airport & tight spaces
Everything around me was black. I tried to scream for help. Nothing came out. There was no breath or sound that could escape my throat. I had been screaming all day…or night. I had lost track of time. I saw flashes in front of my eyelids. Or what I assumed were my eyelids, because I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or not in this blackness. I saw Ned. His face gorgeous, smiling, laughing, and being so amazingly wonderful to me that I felt as though I would never be able to keep him with me. I saw Will. I saw his kind eyes, the sweet nature that showed itself the first night I moved into my house. How could he have done this? Could he truly have been so jealous of my just speaking with Ned that he fabricated everything? The horrible crash, the man trying to get to Ned, even my poor cat’s death? I couldn’t believe it, though there was a nagging voice in the back of my head that screamed “Yes!” The last face I had seen as I was shoved into that trunk had been Will’s. He wasn’t smiling, he didn’t even look remorseful that someone had just shoved chloroform into my face. There had been nothing in his face other than a trace of some smug sort of expression. He looked so insanely normal, and it had never frightened me more. I couldn’t stop hoping that Ned would be ok. If I ever stopped hoping, he –as well as I- would be as good as dead. ** I was running. I’d finally gotten away from whoever the fuck had been chasing me in Atlanta and I was going to the airport. Hartsfield is supposedly one of the busiest airports in the world. I’ve been traveling for most of my life, so it’s basically home to me. I parked in the long term parking area, knowing it wouldn’t matter if I ever came back for this car. If I didn’t make it through this airport, I was sure I wouldn’t make it anywhere else. Ever. After I got through the shuttle and into the actual airport, I stopped at the ticket counter for one of those great movie moments. Shoving money at the person behind the counter for the soonest flight out of here. I got a lot of strange looks, moving quite quickly, though not running, through the airport to the security checkpoint. I got down the escalators that led to the shuttles, my wondrous transports that would take me to the plane that would hopefully save my life. I shoved through quite a few people to get onto the shuttle that was just about to leave. Thankfully the entire airport timing had worked out in my favor. I had boarded the last shuttle on the “mini-train” and I sat down, letting my body catch up with my mind. I was completely exhausted, but I relaxed on the seat, looking around the space to see the people who also inhabited it. Something caught my eye. Black hair, pale skin, unbelievable beauty that seemed to radiate. He was there. Ned. I didn’t know what to do. My breath caught in my throat. No one else seemed to notice the way I basically cringed backwards into my seat. He stood and started towards me. With a wave of the hand, the rest of the people in the train disappeared. It took everything I had to not start crying right there. It had all been for naught. I was going to die at the hands of this amazing creature. “Please-please Ned, please don’t hurt me. I swear I’ll do anything you ask.” He looked at me strange, cocking one eyebrow. “You think I’m the bad guy?” He shook his head at me, looking around him, and he seemed as though he was at a loss for words. “Ellie, do you actually think I would ever, in a million years, hurt you? I could never bring myself to do that. Not you, Ellie, never you.” “But you hurt Will. You’re the one who started this all because…” I couldn’t think of a single feasible reason that Ned would have started any of this. Will was the only one with reason enough to be mad, but would he really have framed Ned, almost had me killed, and everything else that had happened in the last twenty-four hours just because I liked someone else more? I shook my head. This was too much. I believed him. This wasn’t right. I’d seen him hurt Will. I had seen them fight, but Ned had drawn first blood, he had been the one to almost kill Will. Will, the same man who had made me dinner and helped me carry books. The man who had trusted me enough to tell me he was a werewolf within the first 48 hours of us meeting. Could Ned be telling the truth? I stared up at his eyes, the most unguarded that I had ever seen them. He looked vulnerable, and except for the whole ethereal beauty thing, he looked normal. I could not resist when he came and knelt at my feet. I knew this could be the perfect ruse, but I believed him, wholeheartedly. Slowly he reached his hand for my face. I could feel my heart starting to beat heavily. I realized in that moment that we had never kissed. We had the close calls, but in Ellicott, there had always been interrupted. His lips found their way to mine as my eyes closed, I breathed him in deeply as our mouths finally touched and I instantly felt a shock. I gasped and could feel Ned smile against me as he pressed closer. He pulled me up, holding me to his chest, his lips not once parting from mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his around my waist. I didn’t want to move away, but I suddenly heard the man’s voice announce we had arrived at terminal C. Ned pulled back, smiling. “It was worth the wait.” He untangled us, but kept hold of my right hand. “Now listen Ellie, we may be alright now, but we need to figure out what we’re going to do. Will is still out there.” He thought for a moment as we stepped off the shuttle and onto the platform at terminal C. “When was the last time you ate?” The question’s random appearance made me burst out laughing. The laughter turned into something closer to hysterics soon after though, and Ned pulled me into a deserted corner, pulling me close and stroking my hair. “Honey, it’s ok. We’ll be alright. I promise you.” He pulled my face up to look at his. “We will get out ok. And after that, I will whisk you off to some foreign country where we will do nothing except lay around a hotel room.” It was meant to make me feel better, but all it did was remind me of the fact that I didn’t even have a passport, which was a ridiculous thing to worry over, given the circumstances. After a few moments I quieted down and Ned pulled me in the direction of the food court. He ordered me some sort of chicken wrap and sat me down, giving me a drink that I hadn’t seen him order. I ate the food quickly; all the while Ned was studying my face. I wasn’t sure if he was looking for a sign of another breakdown or if he hoped he might find a solution to our problem written on my forehead. “How do you know he’ll even still care at this point? I mean, if he’s so smart to have set this all up, he must know that you would have tried to get to me.” “Of course he’ll care. He’s a dog Ellie. They are very territorial. And the moment that he thought he was going to lose you to me was the moment he started thinking all this up. I may have a lot of problems with him and his kind, but Will is not a dumb man. He’ll have known that I found you, and he’ll know that I told you the truth. If he doesn’t already have the next step planned, then he’s working very quickly to having it set.” He sighed heavily and picked up my hand again so that we were linked across the table. “I wish there was someway to evade him. Go to some country or state where he wouldn’t find us, but I’m afraid that we would never be able to stop running. We will have to kill him. There is no other way. Unless…” He dropped his eyes from my face, shaking his head. “Unless what, Ned?” “Unless you want to go back to him; I wouldn’t fault you for it, of course. It would keep you safer; it would end this whole game.” My jaw dropped open. Could he honestly think that at this point, I would go back to the lunatic that set all of this in motion? “Edward,” I’d never referred to him using his full first name, but under the circumstances -what with professing emotions and all- it seemed appropriate. “I love you. I trust what you told me earlier, and if nothing else, I would much rather spend my last hours with you than anyone else. Now, if you wanted to skip out, I would totally understand. Ok, I’d actually be totally pissed, but I guess I couldn’t blame you.” He laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the female neighbors (and one male) that automatically went into full on staring mode. “Ellie, I love you too. I don’t think I have a choice in leaving anymore. I’d much rather die than be without you.” It was all so dramatic, but I couldn’t help but feel so relieved to hear him say what I had been thinking since that fateful day when I realized he wasn’t a total asshole.
ugh. it won’t do anything properly. i’m considering not finishing this one. hmmm
