The Black and the White Rose

Chapter Two

The wind feels so good on my face as I run-the sweet smell of the Autumn leaves and the air surrounds me. Damien and I are running through the fields behind the High School, which we have left. We're almost to the woods. Why are we going to the woods, though? I still don't know where Damien is taking me, but I'm not sure I want to know yet. I'm still a little nervous, too, considering what I saw...or didn't see.

As we come to the edge of the school's property, where the woods touch the fields, we stop running and just walk. Damien is still holding my hand as he leads me into the woods.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask finally.
"It's a secret," he says smiling at me.
"Well why are you taking me to this...secret place?"
He looks back at me with gentle eyes. "I want to show you something. Don't worry. It'll be worth it."
"Promise?"
"Promise," he says with kind eyes. I laugh and continue to follow behind him, avoiding the branches that have fallen from the trees. The ground feels soft from the rain yesterday-the wet soil gives off a fresh scent.

After a few minutes, we come to a point and see a big rock, and Damien gestures for me to sit down.
"We're taking a break. You seem tired," he says, and lets go of my hand gently. He sits next to me on the rock and pulls out a small bag from underneath it. I'm confused as to how he knew there was bag there. Although, he could've easily put it there. I give him a slightly confused look.
"Oh, right. This is just a bag of food, water, and a first aid kit for when I come out here," he explains, then he pulls a water bottle out of the bag. "Are you thirsty?"
"Oh no, I'm fine. Thank you," I reply with a smile.
"Please, I insist. Take it." I take the bottle nicely and thank him. He nods and pulls out another bottle. He screws the cap off and drinks some water. He takes out an energy bar and eats a bite, then he drinks some more water, and just repeats.

I stand up and walk around a little, looking at the trees that surround us. Then I look at Damien and narrow my eyes.
"Damien, I've never been out here before, but you said you have. And you're acting like you come out here often...like you know this place by heart...I thought you just moved here..."
He swallows his water, and looks at the ground with a guilty expression. I think I may have caught him in a lie.
"I didn't just move here...I moved back...I was born here. I lived here until last year, when I moved away. Then I moved back..." he says, and looks up at me, squinting because of the sun.
"Then why haven't I seen you at all? I didn't know you lived here, and I know everybody..."
He looks back at the ground again. "I live in that big mansion in the back of town-nobody goes back there often-and my family likes to be away from everything, where it's quiet and secluded...I was even born in that house."
"That still doesn't explain why I've never seen you at school for all of these years," I say in a stern voice.
"I was homeschooled...I didn't want to go to school with other kids and teachers because..." he stops suddenly.
"Because...?"
He looks up at me, again, with gentle eyes. In a way, he looks a little scared. "I'm not like other people. They wouldn't understand me. I'm too different," he continues as he puts all of the food and water back into the bag, and puts the bag on his back.
"What do you mean you're different?" I ask. I'm curious about what he's been hiding and why he's afraid to tell anybody.
He's being silent again. What's up with him? He looks at me sadly, then stands up and walks up to me steadily.
"We should get going. We still have a bit of a walk. Come on," he says.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You haven't answered my question yet," I say in a pushy voice, and I start slowly backing away from him.
He comes closer and grabs my hand gently. "I'll tell you, but I think you know enough about me...and my past...for now. So let's just get going, okay?" he says, giving me a kind look.
"Okay..." I answer as I surrender myself and grip his hand softly. He leads me away from the big rock and deeper into the woods.

