Shadows

Chapter 1

Ding dong. The door bell chimes. "Uuuggghhhh, its too early go away!"

I laugh, "Its 10:00 a.m. babe." I say to my girlfriend who is laying next to me.

"Are you serious!!?? Why didn't you wake me up sooner!!?" She says as she runs to the bathroom, I hear the water start to run. I look out my bedroom window that is overseeing a lush green forest expanding over a beautiful and breathtaking mountain range.

"Because its a Saturday and we are on vacation, remember?" I hear the water turn off and she pokes her head out of the bathroom doorway.

"...Oh yeah huh?.......Sorry baby" she says innocently as she comes back into the room, naked. She gets under the covers and lays next to me. "So what are we gonna do today anyways?''

"I don't know yet but when everyone gets here, we'll find out ok,  my love?" I start to kiss her on the neck and begin to play with her.

My name is Cameron and the girl that was just in a rush for nothing is my girlfriend, Alyssa. We live in Texas but took an entire week off of work for a vacation. I am about 5'7 and my girlfriend is about 5'3,....yeah she is short but hey, she is adorable.  I am former ex-Marine Special Forces and have been on six tours and dozens of campaign missions. About a year ago, I went on a solo Op that left me scarred. My girlfriend works for a modeling agency and was always stressed with work and constantly complaining. This is exactly why we took this vacation in the first place, so she wasn't so stressed over work. I had rented out a luxury hillside villa with a great scenery so that all we had to do was relax and take it easy for a week. We would also go exploring the local forest, rock climbing, swim in the pool, or at the nearby waterfall.

Ding dong. 

"I'll get it, ok sweetheart." I get up put on a pair of boxers, black running shorts, and black socks. And start to head for the front door. "Are we expecting anyone to come other than Angel and Sidney."

"No, not unless you invited some other people. Its probably them though." She says as I head down a flight of stairs.

Ding dong. 

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm coming calm your tits." I open the front door and standing before me is Sidney, Alyssa's friend, and Angel, my homeboy from back in the day. "Ayyye, whats up guys welcome to Casa de la Gratis," I said, as I hugged Sidney and shook hands with Angel, as they walked through the front door, "drop your bags in the room of your choice. And make yourself at home."

"Oh my gosh, this place is so big and the scenery is beautiful, are you sure that you didn't break into this place?!" Sidney said as she looked out side a window.

'Damn bro, this must have cost some serious cash!!!" Angel said as he looked at the cliff side pool and checked out the bathrooms and individual rooms.

 "It did!!" I said as Alyssa came down the stairs.

"And there she is ladies and gentlemen! The beautiful and elegant, Alyssa Ortiz!" Sidney announced as Alyssa reached the last step in one of my extra large sleeping shirts and socks. "uhm um did we interrupt something or...?"

"Yes."

"No."

I look at Alyssa with a 'really' look for a few seconds. "No." They look at each other then between the two of us.

"Alrighty whatever you say.." Sidney said, "but we are gonna go explore the local caves, wanna come?" 

"Sure it would be a great start to this week! Lets go babe!" Alyssa said, jumping up and down, all hyper.

"Alright," I said as I walked up the stairs, "let me take a shower and get the gear together. I might even take the rifle so if we see anything worth eating, we have dinner."

"Sounds good, at least there won't be any dirty dishes, and I never had fresh meat. Have you ever killed anythi....." Alyssa made a hand slicing motion across her neck to cut him off. "Oh....sorry bro I forgot-"

"Its fine, I don't mind," I lied. "Go ahead and get settled in, and we'll meet at the gate, ok?"

"Alright."

As I walked back up to the bedroom, Alyssa fell in beside meet and hugged my arm. She looked up at me. "You ok baby?" She said as she kissed my tattoo, a Marine Corps Emblem with the words 'Operation Grim Reaper', a remnant of the operation that left me scarred for life and bothers me every night.

"....Yeah I will be, I just need to get this off my mind and the hike will do just that. I'm fine, don't worry ok, sweetheart?" I say as I kiss the top of her head. "I will be."