I didn’t know how long I’d been there, but… it was nighttime now.
I moved away from Lizzy’s form, staring down at her numbly as her corpse remained under me.
I just laid down in front of her, catching her cold, clammy hands, and setting my head on the dirt as I stared into her eyes.
The lifeless doll eyes.
And I remained there, lying there in the night.
I couldn’t move. I wasn’t going to.
The cold wind bit into my skin, the misty air burning through my senses… and I stared at her blankly, watching her with dark eyes.
I felt myself distantly shivering, feeling my skin burn with frostbite.
I was too numb to care.
And the oddest thing happened… time flew by quicker than I could recon.
Night turned into day, day turned into night again… and it was early morning before I heard loud rustles in the outskirts around me.
Was it an animal? Was he going to eat us both?
But I couldn’t move.
And I didn’t care. I wanted to stay here with her… forever.
Her body never smelled… or maybe I never processed it. But she still smelled like candy… like my sister.
I then heard boots crunching around us, and then a voice:
“I found something!”
It was a man… but his voice wasn’t familiar in the slightest. It was someone I didn’t know.
But I didn’t care.
Suddenly, flashlights blinded me, but I just whimpered, shuffling over and holding onto Lizzy’s body tightly.
A walkie talky suddenly clipped:
“Group A speaking, calling boss, over.”
It clipped again.
“Boss speaking, did you find something, over.”
Was that… Jase’s voice?
“Group A speaking, two girls matching subject description, over.”
“Boss speaking, what are your whereabouts, over.”
“Fifty nine miles south of old town, aspen woods, near the river, over.”
“Boss is one minute out. Do not touch the subjects, over.”
And I heard shoes clicking around me, flashlights beaming on me.
I just held Lizzy’s body tightly to me, whimpers exhaling from my lips.
“Subjects appear to be injured, over,” he said then.
“Boss is thirty seconds out, over.”
They were all silent for a bit.
But then I heard someone running from a distance, until it trailed to a stop.
“Is that the subject?” one of the guys said.
“Yes,” Jase’s voice flooded from behind me, “that’s her. And her sister, it looks.”
The walkie talky clipped again. “To dispatch, subjects Emma Swells and Elizabeth Swells located near the river, fifty nine yards from old town, aspen woods. Subjects seem to be injured. Call for ambulance.”
Jase suddenly clipped his own walkie talky. “Subjects are fine and seem to be well, subjects never existed. Go back home and forget this ever happened.” His voice lowered to a dark whisper. “Ego requiram te.”
And he unclipped the walkie talky.
And—suddenly—as if he cast some magic spell, footsteps receded away immediately.
I just held Lizzy’s body to me, entire form numb and unmoving as I lightly rubbed her back to soothe her.
Jase just walked around me, sounding incredibly peeved. “I’ve been looking for you. Did you know you were missing for forty-eight hours?”
I remained silent, just stared off into space quietly, rubbing Lizzy’s back.
Jase knelt beside me. “Emma, can you speak?”
I was still silent, but finally looked down to Lizzy, although my sight was unfocused, lazy. “You patched me up…” my voice was quiet, almost inaudible, “Lizzy needs bandages… she’s in pain….”
Jase looked down to her then, and he suddenly stiffened.
I just kept rubbing her back. “Shhh… it’s okay, Lizzy.”
“Shit…” he murmured.
It was like he could immediately tell what happened.
“Lizzy got hurt…” I said gently, my mind quiet and numb, “but she’s okay. She’s sleeping right now.”
He then set his knee on the ground. “Emma… let her go. Give her to me.”
“No,” I said then, holding her tighter, “she’s supposed to be with me forever. Only I get to hold her.”
“Emma…” he said quietly, somberly, “she’s gone.”
“She’s just sleeping,” I said then, staring down at her lifeless eyes. “She’s alright.”
He just sat on his knees fully, growing panicked. “Emma, what happened?”
“Nothing happened,” I said then, holding her still. “She just got tired. She’s not gone… she’s just sleeping.”
He swallowed, and I could hear it.
