this." He gestures to the tray of warm food. "At the very least finish your food first." "I can take care of myself." I say that as I stuff myself with bread. There were crumbs everywhere and since Zachary can't bring himself to stop staring, I awkwardly changed the way I ate. Eating slowly and gracefully. I don't think he was judging me but I can't help but think he was. Anxiety sucks.

"Should I bring more food?" I nod hesitantly. He gets up, smiles and rushes out of the room.

Cleaning myself up a bit i straighten up towards the back board of the bed. My clothes look absolutely disgusting.

"Great the one time i meet a guy in a fateful fairytale like meeting and I look gross."

I heard a chuckle from outside the room and Zackery enters. I pull up the covers hiding my flushed face, maybe he'll think I'm cold? Highly doubtful. It's summer after all. 

"So what were you saying about a guy?" he teases.

My embarrassment is quite obvious. Laughing, he says "Are you sure you'll be able to handle those guys?"

"Hey, just because I feel that doesn't make me weak!" I spat.

"Sorry sorry, so those men have you ever meet them before?"

"Never. That's what confuses me." I confess.

"Hm..." He enters deep in thought.  "Where did you say they kidnapped you?"

"In front of one of the entrances of Braighten Forest near my house. The north entrance to be exact."

"Ok, so when you recover we should go back. I found you half way through the east entrance so the campsite couldn't have been that far from the north and east campsites. There's only three campsites and areas that can give easy access to a van."

"You seem  to know quite a bit." I say.

"I'm a park ranger; or at least my dad is." He seemed off after mentioning his dad.

"That's pretty cool! Where is your dad?"

"He- disappeared... I don't know where he is."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to.." he cuts me off.

"It's okay i have Mr. Lutwig taking care of me at least." He pauses. "It's fine, really."

"Okay. So let's go!"

"Woah! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the forest." I sit against the edge of the bed.

"We need to prepare first."

"Prepared. We... What? You will only show me the way to the campsite. You're not coming" I assure.

"I'm coming. Like it or not I'm helping. My life isn't all that interesting anyways." He shrugs. "How does this sound? Teenage Ranger takes out bad guys. Sounds good doesn't it?"

"Fantastic." 

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm."

"Whatever. Can we leave?" There's no doubting my eagerness.

"Let me prepare first!" He dashes out of the room with no hesitation.

Great, now my life depends on a guy I just met. Will things turn out okay?