We've been walking for about ten minutes, now, and we come across a little stream. Damien stops walking after he sees me staring at it. The water is flowing calmly, and there are little minos swimming in the current-I keep finding myself mesmerized by the beauty of these woods. I kneel down next to the stream and stick my fingertips into the cool water, letting the small waves flow between them.
Then one of the minos swims closer to one of my fingertips, and brushes up against it gently-it tickles.
I giggle when I look up at Damien, and he smiles at me. I stand up and we continue walking. We come to a big tree that seems to have fallen over a wide river. We have to cross it somehow. I let go of Damien's hand to get a closer look. It's about seven feet across from where we're standing, and maybe four feet deep-I can't really see the bottom because the water is rushing too fast. This could be a little dangerous. I turn to Damien and look at him cautiously.
"Um...how are we going to cross the river, Damien?" I ask.
"We'll walk across the fallen tree, of course," he replies. I don't feel safe crossing this big river by walking across a fallen tree. "You'll go first and I'll follow behind you."
I look at him with worry. "But what I fa-" I start to say.
"I'll be right behind you, Skye. If you fall, I'll catch you. Trust me..." he says kindly. He takes my hand and walks me over to where the fallen tree is. It does look sturdy, so maybe it's safe.
"You might want to take your boots off. It probably not a good idea to wear heels while doing this."
"Right...yeah I'll take 'em off."
I unzip them and slide them off-I guess I'll just have to hold them until we get to the other side.
"Alright, up you go," he says as he gently helps me onto the tree. I'm still a little nervous about doing this, but I trust Damien.
"Okay," I whisper under my breath.
"You good?" he asks as he steadies me.
I nod my head at my feet, watching them so I don't slip. I walk forward slowly and carefully. Damien steps onto the tree behind me. We start inching across the river. We've only crossed about a foot and a half-five and a half feet left.
The sound of the rushing water is not very calming-distracting is more like it. I take a step, a little bigger than the last few steps. Then, just when I thought things would be okay, my foot slips on the wet bark of the tree, touches the water, and I just about drop my boots. I almost fall off of the tree completely, but Damien grabs my wrists and pulls me back up and steadies me again.
"Are you okay?" he asks with a breathy voice.
"Yeah...yeah, let's just keep going," I reply, my voice shaking. My heart is pounding like a drum in my chest, and my breathing is heavy.
"Are you sure? Skye, look at me," he carefully turns me around and holds onto my arms to keep me from falling again. "You don't have to pretend to be brave when you're with me...I don't want you to hide your feelings from me. So please tell me, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes...Thank you for catching me, Damien..." I say quietly.
He smiles slightly, and helps me turn back around so we can keep going. He moves his hands down from my arms to my waist. Which is...okay-I'm guessing it's just so he can help me faster if something else happens-it doesn't matter, though. I clutch my boots tighter in my hands.
The next few steps I take are very careful and very cautious. We're a little over halfway across-about two feet left. I throw my boots the rest of the way, and they land next to a small rock. My body shifts a little, causing me to wobble. Damien tightens his grip on my waist and moves closer to me. He's so close to me, I can feel his chest against my back. His breath is tickling the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"You okay?" he whispers in my ear.
I nod and start walking forward again. I'm close enough to jump and stick the landing.
"I'm just gonna leap the rest of the way," I say over my shoulder.
"Alright. Just be careful," he replies.
Damien slowly removes his hands from my waist, and I take a small jump to the other side of the river, from the fallen tree. I stick the landing, like I thought I would. Damien follows with a leap behind me, without difficulty. I walk away from the river a little, to where my boots are, and I try to calm myself down. I hunch over my boots, laying on the ground, hoping that the adrenaline will drain from my body.
"Well that was intense. You okay?" Damien asks again, as he walks over to me and puts his hand on my back.
I stand up straight, and nod while smiling. He smiles back, and then weird things start happening. I feel dizzy and nauseous. Everything is spinning slowly. I start to fall, but arms catch me before I hit the ground-Damien is hovering over me. His figure is blurry, and I can barely hear him talking.
"Skye...are you...Skye...open your eyes...."
