A Bullet is the Key.

Chapter 9

Ryder's point of view

I watched her as she slept; her hair sprawled out across the pillow in silken brown waves. Her hair was so soft and I loved the feel of it between my fingers. My eyes continued to gaze at her and assess how beautiful she had become. She has always been pretty but now she was wow, a natural beauty, from her eyebrows to her nose with a little crook at the tip and down to her pink plumped lips that tasted like honey. Running my finger across her forehead I moved a wayward strand and pushed it behind her ear. Her silent breathing, was the only sound and sign of her still living. She hadn't moved once from the moment I caught her when she fell, her body became weightless in my arms. She looked as if she had seen a ghost, someone who wasn't supposed to be here anymore. I exhaled slowly as I sat beside her. My mind began to wonder about the possibilities of what could have transpired her to faint and look so frightened. The ping of her phone kept sounding from somewhere when I casually tossed it when I got her tucked in bed.
She said Richard before she fainted, her face lost all its color and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. I have yet to understand how I had moved so fast to catch her before she hit the ground. If I had waited a second more to reach for her, she would have crumpled to the ground and smacked her head against the hardwood floor.
She stirred next to me but no other signs of live could be seen, I hadn't moved from my spot in fear of coming back and her heart no longer be beating. When I had awoken that morning I was terrified to see her gone, oh how bad my thoughts had went while dragging my self esteem further down with it. Negative thoughts swam in my head and I was afraid to even move in case you could hear my heart break and bounce across the floor. As I had moved to get up I felt the crumple of paper on my chest to see a note written by Bell sitting there for me to see once I had awoken. When I read her words I assumed the worst as well since said to meet a friend and was not stating a specific person she was meeting. Could it have been Bobby? Was there someone else she hadn't mentioned whom she liked? All these thoughts went through my head in that span of an hour and half she had been gone. Horror struck when I heard the slamming of the front door and silent sobs, sobs I do not think she knew were even leaving her lips.
The fright on her face told me all I needed to know. That it wasn't someone she knew who she had gone to seen but someone else, I remember seeing the unknown numbers on her phone as she checked her phone thinking I wasn't paying attention. But I was paying attention; because I always pay attention to her.
She now lay where I put her five hours ago, there were no major movements from her body, silence. I had gone down and made me some instant noodles afraid to be away from her for so long, making a sandwich also just in case she woke up. Remembering she didn't eat this morning and was most likely starving, I hoped that would wake her up- but it didn't.
Darkness soon took over the sky and threw us into the darkness surrounded by the light of the moon and the guidance of the stars. She was still curled up, once I had her in my room I stripped her down to her undergarments and placed her in one of my old shirts before tucking her in. the sheets covered her to her chin. Looking at her one last time I made my way to the bathroom to shower, turning it on I let it warm to the temperature that I wanted. Stripping down to nothing I climbed into the shower and let the hot water run down my body and relieve the tension in my muscles. Rolling my shoulders under the stream my muscles cracked and relaxed with a sigh leaving my lips. The water droplets beat down on me and sent warm shivers down my spine. With the water covering me I did my normal shower routine and ran my hands through my hair spraying the water around me. I had just slipped my hands through my hair when I heard a blood curling scream echo around me. My blood ran cold. Not bothering to turn the water off I jumped from the shower and wrapped a towel around me before dashing to my room in a hurry afraid at what I would find. Heavy breaths I gazed at the girl before me. Tears streaming down her face, red puffy eyes and a look of terror etched onto her face. She didn't speak any words only lifted her arms out to me, her eyes locked with mine and she looked vulnerable. Terrors, pain, fear reflected in her eyes the once innocent hazel eyes were glazed over and guarded.