Chapter34. Drowned

Waking up in my girlfriend's arms after we've shared an intimate night was haunting. In a good and bad way.

Genesis' stirred into wakefulness seconds after I did, stretched her arms, and remembering that I was by her side, let her hands glide to my waist. "Hi," she murmured, eyes drowsy from minutes of sleep. Or maybe it was an hour. It was still dark.

"Hi," I answered back.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I can't believe we. . ." Her hand tightened on my bare skin. It made me shiver, so she moved closer. "You're so warm," she whispered.

"You too." I traced a finger on her forehead, then let it slide down the angle of her jaw. Would it feel like this every time we do it? Like my heart would explode and never be the same?

She grinned and bit my finger. "You're mine, Destiny Jones. Mine."

I took a deep breath and savored the comfort under the blanket. We've rolled it over us until we were cocooned together, our fronts snug against each other.

If I stilled myself for seconds, I could remember exactly how just a few minutes ago, Genesis had done some things, said some things that would make me blush from now on.

She let go of my finger and nuzzled my neck. "What time is it?" she asked.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Maybe a little over eight?" I didn't want to think too much about it. Returning home was going to be a pain, especially since I had to face whatever problems I've left; with dad, the twins, Mr. Morgan. And I still had to figure things about me and Genesis. I focused on her. "What time are you expected back?"

"Nine? Ten? Who cares anymore?" Her shoulders moved when she chuckled. "I want to drag this out as much as possible. I've been dreaming about it all my life."

"Really?"

She buried her face on my chest. "Stop making me feel like a criminal."

"I wasn't." She shivered when I stroked her back. Genesis' scent was all over me. "I just can't believe that the prettiest girl in the world have this kind of feeling for me." I stilled the butterflies in my stomach. "What will everyone say?"

"Don't know. Don't care." Her chest rose when we inhaled together. "Do you hear that, Des?"

I was going to ask what, but then I recognized the ring- Macarena. "That's dad's tone," I said. "Wait a second." Genesis untangled us from each other so I could sit up and reach my backpack. I grinned when her gaze trailed to my chest. "Stop looking, you perv! It's making me shy."

She pretended to cover her eyes. "Can't blame me though."

The bubble of laughter was still in my chest when I unzipped the bag and took the Blackberry. "Dad?" I answered.

"Destiny, where were you all night? I've called the twin's house but they said you weren't there."

"Huh?" I switched the phone to my other ear. Beside me, Genesis had raised her eyebrow, but I shook my head and glanced around the ruins. The flashlight we didn't close was blinking, almost dead. "I was with Genesis," I said. "There's no need to sound like that. I'll be right home for dinner."

"You slept together?!" He inhaled sharply. "I mean, you spent the night together?"

"It. . . It was just a few hours." His tone was really getting to me. "Why?"

There was a pause on the other line. "It's 4 o'clock in the morning. Do you realize what you've done?"

No. No, I didn't. Because if I did, then I wouldn't have been too relaxed cuddling with my girlfriend, when the whole of Bear Creek could be searching for her.

Genesis' eyes widened when I jumped from the cover of the blanket. "Get up!" I said to her. "Get dressed!"

"What?"

"Dad!" I cried on the phone. "Help us!"

"Calm down," he said, sounding like he was on top of things. "I have it all under control."

"How?!" I darted a glance at Genesis'. She was up and running, wearing her underwear, grabbing her jeans. I forked a hand through my hair and focused on dad's voice.

"Lyndon called me last night to ask if his daughter was here. I covered for you and said yes. Genesis had to sleep here so you could work on the props for the school fair."

I calmed down a little. But Gene was still running around, so I walked to her and grabbed her hand. "It's okay," I said.

"But I want you to go home now," dad ordered from the phone. "We have to talk this over."

"Yes, dad." I resigned. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

The call was barely finished when Gene reached for my face and kissed my nose. She was fully clothed now, while I was still as naked as a baby. But there was no malice in her eyes as she stepped back and took me in. Only devotion. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't apologize." I bent over to take my own shirt. I've worn it for three days straight.

Genesis helped me get dressed- first with my jeans, then with my socks. And though I was still in a state of shock from dad's call, it melted my heart that something as simple as putting shoes on could be as intimate as having sex, when done with the person you loved.