But he just lightly touched my shoulders, making me gaze up.
He gave me a smile, but it looked fake. “Yeah… she’s sleeping. Why don’t we take her home and I can patch her up?”
“Yeah…” I said then, gazing down at her, “she must be hurting….”
His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them. “Here, Emma. I can call Pierce to take her home. Come with me now, okay?”
“But she’ll be lonely…” I said.
“No,” he said gently, “she loves Pierce. He can take her home. I’ll call him, okay?”
“I don’t want to leave her,” I argued.
Jase just looked pained. “It’s… she’s sleeping, right? Why don’t we let her sleep? She’ll be okay. When she wakes up, Pierce can take her home. We don’t want to disturb her, right?”
I looked back down at her. “Yeah… yeah, you’re right. She needs to sleep peacefully.”
Jase just closed his eyes tightly and parted them, pulling out his phone and dialing someone.
He pressed it to his ear, and it rang for a moment.
“H—hey,” Jase said then, sounding nervous, “I have an, uhm…” he glanced down at me before looking back away, “ho una situazione. Qualcuno è morto. Ho bisogno che venga portato in visita per determinare la causa della sua morte.”
I looked down at Lizzy, brushing some hair away from her eyes.
“Aspen woods, fifty miles south from old town and near the riverbank,” he said in English then. “Can you be here soon?” A pause. “Okay, thank you.” He then flipped his phone shut.
I watched him step over to me and kneel down. “Hey, Sweets. He’ll be here in a couple minutes. Let’s let her sleep for a little, okay?”
“But…” I said quietly, “I don’t wanna leave her.”
He just smiled, and it still looked forced. “She’ll be fine. You don’t want to wake her up, do you?”
I gazed down at her. “What if she get’s cold?”
“Here…” Jase said gently, “she can take my jacket.”
He gently shrugged off his coat and laid it over her, immediately looking down at me.
“Come, now,” he caught my arm, trying to help me up, “let’s get you home.”
Before I could stand, he just scooped me up, and he carried me off.
I looked back down at Lizzy, still stuck in my numb state as I waved to her.
Five minutes later, Jase carried me inside my own home, carrying me up the stairs before making it to my bathroom.
He set me on the toilet, immediately going over to the tub and started it, testing the water occasionally before he was satisfied, and he plugged the tub.
Afterward he stepped over to a cabinet and dumped some salts into the tub, immediately starting toward me.
He knelt to my level, looking over me sadly. “Will you be alright if I undress you?” he asked me then. “I’d like to clean you. I promise I won’t try anything.”
I just stared at him, all my senses and train of thought non-existent.
He just closed his eyes tightly and started unbuttoning my shirt. “You can trust me,” he whispered.
Keeping his eyes on mine, he helped me out from my shirt, following with my pants and then finally my undergarments.
He looked up at my face. “I won’t look down, I promise.”
I didn’t feel vulnerable right now, and I didn’t know why.
Maybe it was because I couldn’t feel anything right now.
“Here, ready?” he said, and he just scooped me up.
I whimpered when he carried me over to the tub.
I clutched onto his shirt before he could set me in.
He kept his eyes on mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Is it going to hurt…?” I asked him.
He shook his head, eyes soft. “No, it’s warm, not hot.”
And slowly… he lowered me into the water.
I kept ahold of his shirt until I was fully in, and I let go.
He stepped away briefly—to the shower—and got my shampoo, body wash, and conditioner, coming back over to me.
I just watched him. “Why are you bathing me?”
He hesitated, as if he didn’t know how to answer or if his answer would break me somehow.
But he said carefully, “When your sister got hurt… she got blood on you, so I’m cleaning you. The forest is dirty, too. And you were lying there for a while.”
“Oh,” I said.
He just knelt by the tub. “I won’t touch you, I promise.”
“Why can’t I bathe myself…?” I asked him.
His eyes grew sadder. “You don’t look okay, Sweetheart. I just need to keep an eye on you.”
“Oh…” my voice was quiet, “okay.”
