Hailey-

I wasn't aware of what time it was, but I'm pretty sure it had been two hours or more since we arrived at the party and everyone was already drunk, except for me. I lost sight of Logan when I went to the bathroom and figured he went behind some skirt, so I sat on a couch surrounded by teenagers playing stupid games and drinking like they were thirsty, I wouldn't go looking for Logan because the house was so fucking big and full of people all the way to the garden. I was getting too bored and wanted to leave, but I had to wait for my friend to show up so we could go, because I had been forbidden to go home alone and I didn't want my family to be angry with me.

“Hailey,” I turned around quickly when I heard my name, “Hailey Ryan, isn't it?” A blonde-haired, brown-eyed boy sat beside me with a disposable glass in his hand containing some alcoholic beverage.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Reggie Smith,” introduced himself and smiled, “We were classmates in elementary school.”

“Ahh Reggie?” He nodded, “I don't remember you, sorry.”

The river: “I know, we never talked,” he drank from his glass, “in fact, you didn't talk to anyone other than Travis or Logan.”

I felt a strange sensation when he named Travis, it made me nervous.

“I don't remember that either,” I lied, I remembered it, “It was a long time ago, I guess.”

“Yes, a few years ago,” he drank from his glass again, “Are you studying in the city?”

“Of course, everyone who lives here does, I guess.”

“I would have liked to study here, but we had to move a few years ago," he said, “I'm here visiting, my grandmother is very sick.”

“Oh, I'm sorry.”

“Never mind, it's nature,” I nodded in confusion, this guy was a little weird.

“Nice to meet you, again, Reggie,” I smiled, “but I have to go, I have to look for my friend.”

“Is it still Travis?”

“No, actually, it's Logan,” I got off the couch, “I hope your grandmother gets better.”

“I hope so too," he smiled and I walked away.

I went to the kitchen, where there were also people, I needed some water and find Logan, I already wanted to go home. I poured a glass of water and put my left hand in my bag to get my cell phone, but it was gone, just the money. I got desperate and left the glass on the table, to search properly, but my mobile phone was not there. I thought it might be on the couch, but I went to check and it was gone, I wanted to die. I wanted to die. There was nothing else to do but look all over the house for Logan, so I went upstairs to check if he was in any of the rooms, I met a lot of people, but none of them were him, I went downstairs and I could see that Travis was there, talking to one of his friends, he was dressed in black, like he was a bad boy.

“Travis,” I called him, maybe he knew where Logan was, “Travis,” I called him again, but he didn't answer, and I saw that he was heading for the living room, so I followed him, “Hey, Travis.”

He turned abruptly and looked at me, his eyes were red.

“What do you want, girl? That I talk to you? That I be your friend?” he asked in an aggressive tone and I was surprised, “Well, I won't be, because I could never get together with someone like you, if I took you home the other day it was out of kindness doesn't mean you can talk to me whenever you want, so stop bothering me and forget about me.”

His words hurt me very much, so much so that I felt petrified and could not react, everyone was looking at me and murmuring.

“You're an idiot,” It was the only thing I said and I left.

I got out of there as soon as I could, I felt like a fool and I needed to go home so I could cry freely. When I walked through the door I bumped into someone and he spilled his beer on my dress.

“I'm sorry," he apologized, but I didn't have time to get an apology, so I went on my way, I needed to disappear.

(...)

About an hour ago I was walking and crying, I didn't know where I was and I was terrified, I shouldn't have left without Logan, but I couldn't stand what Travis said to me and I had to leave. My dress smelled like beer, my makeup was running because of my tears and I was cold, I needed to get home and take a shower to get rid of this disgusting alcohol smell, but I don't know where I am and I don't know how to get home. I kept walking, trying to recognize some streets, but the darkness of the night did not let me visualize my surroundings properly. The silence was impressive, not a single fly passed around me and that scared me even more, shivered from the cold that it was, nature had turned against me. I could see that there was a park a few meters away from me, I could recognize it, it was close to home. I got a little relieved and walked there, the park was completely empty, but it wasn't so dark because there were streetlights. I sat down on a bench and closed my eyes so I could focus on my positive energy, I needed to calm down and be able to breathe calmly.

“Who do we have here?” I opened my eyes when I heard the voice of a man in front of me. I stood still, the presence of this man scared me too much, “Quietly,” he stroked my hair and I brushed away.

“W-what do you want?” I stuttered, “I'll give you my money, if you don't do anything.”

“Oh, dear," he laughed horribly, I noticed that he was missing some teeth, "I don't want your money.”

"So what do you want?”

“To you,” When he said that I felt a chill go through my body, he came closer to me and I went away again.

“Please don't do anything to me.” I sobbed.

“Don't worry beautiful, we'll have fun,” he came closer again and I felt my energy running through my whole body in an accelerated way, I was shaking a lot and I felt sweat on my forehead, I was so terrified that I was afraid I would have a heart attack or explode into a thousand pieces, although the latter sounds impossible.

-I heard Travis' voice and the man turned around, so get your fucking ass out of my face if you don't want to get hurt.

“That's your little boyfriend?” the man laughed, “You don't intimidate me, kid.

“Because you still don't know what I'm capable of." Travis looked angry, he was three feet away from the man and he was different, his eyes were red, full of hate.

