Deserted

A Lion Destined To Eat Him Alive

The sunlight was coming through the window in long, thin rays, forcing me to slowly open my eyes, I saw the seemingly never-ending cloudy sky. The cabin of the truck was gone. Looking around, I saw we were in the back of the truck. Hold on, we? Of course, the only person who could stand to be around me right now, Allen. I never actually asked him if that was his real name or just a name he gave me to call him by. Sitting there, I realized there are many questions I haven't asked him. Where is he from? Did he follow me to Paris? If so, why? Seriously, who follows you over the sea just to keep an eye on you? Did he know what was going to happen? These, and many more went through my head.

Eventually I decided to take a walk, seeing as I didn't remember moving, and the huge movie screen was gone. While untangling myself from the mess of blankets, I found that we were far from where the movie was. As far as the shore, which was a few hours drive away. Were these the arrangements he made? I forgot about the walk, and figured I would go sit on the beach instead, to watch the waves too cold to play in.

I don't know how long I was there. All that happened after was that Allen came down from the truck. We let the sun finish rising and watched as it began to fall. After a bit, he got up and leaned over my shoulder, saying, "Becca, we have to go now". He turned around and walked towards the stairs. I heard the truck come to life, with the roar associated with diesel. I finally got up and went back to the truck.

We were quiet for a long time, with just the radio in the background. It just so happened he started singing along with the radio. The Final Countdown came on, and we both sang and tried to dance in the restricting seat belts. The car seemed to vibrate along with the bass of the song. At the end of the song, we pulled into the driveway of a secluded house with a lovely patio and front lawn. The house seemed to have walls made of glass making it open to the dense forest and vegetation.

After taking in the view I looked at Allen, the question I had meant to ask dying in my throat. His face held a pained look, visible for a split second before the mask he usually wore came back. I thought about how we hadn't held an actual conversation since he made so-called "arrangements". He had already gotten out and was holding my door open. I just sat there staring out the window.

I asked, "Why the mask? You know you can trust me, so why hide the pain?"

"I know you can't see the pain with the mask. I don't want you hurt because I feel the pain."

"It hurts more when you lie, knowing about the pain only makes me worry. So what about this place causes you so much pain you forget to wear the mask?"

"Things" he turned away from me as he said the word.

"Don't do that, please don't do that." I got out of the vehicle while grabbing his arm to drag him back, encircling his waist with my arms.

"You wouldn't be the same after I told you what is wrong."

"You think I am the same as when I first met you?"

"No"

"I will never be the same as I was, even just minutes ago, whether you look at it mentally or physically."

He turned around in my arms, pulling me closer, placing his head on top of mine, saying "Yes, but the light in your life, the happiness and joy will fade. You'll become hard, always hiding behind a mask. I don't want you to be like me, never able to trust even the ones closest to you. It's bad enough your separated from your own blood, I am just a stranger."

"Stranger?" I muffled into his shirt.

"What do you really know about me?"

I pulled away "I know your personality." At this he started laughing, manically, "Oh, really did you even think I might have hidden pain from you before you saw it? You don't know me, you don't even know my original name. I have been running a long time and you just happened to get caught up in the middle. All because of these idiotic emotions," he said harshly.

Confusion slowly took over my face. I looked directly into his eyes, trying to pull away but unable to against his strength "What? What are you talking about?"

He turned his face to the side and backed away as if I became a lion destined to eat him alive. Silence hung heavy in the air, and I repeated the question nearly screaming at him this time, as I became frustrated and angry.

"Its my fault," He barely whispered it and it sounded as if he was screaming. I don't understand, how could it be his fault? Hold on what is his fault? How could he be responsible for anything? He must of seen the confusion on my face because he started to explain everything. At least everything since the start of summer. It started with him fleeing to France from Germany.

"I was being chased by a group of young men with a knack for collecting, and enforcing, debts. Unfortunately, the one I had was a life debt. Like there is any other type of debt for a cult," he said bitterly, " Well, it so happens I killed the head of the cult, a powerful con man/mobster who had spent his spare time in America. A few years back, while vacationing in the U.S, he decided it would be fun to go on a little killing spree, pick a random house and kill who ever was in it. The house he picked happened to be mine. My parents and my sister were there. I wasn't. I'd left the house earlier, after fighting with my dad. The next morning, I came home, thinking I should sort things out with dad after the fight.
"What I found was blood and pieces of bodies, the smallest was the only one left mostly intact. My sister, who was somehow still alive, was sent to the hospital and then to an orphanage. Anyways, I went and tracked down the mobster. It took time but I finally got a tip that he was in a small town inn in Germany. So I went and found the guy, gained his trust and slipped him some arsenic I had gotten over the years. Of course I fled the scene after killing him, not knowing that someone had seen me, and gotten a search and kill party. I wound up in France and went to work as a barista at a coffee shop in the outskirts of Paris.

"There the men would not find me, at least not for a little while. Eventually I saw this one boy and while he was ordering he wouldn't stop looking at a girl sitting out on one of the tables. Apparently he could barely say hi to any girl. She was playing on her gameboy, blue if I remember correctly. I simply told him to go ask if he could play with her. She seemed to say that he could because they were there for almost everyday 'till the end of the summer."

"After that I watched them, mainly the girl, and without realizing it, I became attached to her. Too attached. The men came eventually, and saw the feelings I had carelessly left exposed. Fortunately, that was the last day she ever came back, since she caught a flight home. However, the group had connections still in America, so they waited for her. Fortunately, she had too many around her to let them take her without notice. They let out a little lie and photoshopped pictures, she was to be truly isolated. "

"That girl is you, they took you when you were asleep, vulnerable, to the side of the libary to draw me out, unfortunately they brought guns to a fist fight. They keep on hurting you and everytime....IT IS MY FUCKING FAULT." by this point he was crying, but I was too shocked to do anything. I am so selfish. I can't even help this person who has practically become my whole world. Even though it was his fault, I am not mad. This guy basically screwed my life over and I am not mad, what is wrong with me?

"I'm sorry," I said. He turned and looked at me in confusion. I realized it had come out of my own mouth.

"Why are you sorry? I am the one who has hurt you."

"No you aren't, and because I know your still hurting, I'll just roll with the punches." A second later we are pushed together and his arms circle my waist. I wraps mine around his as he leans his head into the crook of my neck. He breaths onto my neck causing goosebumps to form all along my back and arms.

"You don't know a thing you are doing, do you?" He asked, his voice muffled. "Not a single move, but somehow, it feels right."

*Thanks to Wolfyre for editing this chapter!