He just spread some shampoo on his hands, immediately starting to scrub my hair.
I stared off into space when he did it, blinking occasionally.
He washed it out and then started running conditioner through my hair.
Afterward, he helped me sit up, and he started scrubbing my back.
I just set my head on my knees, letting him.
Afterward, he had me sit back and he stared at my face when he started scrubbing my stomach (where a lot of her blood got).
“I won’t look,” he promised me.
I just continued staring at him blankly, emotionless.
He then moved to wash my arms and legs… and finally, he was satisfied with my cleanliness.
He stood then, drying his hands with a towel. “I’m going to get you some clothes. Don’t move, promise?”
I stared at him.
His eyes searched me before he let out a breath and left.
He was back within seconds.
After setting my clothes aside, he stepped over and reached under the water, scooping me up again.
After wrapping me in a towel, he sat on the toilet, me in his lap.
“It’s okay, Angel…” he whispered quietly, “you’ll be okay.”
“I am okay,” I stated.
“You’re not,” was his response. “But it’s alright. You don’t have to be okay right now.”
I stared at him again.
He just caught a hairbrush from the counter and looked down at me, starting to gently brush my hair to get the knots and matts out.
I just set my head on his chest to make it easier.
I was ninety percent sure that he didn’t want to dry me because he didn’t want to touch me, so I suspected he was brushing my hair as a pastime so I would air dry.
“I don’t feel good…” I told him as he continued.
“I know…” he said gently.
“When will I see Lizzy again…?” I asked him.
He fell silent, and his eyes darkened.
I stared back at the wall, falling silent, as well.
He finished brushing my hair and he stood, setting me onto his seat and pulling the towel away.
He then helped me into another T-shirt and some sweatpants, scooping me up again and carrying me down to the living room.
He then wrapped me in a throw blanket like a burrito, and then held me sideways in his lap as he sat onto the couch.
I stared up at him as he turned on the TV, maybe trying to distract me, and he gazed down at me.
“Why don’t we watch some TV?” he said then. “Have you slept at all while you were in the forest?”
I shook my head.
He looked pained again. “Did you eat?”
I shook my head again.
He looked ill now. “Let’s get you to eat.”
After carrying me to the kitchen, he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of some protein shake.
“I think you’ll be able to stomach this rather than a full-fledged meal,” he stated to himself, sitting back onto the couch with me.
After twisting open the cap, he looked down at me, “I want you to drink the whole thing, okay.”
I pulled my hands out from the blanket and caught the bottle.
After pressing the rim to my lips, I started drinking.
Once the sweetness touched my tongue, I chugged the whole thing in seconds.
Jase’s eyes were on me when I finished, and he took the bottle from me and set it aside, wrapping me back up again. “Why don’t you sleep?”
“I don’t want to sleep.”
“Emma…” he looked extremally concerned.
“What if you leave?” I said then. “I like you.”
He just sighed, looking down at me. “It’s alright, Sweetheart. Go to sleep.”
“But….”
He set his finger on my lips, silencing me. “I’ll be right here, protecting you.”
“I don’t want to,” I told him.
He just looked down at me, closing his eyes and recuperating his emotions before he opened them again. “Alright, then just stay here with me.”
“Can I stare at you?”
“If you want.”
I set my head on his chest, eyes locked on his as he watched me with a darkened sadness.
He just ran his thumb along my cheek, soothing me. “It’s alright. You’ll be okay. We’ll get through this together.”
I didn’t answer.
“There’s no need to be afraid…” he whispered, “I won’t let him hurt you.”
He already hurt me, though.
Jase just soothed my hair away from my face. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”
I stared up at him.
“Close your eyes,” he begged quietly. “Just for a couple minutes.”
“I like looking at you.”
“Emma…” he sounded defeated.
I just continued staring at him.
He seemed to accept it then, and he started rocking me. “It’s okay,” he promised gently, “I won’t let him hurt you. I won’t let him.”
My lips parted.
“Don’t be afraid.” His eyes just fell on mine, thumb brushing along my cheek. “I’m here now.”
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