Gene didn't move away when I was through. She held my cheek. "Maybe I should go first," she said. "You know, just in case?"

I didn't argue and just nodded. Bear Creek forest was the safest place on earth when the ghost stories weren't counted. And with everyone knowing that she was the Governor's daughter, no one would dare touch Genesis on the streets even at this hour. Except for me, maybe. She was safe.

"I'll follow in five minutes," I murmured.

"Good." Her touch still lingered even after she removed her hand on my face. "What happened last night was perfect," she whispered. "I love you."

Genesis had disappeared through the trees when I began to collect my things. Boy and Girl were shoved into the backpack. The flashlight was salvaged before its battery died a painful dead. The blanket was folded, sniffed, then stashed beside the crumbling wall that sheltered us last night. Yes, it was perfect.

I was hooking the bag over my shoulder when a crunch sounded, followed by footsteps on the stone.

"Gene?"

I turned to look, but something, someone, covered my eyes from behind, and began to drag me off.

My scream didn't reach my own ears. A hand was clapped over my mouth.

It was still dark when I came to. Pitch-black. I couldn't see the hand I raised in front of my face, much less the few steps in front of me. "Hello?!" My voice echoed and died. I was somewhere enclosed, somewhere alone. I shuddered. "Where am I?! Please answer me!"

My brain searched for the clues while my hands felt in front. There was space and an awful lot of air. There wasn't any sound aside from my breathing. The scent didn't give me a hint.

"What am I doing here?! Who took me?!" My teeth chattered as I made a step forward, scouring, grasping, for anything to reach. My palms touched something cold, metal. I bumped my fist on it so it made a clanging sound. "Help!"

No one answered. Maybe no one heard.

I pounded harder. "Help me! Please! Genesis!"

It felt like my eyes were closed even though they were wide open. It was too black, too lonely. I trailed my hands on the metal, desperate to know where it would lead. It never ended.

"It's like a circle!" I cried, starved to hear my own voice. It was minutes but it felt like hours. I pinched myself to know if I was awake. "Get me out of here!" My voice was raw now, grated. The beginnings of a sob. The possibilities terrified me.

Wasn't this how people went missing? They were taken from the comforts of their homes. Or maybe while leaving a parking lot, a theatre. The ruins.

My forehead touched the smooth metal in front. The victims would be placed in a dark place after, somewhere no one would find them until it was too late. Sometimes they were put in a water tank. A circular water tank made of metal like this.

I reared my head back and screamed. "Genesis! Genesis, help me!"

A scratching sound made my eyes open. A scratching that turned to groaning, the groaning to screeching. Soon after, a light so thin it could barely touch the surface of where I was, flickered. Something slid in.

I scrambled to the source of the light seconds before it vanished, and knelt on the delivery. Three times a day it would come, and I would take whatever ration was given to me. It was the only thing keeping me alive.

The cool water from the bottle soothed my throat as I swallowed. But it wasn't enough. I gulped some more until the contents were almost gone. Afterwards, I felt my way around until I touched plastic. I removed that and munched on the bread inside.

"Can you believe that, Clover?" Laughter burst from my mouth. "There's cheese on the freaking bread. Cheese! Yesterday it was mayonnaise. I don't like mayonnaise that much." I took another bite and stretched my mouth so much it ached. "Don't worry, Lilith. I haven't forgotten you. Among my dozens of newfound friends, you said you liked cheese too."

I finished the food in all of five minutes and dropped the plastic wrapper before standing up. Leaving that and the empty bottle, I went as far as possible on the tank and pulled my jeans down. My shoes began to stink of pee. But then why should I get bothered? Everything about me reeked now; my hair, my skin, my unbrushed teeth. I've been here for five days? Six? I've lost count by three.

After doing my business, I moved away from the source of the smell and sat. Most of it still followed me though. It was hard to get rid of, especially when it came from me.

"Where were we today?" My voice was loud. Or maybe everything was too loud when you haven't heard anything in a while. Or maybe I was deaf and blind and just didn't know it.

"Concentrate!" I scolded. There was something I needed to do. Something I needed to escape. My lips curled up when I remembered. "When I get out of here, I'm going to write a story about kidnapping." That's it! "Then, about aliens. Or maybe, maybe, about superstars. I like superstars."