The man lunged at Travis and punched him in the face, I screamed, Travis spat out what I could see was blood, looked at the man with a strange smile and hit him back. I turned around when I felt a strange sensation, I felt that I shouldn't look at that scene so I covered my ears and looked at the floor, I could hear a little bit of the noise they were making when they hit each other, but I couldn't stop crying and although I really wanted to do something to stop them, my body was immobile, I was shaking more and more, I was very afraid of what could happen to Travis. I felt someone touch my shoulder and stop my crying, to be completely silent.

“Calm down,” My body was relieved to hear Travis' voice, “Everything's fine.”

I turned around and looked at him, he was perfectly fine, he didn't have a scratch on him which seemed strange because I saw that guy throw himself at him and hit him. I sighed of relief, seeing that he was in one piece made me feel calm, but my pride could not forget how he treated me at the party and so I could not show him kindness.

“You're an idiot,” I said the first thing that came to mind, again.

“Déjà vu,” he laughed and held out his hand to me to get up.

“You didn't need to get involved, I could handle it,” I got up from the bench without accepting his help and wiped away my tears.

“Are you serious?" he frowned, "I just saved you, that guy was going to abuse you if I didn't show up and this is how you thank me?”

“If you hadn't told me everything you told me at the party, this never would have happened.”

He rolled his eyes, I noticed that the gentleman he was fighting with was lying on the ground and that alarmed me.

“Did you... “whispered,” kill him?”

“Of course not," he said, he went up to the man and moved him with his foot, “still breathing," I turned away in anger, "hell," I had to look around and see that Travis was squatting next to the man, holding something in his right hand, but I couldn't see what it was.

“Something wrong, Travis?”

“We should go, “He got up and looked around, something wasn't right, “right now.”

“Why? What's wrong?” He came up to me and grabbed my arm and dragged me to his car, “Travis, you're hurting me,” I complained when I felt a burning in my right arm, “Stop it!” I took off his grip abruptly, “I'm not leaving here without you telling me what's going on.”

He ran his hands through her black hair, he was impatient.

-We don't have time to explain, we have to go right now," he grunted, "on the way.

Instead of arguing I decided to shut my mouth and just obey him, so we went to his car and got in quietly, but there was so much tension that I could feel it, as I did before I got in: I kept my mouth shut, I had no idea where we were going and I was worried. My mind was not so much present at this moment, something almost traumatic had just happened to me, a man was going to hurt me and Travis saved me, the guy who had made it clear to me that he didn't even want to see me, he had saved me and I had been left as a weakling. Suddenly I thought, what was Travis doing in the park? How could he see me when there was hardly any light? I needed to question him right now, but he was focused on the road and I didn't want to interrupt him. Well, I had to.

“Are you going to tell me what's going on?” I broke the silence, I needed answers.

“I can't tell you that.”

“Really? You lied to me!” I frowned, “I don't even know where you're taking me!”

“I'll tell you when we get there, Hailey,”

I frowned even more and looked at him, looked forward again and cleared my throat, even though it was not noticeable when I spoke, it had a big knot in it.

“Stop the car," I said, "I want to get out.”

He looked at me for a second and then looked back at the road.

“I can't do that.”

“Stop the car or I'll throw myself,” he laughed, “You know I'm serious.”

His expression changed to serious and he stopped the car, he knew he was serious.

“You have to listen to me, it's for your own safety.”

"My own safety?” I laughed and took off my seatbelt, “you don't know anything about me, you can't tell me what's safe for me," I opened the car door, "so goodbye."

I got out of the car and stood still when I saw where we were, we were in the middle of nowhere! There were only trees and more trees that were around the road, the only light was emitted by the car's headlights, only the crickets and owls that inhabited the place could be heard.

“Where the hell are we?” I turned to Travis, who had also gotten out of the car.

“Get in the car and I'll explain.”

“You said that before and you say you can't tell me,” I crossed my arms, “I want to go home.”

“You will, but first I must get you to a safe place.”

“A safe place? What are you saying?” I was going to explode, “I'll be safe if you take me home!”

His cell phone rang and he signaled me to wait, then he took it out of his pocket and checked who it was and then answered.

“Jenna,” I looked at him in surprise. Was he talking to my mother? “Yes, she's here with me," he looked at me and waved me into the car, but I refused, "I must take her, they wanted to hurt her," he paused, "she's all right now, but they must see her," he paused again, "I know, but he refuses to come with me and wants me to give her information, but I can't," he went away from me a bit and I came closer, to hear what they were talking about, "okay, I'll tell her," he paused again and looked at me with a frown" I will call you when we got there, goodbye."

He hung up the call and put his cell phone in his pocket, then looked at me.

“Was it my mother?" he nodded. "What were they talking about?”

“That you have to obey me, so get in the car.”

“How do I know you're not lying to me?”

“I got the keyword.” I raised an eyebrow. How did he know about the keyword? With my family we had created a keyword, in case something happens to someone in the family and we have to find out from a third party, they should say the keyword and then we will know that it is true.

“Say it,” I crossed my arms.

“Cotton candy," he said, and that was definitely the word, “Get in the car now, Hailey," I was about to complain, but a noise made us look back, from where we had just come from, two black cars were causing that and they were coming at us at full speed, "Shit!"