I can only hear pieces of what he's saying. His voice is very faint, but his face is starting to focus. Everything behind him is still blurry. I can almost see the tops of the trees and the blue sky and the white clouds.
"Skye...open your eyes. Please, look at me," I hear him say with a tense voice. He's still holding me in his arms, supporting my head with his hand. I can hear him more clearly than before.
"Damien...what happened?" I ask drowsily.
"You collapsed. You're losing blood..." he says.
"What? Losing blood...what are you talking abo-ouch!" I feel a sharp pain shoot through my right leg. I lift my head up to see it, but Damien stops me before I can. He sets me gently on the ground.
"I wouldn't...look at your leg, if I were you. You might pass out. You cut it pretty bad when you fell, and the sudden blood loss is why you collapsed, even though you didn't notice it. It's pretty deep, so I'm gonna have to stitch you up..." he says in a pained voice.
"Wait! Wait! What?!" I cry. I don't want to be "stitched up" in the middle of the woods. "Please!! I'll be okay!!" I plead to him. I still feel drowsy and weak.
He puts his hand on my cheek to wipe away my tears. His eyes are gentle and kind. He just keeps calmly sliding his thumb back and forth on my cheekbone.
"Shh...It's going to be okay. I have medicine and bandages and pain killers. Don't worry. This isn't the first time I've had to do this," he says, soothing my nerves.
My breathing gets heavy and my heartbeat gets fast. I can only picture my expression to be scared and worried. That's how I feel, besides feeling sick to my stomach. Damien grabs my hand and gently grips it.
"Do you trust me?" he asks.
"Yes...I do..." I nod.
He rubs my head gently and smiles at me. He lays my head down on a soft pile of leaves and grabs the bag off of his shoulder. He's still holding onto my hand. With his free hand, he opens the bag and inside are cotton balls, bandages, rubbing alcohol, a needle and medical thread, and a syringe. When I see the syringe, my stomach twists and I clench Damien's hand tighter. He turns his head to me quickly.
"Hey, hey...It's okay. It's not as bad as it looks," he tells me calmly.
"What are you going to use? What's is that?" I ask, wincing in pain from my leg. All I can do is look at Damien-he seems to calm me down a lot.
"Well, the syringe is morphine. It's so you don't feel the pain. I'm gonna use the morphine first, then I'm going to clean up the cut with the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls," he explains. "Next, I'll use the needle and stitching thread to close it up, and lastly, I'll bandage it all up."
"Okay...how long do you think that will all take? Also, what time is it?"
"It'll probably take about fifteen to twenty minutes, and we left a little after second period, which ended at 10:35," he says, lifting his sleeve to reveal a watch. "It is about 10:50 now. So we would be in third period still."
"Okay...when do you think we'll go back?" I ask.
"I don't know for sure. It depends on how long it takes us to get to where we're going, and how long we stay there," he replies.
"Okay...well, can you just tell me where we are going? I mean, I have a huge gash in my leg, and you're still making me wait," I say, and purse my lips.
"I'm sorry, Skye. I can't tell you, because I always keep my promises. Now, I need to start cleaning you up, before it gets infected. Alright?"
"Fine. Alright, let's just get this over with..."
Damien lets go of my hand and gives me something from the bag to hold onto-I don't even look at it, I just grip it tightly. He picks up the syringe and flicks it twice. Then he looks at me with serious eyes.
"I'm gonna put this in your leg, right above the cut. It will hurt for only a second, but it won't be too bad. Ready?"
I nod my head and close my eyes tight. A second later, I feel a pinch in my leg and clench my teeth. The pain goes away quickly, but so does the feeling in my leg-it feels numb and warm.
I open my eyes and look at the sky. It calms me. I move my eyes over to Damien, who is focused on fixing my leg. I watch him grab the rubbing alcohol and cotton. He's really good at this. His expression stays serious but gentle.
He glances at me and smiles slightly. Then he goes back to work. After he cleans my cut, he takes out another syringe from the bag, and looks at me again.
"This is just more pain medicine. Only, this one will make you sleepy, and you can sleep if you want. That would probably be best. If you do fall asleep, I'll be here when you wake up. Don't worry," he assures me.
I nod and looks up to the sky again. I don't feel the syringe go into my skin, but I can feel the effects of the medicine. My eyes are getting heavy and they close almost without effort. It feels nice to close them-I feel relaxed. As I drift off, I hear the wind blowing softly and the leaves rustling. Then it all fades and everything is silent...and black.