My fingernails dug on my skin. The scab I've picked on yesterday was beginning to peel again. "I'm Destiny Jones." I wrapped my arms against my waist and rocked myself. "I'm Destiny Jones, and I'm not going to lose my mind."

A scratching sound made my eyes open. A scratching that turned to groaning, the groaning to screeching. Soon after, a light so thin it could barely touch the surface of where I was, flickered. Repeat.

REPEAT!

REPEAT!

A scratching sound made my eyes open. A scratching that turned to groaning, the groaning to screeching.

I clawed on my arms, losing my mind.

"Genesis!" I screamed. "Genesis!"

I didn't open my eyes when a scratching sound echoed for the hundredth time. Screw that stupid noise. Leave me alone!

But then something, a light so intense it almost blinded me, filtered from above. And seconds after, a roar blasted, rising me up from the nightmare. "Don't kill me!" I screeched. "Don't hurt me! Please!"

The thing I thought to be stabbing me suddenly soothed my skin. Soon enough, I was gasping, being pressed to the wall by what I realized was a blast of water from a hose, and bathed for the first time in days. I closed my eyes and wept.

My tears were dried up when I was finally removed from the tank and made to walk in an empty factory. I didn't say a thing when new clothes were thrown on the floor beside me. I just picked them up and change into them quickly.

And by the time Dindo had pulled the car to a stop in front of my house on a random dawn, on a day I didn't know, I got out without much complaints, watch him speed off to the street, then walked to the abandoned property between the mansion and mine. I emerged on the other side and climbed Genesis' balcony. Her face was ashen when she came out of the door.

"D-Destiny!" I almost collapsed when she took me in her arms, clutched me like she was drowning, buried me on her chest. "You were missing for days! What happened to you?!"

"Come with me now." Hearing my voice for the first time without being surrounded by metals was surreal. I wanted to burst out crying, but I knew I had no more tears to give.

"Where?!" Genesis said. She didn't understand. Of course, she wouldn't understand. She clutched me tighter. "Do you know how worried I was?! We've sent out a search party for you. Everyone was looking!"

"Come with me now," I said again. There was no time. We had to leave. I stepped away and took her hand.

She stayed in place. "Who took you?! Who did this to you?!"

"I'll work for food," I said. "For both of us. We won't starve."

Genesis shook her head. "Des—"

"Just come with me." My teeth chattered when something sounded, but it was just the door behind her, shutting firm. I faced her again. "I'm leaving Bear Creek. I'm not coming back."

"Why?!"

"Because I don't fucking want to!" I restrained myself and took a breath. She had to go with me somehow. She had to listen. "Genesis. . ." My voice was lower as I took her face in my hands. "I will never see you again if you don't come with me. There are bad people here."

"Who?!" The terror on her face skinned me alive. But it was the realization that dawned on her that sealed my coffin. "Is it. . . Is it my dad?"

"No." My stomach clenched so bad I wanted to hurl. "No, it's not your dad. I just don't want to stay here anymore. It's not safe for me." Or for anyone I loved, as long as I was here. Because if they took me like that, put me in a tank without no one knowing, then they could get away with anything. And I couldn't just tell Gene here without risking my dad, or the twins, or everyone I cared for including her. I tugged her hand desperately. "Please, please come with me!"

Genesis' breath hitched. Her eyes cascaded downward. "I can't," she murmured.

"You won't?"

"Can't." Her head shook as she stepped back, but her eyes still avoided mine. "I can't, Destiny. I'm sorry."

My lips quivered. How could she do this to me? After all we've been through?

"I beg you," I whispered.

"Is it my dad?" she repeated.

The ground seemed to crumble as I shook my head.

"Then I'm sorry." Tears dropped down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Destiny."

Daybreak was peeking in the horizon when I climbed the motorcycle that we've made. I've never ridden it myself, but Spencer had showed me how- on those days when life was easier, uncomplicated.

The motorcycles were stashed on the seldom used alleyway near the twin's house. One of the keys was hastily taped under the seat. I took that and slipped it in the ignition.

Before gearing the motor, I opened the backpack that had been returned to me, took Boy and Girl out, and placed them on the ground. I didn't look back when I rolled the throttle. The part of me that longed for home had died.